It's finally happening

Tanner's: To ensure that I had everyone’s help to perform the greatest deception of all time, I had to print off a master plan that outlined everyone’s role. I knew I needed everyone’s help because if I had to trick Josie by myself, it would surely fail. The day before we left for Colorado, Grandma almost spilled the beans as Josie was standing there but luckily, Josie didn't think twice about it. On our way to Colorado, my family followed closely behind with their locations off so that Josie would not accidentally see that they were coming as well and Josie did somehow notice that Rylee’s location on Snapchat was off. Bullet dodged! The night before the proposal, Kim and Jaci faked altitude sickness so that we had to skip our scheduled hike right away the next morning. I had to leave the room because I was laughing so hard. Josie pushed back because “Tanner really wanted to go on the hike”, so they had to come up with another lie… “the concierge said it was too muddy to go on our hike.” Instead, we’ll go to brunch and spend the day shopping. On the way to “brunch”, Jamie did a great job at playing off that he had heard good things about this little hike/overlook that we should stop quickly at on the way. As soon as we parked, I texted my family who was parked about .5 mi down the road waiting for our signal. Little did I know, they were there at 6:30AM scoping out the hike to see where they could hide. We hiked the long way around the loop and my family hiked the short way so they could meet us at the overlook in “disguises” so Josie would not recognize them. When we made it to the turnoff, Josie and I took a picture with our backs to the camera overlooking the scenery. I bought time talking to her so that Jonas could wave my family over and give them time to watch. Through my heart beating out of my chest, I was able to get the words out, and she said yes. It was very special to have our two families there to watch the whole thing. Josie's: When we arrived at the lodge, I was adamant about wanting to hike the next morning, knowing that Tanner was super excited to do that type of stuff. I thought my sister and mom were being lame saying they were having ‘altitude sickness’ as I tried to motivate everyone to push through and do the hike. They told me about what the concierge said about the weather, so I had to let it go. The next morning, I was told we were going to eat some brunch and spend the day shopping around nearby towns to ease into the altitude before doing any hikes. I got dressed, wearing athletic shorts and a tank top, and my sister looked me up and down and talked me into “dressing up a bit more”. Driving to brunch, I was very happy-go-lucky looking out the window, as I realized now everyone else in the car was about to throw up from nerves. My dad suddenly pulled the car into this overpass because he wanted to walk around to check it out. If anyone else had asked to pull the car over, I would’ve cracked the code instantly. He’s like me and doesn’t skip breakfast unless it’s on his own terms. We got out of the car and started to walk around, and I saw Jonas and Jaci walking way ahead of us. I thought it was a bit strange because usually they would be fighting to push each other over the ledge. We came across an open area that had the perfect aesthetic background. Tanner asked if we wanted a picture. For just taking a picture, I thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He dove into conversation and then popped the question. I glanced at my dad, wondering if he was in on it, only to find him front and center, beaming and recording with the camera. As I tried to process it all, Tanner's family moved closer, and it was like a scene from Scooby-Doo where everything finally made sense! I’m still amazed by how I didn't notice all the "AHA" moments that occurred leading up to that moment on vacation. I still laugh and am impressed by how well Tanner planned everything to make that day so heartwarming.