A common question asked to us, “So, how did you propose?”

 

Answer: I knelt on one knee and asked her. Oh... you want more details do ya? Natalie is better with the details, but I’ll give you the gist of it.

 

STEP 1: QUALIFIER Well, first I had to ask Nord Halls, her father, for permission, and that was probably more scary than asking Natalie. I scheduled a “oil-changing” man date with him to work on my car. I didn’t even know how to do it, and I ended up with a big oil stain in my right arm-pit. But after we were all cleaned up I mustered enough courage to ask. He was nice and told me I was “getting a gem.”

 

STEP 2: THE ACCESSORIES I made sure I had flowers (12 orange roses), suit and tie, and reservations to the nicest restaurant in Salt Lake City. I was working on a tight time-line because it was a Thursday evening and I had to work in the morning. I had originally dreamed up a multiple location escapade through our history with a train ride. I wisely decided simple was better.

 

STEP 3: MAKING IT THROUGH DINNER The food was good, though the cost made it hard to swallow. I was shaking and rambling a bit. I think she got the idea then what was about to happen.

 

STEP 4: SETTING THE SCENE After dinner we walk around the beautiful restaurant’s property. We found a nice little private gazebo-like patio near a river.

 

STEP 5: THE ANGLE I didn’t practice the approach, but I did have a plan. In my coat pocket, I pulled a gift for her. Seeing that they were envelopes, she asked, “What are those?” I said, “They’re a gift for you, open it.” She looked down and the top one read, “To be opened on May 15th, 2008.” She scrolled through the rest. The next one read, “To be opened on our wedding day”, (She started crying about then), then the next one read, “To be opened on our first anniversary.” There were several more up until our 40 anniversary.”

 

STEP 6: THE PROPOSAL I distracted her long enough to pull the ring out of a tiny pocket. I thought it was going to be stuck there. I got down on one knee and asked. It took a couple of minutes before I realized she said, “YES!” And we just enjoyed the rest of the night.