We met playing softball in 2013. Carlee had just moved to Seattle and was looking for ways to meet new people. It wasn't until the end of the season that we became friends and started spending time with one another. We quickly found out that we had a lot in common and spent the next two years nurturing a friendship. We sang a lot of karaoke......a lot of karaoke, while Carlee slowly convinced me that I couldn't live without her. After Carlee broke her leg in 2015 and spent several months recovering on my couch, I knew that I never wanted her to leave.

I spent weeks trying to figure out the perfect way to propose to Carlee. I thought that maybe I should propose at Christmas because it is her favorite time of year. Too obvious. I knew she'd be expecting it. We were about to go on a several week trip to Kenya, but the logistics of getting a ring there without her knowing was too stressful. Instead I decided to take her somewhere she loves, to the snow. She had never been to Leavenworth, a Bavarian style village in the Cascade Mountains, so I planned a romantic overnight to a quaint hotel in the middle of town. I had a feeling that she was onto me and knew a proposal was coming so to throw her off I decided to wait until the next morning to pop the question. The night before we walked around town looking at Christmas lights, had dinner and bought an expensive bottle of wine that we continued to fight about for the next few hours. We drank our fight inducing bottle of wine in our jacuzzi tub and called it a night. The next morning we had breakfast before heading to find the perfect spot to make a snow angel. I took Carlee to Waterfront Park. While she pointed out several spots where we could easily make a snow angel, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. We made it to the river where there was a beautiful view of the water. It was so quiet that morning, the only sound was a nearby flute player. Seriously, I can't make that up.........Carlee here... so we will finish the story from my perspective. We each made a snow angel, Stacy is a pro so they looked perfect. She suggested we put our initials in them, which is quite hard in the snow. While I was distracted she drew a heart and placed the box in the snow. I looked RIGHT past it and got up to walk away. She pointed out that black thing in the snow. I can't repeat the words that came out of my mouth next (even though it came out about 9 times that moment). Even though I knew it was coming, I couldn't have prepared for how I would feel in that moment. :)