We're Gettin' Hitched

It could have started in 2009 when John and Jaime sat in meetings together or attended the same events in the small Summit County mountain community, but that’s not what the Universe had in store. It wasn't until Jaime left the mountains and John was trying not to date women in Summit County that their paths crossed in a different way. Jaime had been trying to date online (or failing at it) and John was just starting to dip his toe in this new online dating world. Not noticing that she looked familiar, John couldn't resist sending a message to the girl who's profile ended with "And you better ski, or you won't see me all winter." Receiving the message, Jaime knew right away there was a familiarness to that bearded face. After some brief messaging, and despite her mistakenly assuming he worked for his direct competitor, he asked to meet again in person. A lunch date turned into a dinner date that lasted nearly 8 hours. It included conversations about their mutual friendships, family and... Her upcoming two months of trips, something that would have stopped most from pursuing a relationship… Not John. He answered her facetime calls from Colombia with a big grin and made plans for her brief time home over New Years including a bluegrass concert and ski trip to Steamboat. After she left again for a month in New York, he made a final grand gesture that solidified their new adventure together... A flight across the country to see her.

John played it cool that morning, knowing if he planned anything, she'd be onto him and let her decide what the days activities were going to entail... It was a typical Bend day, gorgeous in town and warm enough to mountain bike yet just enough snow on the mountain to also be worth skiing. Jaime was on the fence for either and at one point suggesting maybe they should get their holiday shopping out of the way. Luckily, she (wisely) chose skiing at Mt. Bachelor (the irony is not lost here) and they headed up the hill in the zombie hunter. In typical Jaime fashion, she forgot her Ski Pass and had to go in to get it replaced... Something that might have struck a small nerve for John on any other day, but not that day. The time Jaime needed to get a new pass gave him the perfect opportunity to scout a spot with an amazing view to pop the question. She was surprisingly clueless. They met up at the bottom of the lift to start the ski day and take a run (and get the jitters out for John). After the run, John was readying to make the move when Jaime skied right passed him at 100mph and straight passed the turn off he planned. (She's obviously still clueless). To avoid it happening again, John tells her he found some good snow on his first run and to follow him, a good ploy as it wasn't an unusual occurence. As they turned off, John stopped at a point with an amazing view of the 3 sisters (volcano) mountain range. Still clueless as to what John was doing and distracted by 3 people who skied past, Jaime stayed a lazy few feet behind him. As he started taking off his binding and slowly kneeling down, Jaime went to from "what are you doing" to "what, for real" to crying with happiness in a matter of seconds, barely able to say yes as John told her how much they had been through together and how he can't wait for the rest.