The oil and gas company I used to work for has a condo in Winter Park, Colorado that employees can use five nights a year basically for free. It’s a very nice benefit. The condo has three bedrooms, three baths, a full kitchen and the most amazing view.

One year I took my parents, brothers and David there for Thanksgiving. We had a blast! We went on a sleigh ride. We took snowboarding lessons and decided very quickly that snowboarding wasn’t for us. Being from Dallas, we had a lot of fun just playing in the snow.

The last night we were there, David took me to a fabulous German restaurant. I ate until I thought I was going to be sick. There was a cheese course, an appetizer, a salad and a main course. It was all so good. And then our waitress told us they had white chocolate raspberry creme brulee for dessert. Now, I love dessert, but creme brulee is my favorite of all desserts, so even though I was stuffed I ate every bite of that creme brulee. It was heavenly.

After dinner, David wanted to go for a walk. Snow was falling. It was beautiful. He was singing to me. But I was freezing! And sooo full. I wanted to go back to the condo.

He said, “Oh, let’s walk over there to that bridge.”

And then walked over there, and I said, “Okay, we’re here, now let’s go back to the condo.”

Finally he just got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. It was a gorgeous princess cut diamond. It was so romantic. I was not expecting a proposal that night. I said yes (See? The way to a woman’s heart is her stomach!) and we went back to the condo.

I didn’t want to announce it to my family. I wanted someone to notice the ring.

My brothers were watching something on the television. I remeber sticking my hands out and asking my brother to dance with me. He looked at me like I was insane. Then, I held up two different shirts and said, “Mom which one should I wear tomorrow? This one or this one?” Heavy emphasis on the one in my left hand.

“I don’t care,” my mother replied.

After half an hour of this, I was growing impatient. I knew David had asked for my father’s permission, so I finally whispered to Dad, “No one is noticing!”

“Look at your daughter’s hand,” my father told my mother. She looked and gasped and started crying.

Then my brothers came running and were like, “Oh, that’s why you were acting so weird.”

At the airport the next morning I bought lots of bridal magazines. I’d never let myself look at them before. All of David’s family was planning to get together the afternoon we got back, so we decided I should take off the engagement ring and put it back on when the whole family was together so we could tell everyone all at once.

David’s family was the complete opposite of my family. As soon as we saw them, they were examining my left hand. David hadn’t told his family (and his sister had picked up the engagement ring back in July so she probably thought he was never going to pop the question!). I don’t know how they knew, but they were expecting it.

And then, the real madness began…to be continued!

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