4th times the charm

The story goes something like this...

With precious cargo on board I stepped on the plane keeping a closer eye on my bag this time. This weekend was going to be one of a kind. This weekend I was leaving single and coming back engaged (at least I hoped :).

The plan was as followed...

Saturday: Go to Sam's baptism, afterwards head to the hills to snowboard and propose on top of the mountain, then return to her place for a romantic candle light dinner set up by Mom and Devin.

That was the plan at least, but today the plans had a mind of their own...and decided to play tricks on me.

We reached Sundance ski resort after a memorable drive up the canyon passing the frozen water falls and the car that slid off the road landing nose down in the creek. This should have been a sign that not everything goes as planned.

This was Amber's first time snowboarding so we started off on the tow line. Well if you have ever been snowboarding you can recall the first time as being one of the most frustrating days of your life. I remember mine, I just wanted to quit and was mad at everyone trying to help me. Well, after stumbling several times frustration was setting in on Amber and I began to think that this wasn't such a good idea. What if she said "no" out of frustrations?!? We took the lift up twice and on the second time was show time. We got off the lift and I tried to get Amber to walk over to a more secluded area but she didn't want to unbuckle the board and take the walk. Strike one.

So I think, "well, I'll just find a spot lower on the mountain." and we start so ski down.

A little further down now, I motion for Amber to come join me, which she did...But I watched as she wasn't wanting to stop along and continued down the mountatin. Strike two.

We reached the bottom and having missed my chances on the mountain we headed back to the car.

Determined to make it happen today I texted Devin the alarming news, "It didn't happen...but proceed with the plans. We'll be home in about an hour."

On our way down through the canyon I told Amber to pull off to one of the parks along the canyon so we could "take more pictures of us", secretly thinking I could find a pretty spot to propose. As we traveled up towards South Fork a policeman decides to worry us by following us. We SLOWLY drive all the way up to the park only to find a park that wasn't that pretty, the sunlight nearly gone (ruining any hope of pictures) and a cop that just needed to use the restroom. So I decided to just head back home, thinking I could ask her during the romantic dinner. Strike three.

About 10 minutes before reaching her apartment I text Devin, "we'll be home in 10, how are things going?" and I wait...and wait....nothing. Starting to get a little nervous I text him again as we are pulling into Amber's apartment complex, "We're pulling in, where are you at?" And again...nothing. As we drive up to her stall we can see lights on in her apartment. Not the soft glow of candle light but the flood light coming from every bulb illuminating brightly in the apartment. Amber thinks it's her roommate which I knew wasn't the case because I had spoken with the roommate. Before I could stall, Amber had parked, jumped out of the car and was running to the apartment leaving the phrase, "grab what you can, and lets go" trailing behind her. I started to shout "wait...wait!!"

Reaching the front door Amber burst inside finding the most unexpected sight...her boyfriend's mother standing in her kitchen. Like two deer caught in the headlights they stared at each other. Finally Amber backed out of the apartment and shut the front door. "uh....TRAVIS!" Down at the car I just shrugged my shoulders and thought, "oh well."

I join her at the top of the steps and went into the apartment together, "surprise" I nonchalantly said. Grinning, Amber is getting a kick out of stumbling upon the surprise not fully understanding the circumstances. I wasn't quite so giddy seeing how this day wasn't as smooth as I intended it to be. I sent her to the back room to wait while we finished getting the table decoration for the dinner. At this point Mom fills me in on the hang ups. All the flower shops were out of Amber's favorite flower (gerber daises) so finally after visiting 4 shops they were able to put a bouquet together. Then the ordered dinner was taking longer to make so Devin dropped off mom to start decorating and he went back for the food. Well Devin's phone died so he took mom's phone which left her unexpecting at the apartment and which is why Devin wasn't answering my texts. When devin got the food he found out they forgot the salmon so he had to wait on that

Finally, after everything was in place I brought Amber out to the candle lit room, with our songs playing in the background. My thought now is that I would propose during dessert. Neither one of us were that hungry but we ate anyway leaving us stuffed. So when I brought on dessert Amber says, "Oh, I can't eat any more. Can we just watch a movie instead."
"Are you sure you don't want dessert??"
"Yeah, I'm stuffed. Let's just watch a movie and we can have dessert after. Can I blow out the candles?"
"uh....(long hesitation)....ok." Strike four.

Well we got through about 30 minutes of the worst chick flick in the world when I couldn't take any more and Amber agreed and said, "I'm really tired, Can I just go to bed."
"Sure" I reluctantly say.

As she heads to the bathroom to start getting ready for bed I start lighting the candles on the table again--One way or another I've got to do it! Desperately thinking I write on a conversation heart which was decorating the table.

"Amber, you need to come back out here"
"I only have one contact in, is that ok?"
"Oh Yeah, that's just fine..."

I explained that we needed to play a game where we picked one of the conversation candy hearts decorating the table and do whatever it says. I select first pulling a heart that says, "big hugs", so I gave her a big hug.

"Alirght your turn," I wait...praying she picks the right heart. She picks THE pink one and reads, "Will you marry me."

That's when I got down on one knee and proposed. Finally Success!

Well that's the story. Not quite as planned but the job was done and she said "Yes". I'm excited to get married to a wonderful girl and start a life together. Special thanks to Devin and Mom. Even though things didn't work out....in actuality they really did. Thanks for your help.

Go to Amber's blog to hear her side.