We're so excited to celebrate with you!

I've never been known to be the sappy type, outside the occasional date night, those close to me know me to be jovial and light-hearted. When Jess asked me to write a story of how we met, my vision of how she wanted this story to sound was something so cheesy, so sappy... something only fans of romance novels would enjoy reading. So I find it suiting that I should tell this story in my own verbiage. It was mid-July in 2016 when I was invited to go tubing up in Boulder. For those who don't know (or for those that have experienced tubing trips in southern Missouri) this 'river' was more like a creek. Nevertheless, a beautiful summer day can't be squandered and the blistering heat of the sun, combined with the elevation, requires one to stay hydrated. Rather unfortunate for me, the only liquids in my possession was a 12-pack of beer. When we arrived at the launch point, I stood in awe at this absolute babe who was joining our group. As is pleasantry, I went around and introduced myself to everyone. This absolute babe now has a name: Jessica, but she goes by Jess. I now had an objective (besides getting a buzz): to get to know this 'Jess.' And that's exactly what I did. For the entirety of the float trip I would try to get close to her and chat her up. If she was falling behind upstream, you can guarantee that I was grabbing rocks, trees, bushes- anything I could to slow-up so that I could stay by her. I would ask her questions, attempt conversation, and try to add a little charm whenever I could. In truth, and in retrospect, Jess told me that she hardly remembered me after all of my 'charming' attempts. lol The float trip ended and it was time to go home which meant I had to say goodbye to this woman that I had spent so much time trying to attract attention from. I quickly went home and Facebook-creeped her. I knew I needed another chance, but how? Well to my luck, I would get a second chance, but I would have to wait another year...

*Wow, you're still reading? What do you think the odds are that people continued to the next part of my story? Kinda like when you look at your Snapchat story and 80 people viewed your first post but only 40 people viewed your second... you boomers won't understand that reference. Anyways. Fast forward to the summer of '17. I moved back to Denver after graduating school and moved in with my brother and his girlfriend (now wife). It was a beautiful summer afternoon when a group of us guys decided to go to the Ruby Hill dirt jump park. (For like 90% of you: this is a park where you hit jumps on a bicycle. I once wrecked myself so hard that I've sworn off the sport. Interestingly enough that leads us to the next part of our story) Our friend Marshall suffered a concussion after wrecking on one of the jumps and we had to take him to the ER. My memory may be fragmented but I'm like 90% sure that while we were in the ER, Marshall's girlfriend (now fiancé, Hana) invited me to a camping trip and informed me Jess would be attending. She also made sure to let me know that Jess thinks I'm cute. This was not the case. In fact, Jess hardly remembered me. lol And I believed it, but hey, it gave me the confidence that I needed to engage more with Jess and land my first kiss! When the sunrise came, and the camping trip was coming to a close, I got her number. How do you like them apples?! (sorry for the Good Will Hunting reference, I couldn't resist)

Sweet, I have her number! Now how do you text romantically? Don't come on too strong. Keep it amiable. You got this! Now, reread your text 8 times before hitting send and then pace nervously because you have no idea how they'll take it. She responded back positively. We're golden. We've got a first date on the books. In Denver, there's a lovely venue next to the Rockies stadium where all the drunk baseball fans go after the game and get even more drunk: The Tavern. You may be thinking that this is a poor choice of location, however, I'm playing 4-D chess here. First dates are awkward. If there's a guy puking in the corner of the room while another guy is getting kicked out by security... that cuts through the awkwardness and provides free entertainment. Dinner and a show? You bet. When the dust had settled, our first date went by without a hitch. As did the following few dates. Jess might tell this story differently, but we were sitting atop the roof of Linger (this trendy restaurant in the Denver) when Jess actually asked to be my girlfriend. Aren't guys supposed to ask? Well after she wielded a steak knife and pointed it at me, I agreed to be her boyfriend. My memory is a little foggy but I'm like pretty sure that last sentence is true. Regardless, we were now officially dating! Quick, login to Facebook and change your relationship status! That truly is the sign that things are official when you change your FB status. We can all laugh at the silliness of that last sentence, but it is truly your announcement to the world that you're dating. Anyways. Our relationship continued to blossom over the course of the next few years. We moved in together and started a family (we adopted a cat but she was basically like a daughter). And as I peered into the future, a future where I would share my life with this woman, I realized the next step: I gotta wife her up.

We went ring shopping together. We must've hit every store in town before finally finding the 'one.' You took her to pick out her ring? Isn't it supposed to be a surprise?? Much like Christmas shopping, you need to tell me EXACTLY what you want. I need size, color, shape, etc. No difference when it comes to the engagement ring, except this ring will be worn for the rest of your life and cannot be stuffed into the storage closet with all the other miscued Christmas gifts. (I once bought Jess a back massager. She used it twice and now it's buried somewhere in storage.) Anyways, I received a text from the jeweler and told Jess I needed to run to the store to pick up an onion for dinner. However, when I returned, Jess was sat in the main room and saw me carrying a fancy black and gold bag. She grinned from ear-to-ear when she said, "That looks like an expensive onion." It was. Now with the ring in my possession and the blessing from the parents, my last step is to coordinate the proposal. I found out later that doing fancy proposals is something localized to the newer generations. My father told me he was sitting on the couch with my mom when he leaned over and said, "Cindy, wanna get married?" It would take 2 failed attempts at proposing before I finally dropped the knee. My first attempt was a camping trip up in the mountains. Zeus & Poseidon must've been rolling on the floor laughing because they made it pour rain on us the entire 3 days. Absolute downpour. We cowered in our tents as the temperature dropped to 40 degrees and the rain pelted our tents. "Chase, are you still gonna propose?" Not a chance. Take 2. During autumn here in Colorado, the aspen trees change color and shed their leaves. There's about a 2 week window to see these streaks of orange trees intermingled with the evergreens. This is how I'm going to do it: plan a hike through the aspens.. I'll invite some friends.. it'll be perfect! Nope, gotta travel that weekend. FML.

Frustrated and flustered at two planned proposals gone wrong, I was absolutely determined to make the next attempt work. But again, nature would test us once more. It was my birthday weekend and we planned a cabin trip in Breck. We had a bunch of friends and family with us, the scenery was beautiful, this was going to happen. I was so determined to make this happen that I told our friend not to get me a birthday cake but rather get a happy engagement cake. There's no backing out now. Saturday morning came and it was an absolute blizzard outside. White-out conditions and the winds ripping through the trees at a velocity only matched by a hurricane. "Who wants to go on a hike?" In a rather warranted response, Jess says, "Are you crazy? Have you actually lost your mind?" Meanwhile, everyone else in the group knew what I had planned and accordingly began bundling up in their warmest winter gear. Jess probably thought we had all gone crazy for wanting to go hiking in a blizzard, but she soon followed suit and bundled up. As we walked to the lookout point overseeing the Dillon Reservoir, I needed windshield wipers for my eyeballs. Dumping snow. I walked out first as the rest of the group stood back at the entrance. The snow suddenly stopped dropping and the sun came out. From blizzard to beautiful in the matter of seconds. "Jess, will you come here?" Her facial expression instantly shifted from 'this hike is crazy' to that resembling a sad puppy. I struggled to mumble out the speech I had prepared, fighting the tears and emotions that overcame me. I don't think I even made it through the first sentence before abandoning the speech and dropping to a knee. "Jess, will you marry me?" "Yes," she said.