The proposal (told by Brandon)

So to be quite frank, this was the most awesomely planned proposal of all time and history. The premise was set days before the actual proposal night. It was the very end of November and Christi and I had already gone ring shopping on a couple of different occasions and we had looked at ring catalog books etc. She was always giving me her input as to the type of ring she really liked, but I was giving her the impression that I was still unsure about what she wanted. So I took her ring shopping again the last week of November and I mentioned to her that, “I better decide on buying her a ring pretty soon,” because we were running out of time. Little did she know I had already picked out and ordered her ring. So we went ring shopping and she began to give me some more of her input of what she liked. This time it made me a little nervous because she started pointing out things that were different about some rings that she was liking than she had in the past, and of course I had already ordered and paid for her ring! So this seemed to be back-firing a little bit. Well we left ring shopping and I just started crossing my fingers that she was going to like the ring I had already picked out for her. Of course at this point, she had no idea I had already purchased her ring.

So first and foremost, I have to travel back in time to October. I was beginning to realize that Christi Anne was the right girl for me, the one I wanted to be my wife. So I began making the necessary preparations to ask her to marry me. I spoke with her older brother and mentioned my intentions and asked for his parents’ phone number, (who are in Minnesota serving as Mission President in the Minneapolis Mission). I called them, nervously, and began to talk to Christi Anne’s father, first introducing myself and talking to him a little bit about me and how I’d like to get to know them and give them a chance to get to know me. I told him I wanted to fly out Minneapolis and stay there for a night and take he and his wife to dinner and get to know one another. We looked at schedules and agreed that Saturday, November 22 would be the optimal night for me to fly out. So I bought a plane ticket right then, and told him I’d be in touch for final plans. I spoke with my boss and told him I was flying to Minneapolis to talk to my girlfriends’ parents, particularly to ask her father’s permission to marry his daughter. So I schemed up a plan to have my boss “send” me on a business trip to a convention in San Francisco that weekend. He sent me an official E-mail with the trip details. I showed Christi Anne the e-mail and she was sold. I had her drop me off at the airport and I was off to Minneapolis. I spent a wonderful night there with her parents and had the great opportunity to get to know them a little bit as well as spend some time with Lori Beth, Christi’s beautiful little sister. It was a great experience, very nerve racking, but great. I had the opportunity to speak with Mark alone and talk to him of my intentions to marry his daughter. It was a memorable experience, and he conceded. He gave me some great advice and I slept that night dreaming about the fact that I was actually going to be asking Christi Anne to marry me. The next day they drove me to the airport and dropped me off to head back to Salt Lake City Utah. When I arrived, I delayed in calling Christi Anne to pick me up so she would see that my arrival time coincided with a flight from California in case she checked flight schedules online, which wouldn’t be abnormal. So she picked me up about an hour after I landed and we talked about my “convention” for a brief time driving out from the airport. Then I asked her if she loved me, which she responded that she did. Then I asked if she loved me no matter what? She curiously responded that she did. I told her that I didn’t just get back from a convention in San Francisco, but that I had just returned from spending a night with her parents in Minneapolis. She about crashed the car. She was a little surprised. It was awesome. So the stage was set, I had talked to her parents, and the real preparations could begin.

Strangely enough, Christi Anne went to Minnesota the following week for Thanksgiving. Weird to think we were both out there a week apart, and she initially had no idea. So I went to work finalizing some of the details of my ingenious plan. Previous to all this, I had begun writing a song for Christi Anne that just needed some final touches. I worked hard on it that week to finalize it. It was my plan to play it for her when I asked her to marry me. So I finished that. Now back to her ring. Her ring came in with the diamond set and everything perfect like I wanted it that week while she was gone. Also, I had made reservations for us to go on a sleigh ride in Park City up to a lodge restaurant the night of December 6, 2008 and I finalized those reservations that week. Then I scouted out my decided location at the Draper Temple, had my brother Jason go with me as I explained to him my scheme. Everything was set. So Christi Anne got back from Minnesota that weekend after Thanksgiving and I had a plan, a song, and a ring waiting for her. I was jumping out of my skin having to wait for 6 more days to propose to her.

So we went about our week as normal and sometime mid-week I told her that I was planning a date for us on Saturday and to not make plans. I told her I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be a group date or just us, but I’d let her know. I was planting the seed. I had to make one final preparation before Saturday and that was to order ring box with an LCD light so that she could easily see the ring when I presented it to her in the darkness of the unfinished temple grounds. So I had one rush-ordered to my house for it to arrive in time, and it happened to just barely come in time on Saturday. So then toward the end of the week on like Thursday, I wanted to try to sweeten the surprise a little more so I brought up the subject of the ring again. I asked her if she was getting harassed by people about the fact that we weren’t yet engaged. She mentioned that some people said stuff but she didn’t mind, and she asked why I asked. I simply said, “Well, it’s the holidays and it turns out that jewelers are all backed up this time of year, and it might take a few more weeks for me to finalize a ring than I had planned.” She smiled and acted as if this wasn’t a concern, although I knew it made her a little uneasy… So we went on about that night and I left it at that. When Saturday came, I told her to dress nice and also to dress warm. She asked what we were doing and I told her it’s a surprise. When I picked her up, she looked beautiful! But she always does. When we got in the car I told her that my brother and his girlfriend, who I was thinking about inviting, weren’t going to be able to come. So it was just us. Of course they were never going to come; I just wanted her to not think it was an abnormal date. In all of it, I realized that she would probably have suspicions and I decided I didn’t necessarily want to keep it a secret that this was the night, but I more wanted to keep her guessing as to when it would happen.

So we drove up to Park City as she continually was asking what we were doing. I kept quiet until we arrived at the Park City resort for the Sleigh Ride. We walked to the meeting place where someone mentioned that this was where we meet for the Sleigh Ride, and she flipped when she heard what we were going to do. We were both really excited as we saw the horse-drawn sleighs ride down the mountain. As we got on the Sleigh, I mentioned that this was an anniversary of our first meeting in Jerusalem, and of our First date 6 months previous. She was excited and kissed me, although I think she was a little disappointed hoping that the occasion wasn’t just in celebration of the 6 month anniversary of our first date. So it took us up to a lodge where we had a nice dinner and had a great evening. As the sleigh took us back down, I knew she was suspecting whether I had some set plan to propose to her. I didn’t. We then got in the car and started driving. She asked where we were going next and I mentioned we were off to activity number 2. We drove down to Salt Lake and we stopped by Temple Square where she realized we were going to look at the lights. We went and walked around Temple Square and had a great time. I specifically took us over inside the direct Temple gates where we stopped at a somewhat secluded spot and stared at the temple hugging. I figure she’d think that I was possibly going to propose there. I didn’t. We then walked out of Temple Square and walked down Main Street. I mentioned I needed to blow my nose and asked if it was ok for us to go into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We went in and I immediately went to the elevators and pushed the top floor. I knew she might be a little suspicious about this as well. We went over and looked out the windows overlooking Temple Square. We hugged there for a minute and talked. She undoubtedly thought I was going to propose there. I didn't. So then we left.

We began driving back to Draper when my brother Jason sent me a text at a pre-determined time set by me just asking how the night was going. This was the key moment for me to send him up to the Draper Temple to make the preparations for the proposal. I told him it was going great and asked what he was doing. I knew Christi Anne would be looking over to what/whom I was texting so I told her it was Jason and that they were sorry they couldn’t come that night. Jason texted me again and asked where I was, so this was the moment I told him we were on the freeway about 53^rd south. This was the code to send him up to the Draper Temple. So we made it to the Draper exit and I nonchalantly asked Christi Anne what she wanted to do with the rest of the night. I told her I was a little tired, and she sadly asked if I wanted to take her home. I said, “well if I take you home I’ll come in and sit and talk with you for a bit before I leave. I don’t just want to drop you off.” She consented to the boring thought and we drove up 12300 S.

As we descended down the hill toward her house, we had a clear view of the new Draper Temple and Christi Anne brought up the fact that we went there on our first date 6 months ago. She asked if I remembered that night, which of course I did. Then she ironically brought up the funny fact that she made an engagement comment up there on our very first date. We both laughed and I tried not to smirk at how funny and perfectly this was developing into my plan. So I kept driving until I reached her street where I turned on my blinker to turn and at the last second asked if she wanted to take a drive up to the Temple in commemoration. She excitedly said yes. We drove up to there and I was about to burst from nervous excitement. We pulled in and drove around the Temple first while I scoped everything out to make sure all was set. We parked where we had parked on our first date and got out of the car and walked toward the Temple. Now Jason was hiding behind one of the planters with a video camera in hand. He had stashed my guitar and the ring box in another planter where I had previously chosen. We walked for a brief moment and reminisced of our first date. Then I led her over to the bench beside this planter and asked her to sit down. I reached over and grabbed my guitar and asked if I could play her a song. She held back a curious, confused, excited smile and said yes I could. I told her I had written the song for her, and that it was about her and I hoped she’d like it.

I played her the song as my fingers were going numb in the brisk winter air, and surprisingly it went pretty well. At the end of the song, I set the guitar down and reached over and grabbed the ring box. I then got on my knee and asked her if she would make me the happiest man who ever lived in the history of this planet by marrying me. She said yes and we stood up and kissed and hugged while my brother Jason stepped out of hiding and recorded us. This went on for a time and I showed her the ring again and she took it out of the box and put it on her finger. Ha ha, this was funny. So I asked if it was ok for me to put it on her finger, and she removed it and handed it to me embarrassed. I put it back on her finger and we hugged and kissed some more. While doing so, Jason came closer and was talking to us and video recording us while we stared into each others’ eyes. While she wasn’t paying attention, I reached my open hand behind my back for Jason to hand me the Wedding band that goes along with the ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and put it in my hand which I quickly put in my pocket without her noticing. We then decided to get her camera out of my car and take some pictures. While she was leaning into the car and grabbing her camera, I slid the wedding band ring into the empty ring box and put it back in my pocket. We then went back to the spot and staged the engagement again and took some pictures. So I pulled the box out and got on my knee again and opened the box while Jason took some pictures. It took her a second to look down at what she thought was the empty box when she noticed a new shiny accessory occupying the space to which she replied, “what in the heck is that?!!” Ha ha, it was funny. So I explained it was the wedding band and it would go with the ring on her finger once we’re married. We spent a little more time at the Temple until we decided to go down and celebrate at my parents’ house.

This is the story of our engagement. And despite what she might say, she had no idea I was going to propose to her when I did and how I did, and it was awesome!!!