The Proposal!

    Many of you reading my blog have probably already heard this story or at least parts of it anyways. Some of you were even lucky enough to be there in the beautiful mountains of Colorado when I proposed. There are a few reasons I am blogging about this today. One, some of you may not have heard how I proposed. Two, it was a very exciting time in my life. And three, not too many days go by where I don't think about when will be the next chance I get to go skiing. This is especially true now since the last time I went skiing it was amazing and I finally proposed. 

    From the beginning........One part of this story many of you may not have heard of is what I did the night before we left to go skiing. Kaci already knew that I had bought a ring, (let's be honest, I can't keep things from her). I didn't want her getting any ideas that I may be giving it to her any time soon so I told her up front that it would for sure be after the first of the year before I proposed. To further ensure she had no idea about what I was up to, I had her help me hide the ring in my room the night before we left. No, she didn't see the ring, it was in it's box. As soon as she left that night to go home, I got the ring and put it in my book bag that would be with me in the truck at all times.

    We headed out the morning after Christmas on our trip. In Julie and Casey's truck, was Julie, Casey, Gabe, Mom, and Dad. In Amy and Jerad's truck, was Amy, Jerad, Daniel, Bryson, and me. Kaci's parents and brother also came skiing with us and they rode in their vehicle. It was Jeff, Diana, and Cody's first time skiing. Kaci had gone with us a few years before. Anyways, I probably couldn't count how many times I checked my bag that day to make sure the ring was "safe" =] or in other words still there. I don't have a perfect track record when it comes to losing things, especially small things so i was a little cautious to say the least. 

    We got to Copper Mountain where we would be staying in an amazing ski-in ski-out condo right on the mountain. The only way to do it, trust me. At least with big groups anyways. I put my bag with the ring in the room and we headed to get our skis. As soon as we got back I made sure to check my bag again. While everyone else kind of settled down and planned on relaxing in the condo for the night I suggested to Kaci that we go check out the village with full intentions of proposing to her. My plan was perfect until she decided to be the nice amazing sister that she is and ask Cody if he wanted to go, and of course he did. I immediately started thinking of plan B.

    So I got the ring in its box in my jacket without anybody noticing and we headed down to the village. I kept my hand in my pocket the entire time to make sure the ring wasn't going anywhere. We looked around in a few shops that were still open and I was still working on plan B which was get rid of Cody =]. I finally came up with an idea I thought would definitely get rid of him. Cody wasn't 21 at the time, so i suggested to Kaci that we go to the bar at the village for a little while. Unfortunately Cody came too..... great, plan C now. 

    So we went up to the bar and both ordered a drink and watched some sports on the T.V.'s As I was sitting there my brain was running full speed on plan C which was still get rid of Cody. I could not come up with anything so I started a text to send him. It said something along the lines of "I need you to say you're going back to the condo and leave. You will understand later." I had the text all typed out on my phone and was just waiting for the right time to send it. Basically right as I was about to send it, I heard Cody say something to Kaci so I waited. Turns out he told her that his stomach hurt and he was gonna go back to the condo. YES!!!!!!!!! Thank you God! I deleted my text to him and knew that God was looking out for me on that one. 

    Kaci and I finished our drinks and I suggested we go out to the bottom of the slopes where there were these huge flames on stone pedestals. I couldn't have asked for a better night. It had just started to lightly snow and was late enough there weren't any people around. As we were looking up at the beautiful mountain Kaci was getting cold and mentioned we should head back to the condo. 

    I convinced her that it wasn't too bad and we wouldn't be much longer. I checked my pocket again to make sure the ring was still there, because who knows, maybe a mouse had crawled up into my jacket without me knowing it and chewed a hole in my pocket and the ring fell out. You just never know =]. Turns out it was still there, so I distracted Kaci by telling her to look at something behind her and as she was turned around I got on one knee, grabbed the ring out of my pocket and was ready just as she turned around. She was speechless for a second. She was totally clueless that I was going to propose which was exactly what I wanted.

    When we got back to the condo everybody was pretty much sleeping so we decided to wait until morning to tell everyone the news. We woke up and told everyone and then headed out on the mountain for the most amazing day of skiing! It was perfect weather that day and all week for that matter. As I sit here typing this now all I can think about is how bad I want to go back and go skiing! Maybe I'll just set my practice up in CO so that I can go skiing everyday....

Kaci and I after a full day of skiing. We stopped for a quick lunch and that's about it.

The Village at the bottom of the mountain. I proposed by the tree right behind us.

American Eagle ski lift- One of my favorites even though we spent most of our time on the other side of the  mountain.

Bryson and Gabe! They did some sledding every day after the lifts closed.