Shortly after Jenn and I began dating, I was struck with the realization that God had put her in my life for a reason and that she would one day be my wife. The hard part was figuring out a proposal that would surprise her and honor the amazing woman she is. Jenn is infinitely curious and so she loves to ask questions. I knew that keeping the secret would be very difficult, but I enlisted her best friend, Laura, and began to develop a plan. 

Laura took charge of helping to get Jenn to actually go and try on rings. On their first trip out Jenn found the perfect ring while Laura took copious mental notes. Laura was great in her deception because Jenn never caught on that we were communicating behind the scenes to surprise her. 

After receiving the ring details from Laura, I began planning the proposal. The plan went through several iterations, but I finally landed on proposing during our trip to Vegas that Jenn had planned for my birthday. I couldn't think of a more perfect birthday gift than her hand in marriage.

When we set out to Vegas I was nervous and excited. Jenn began to become suspicious of me when I asked her if it was ok to wake up early, like really early, one of the mornings we were in Vegas. She was a trooper and agreed to wake up at 5:30 am to begin our day. When we walked out the hotel that morning Jenn was surprised to see nothing else, but a limo parked in front and Ed, the driver, waiting by the door with a smile on his face and a glint in his eye. Ed greeted us and ushered us into the limo. 

As he began driving further and further away from the Vegas strip, Jenn began to ask more and more questions. We drove towards the mountains and ended up at Red Rock Canyon. It was here that I was going to ask for her to be my forever. Ed found a scenic stopping point and we got out of the limo to look around.

Jenn declared at that moment she wanted to go hiking, despite being in sandals! I tried my best to make sure that our driver Ed was near to take pictures when I asked, but Jenn was off and I didn't get a chance to talk with Ed. When she stopped I told her I was going to go get Ed to take a picture of us. She was emphatic that we were not going to make poor Ed in his three piece suit hike out to the rocks, but I had other plans and Ed had already agreed to do it.

When Ed arrived Jenn began to pull me close to take a picture, but in my nervous state I pulled away. She looked at Ed and laughed, but when she looked back I was down on one knee staring back at her with a smile from ear to ear. I asked her to marry me and she said yes...after having to be reminded that she had taken the ring, but never actually say yes! We celebrated the remainder of the trip. After, we began our journey to our wedding and ultimately our forever!