After a long spring of training kids in soccer for myself and a grueling work schedule for Alyssa, we decided to take a trip to our neighbors in the north in good old Vancouver. Prior to our trip, I had to purchase a shiny ring with a particular type of rock on it. I got the ring a month before the trip and had it hidden where I knew she would never find it, a pair of some older (and probably a little stinky) running shoes. It was stowed away in a thin ring box that I had to buy on Amazon because the one it came in was MASSIVE and would've been found almost immediately. For whatever reason, I was actually pretty nervous going through security at the airport because I didn't know if some unidentified object would show up on the x-ray and they'd force me to take it out. Anyway, there were thankfully no issues at security and I was feeling much better. But there was still one big problem: I had known I was going to pop the big question on this trip for awhile, but had ZERO CLUE as to when and where. I'll spare you all the details of the trip, but I carried the ring on me EVERY DAY we were there. I could feel the heat scalding me as it was burning a hole in my rain jacket's hidden pocket. I figured the perfect time and moment would come and it would be so natural and so easy. I just knew when we were planning to go see the Olympic Rings in Whistler, I would be the corniest man in all of British Columbia and would say, "these rings are nice, but what about this one?" (I mean, honestly, does it get any worst than that) Who knew there was a sports bar ten feet away from the rings and a park with obnoxious children running around directly behind it. Location 1: failure. I had also envisioned we would be on a hike in the mountains somewhere, with the sun shining, little birds singing and flying around - basically a Disney movie. Well, we definitely went on some hikes, but they were more like a horror film than anything else. Wet, rainy, cold, muddy, BEARS IN THE AREA. No joke, we heard some crazy noise in the middle of the forest on a mountain and I legitimately thought that was it. When in reality, there's some special bird out there that makes some wild noises that would make any inexperienced hiker (us) fear for their life. Location 2: failure. Finally, there was a glimmer of hope. One day during the latter half of the trip, we visited Kitsilano Beach to check out the area and see how their beach towns compared to ours. For a little break, we sat on an unassuming bench, overlooking the water and the mountains in the background. This is it, this is the spot.... and now comes crunch time. On our LAST DAY in Vancouver, yes you read that right, the weather was beautiful and we planned to go back to Kitsilano. Boarding our flight in mere hours, I strategically planned our walk around town to enable us to sit at the same unassuming bench for a little. We turned the corner to find our bench and there it is... with a family of 6 sitting there while the kids run around and throw rocks into the water. Location 3: failu- NOPE not letting it happen. We sat at a bench not too far away, with the same view of the water and the mountains. There was no way I was going to let this location slip away. I went down to the waterline to skip rocks and invited Alyssa down with me. Thankfully the family had finally left the area and it was just the two of us. Lyss said she wanted to build a "rock person" and started looking for perfectly shaped rocks. As she turned around, I knew my moment had come, so I took the ring out of my pocket, and when she turned back I said, "how about this rock?" Can you guess what she said, as she stared in shock and disbelief? If you guessed, "are you serious?!" you'd be the winner. To which I, dumbfounded, replied, "no, this is actually a fake ring - obviously I'm serious." Eventually, she gave me a proper yes! Hope you enjoyed this little story - we can't wait to celebrate with you all!