James' Story
I first called Lea's parents on Saturday, February 18. Lea was going home to visit her family in March, and I had decided I would like to propose to her in Nebraska, so she could celebrate with her parents and sisters. I realized I needed to book my flight soon, so I had to call her parents really soon.

After a peptalk from my friend Craig, I went outside for a walk and dialed their number. Kim (Lea's mom) answered, and I found out that Tim was in Florida for business. I ended up telling her what I wanted to do and got her blessing. Tim called on Monday and gave me his blessing as well.

Lea was flying to Nebraska on Monday, March 13. I got a flight going out on Thursday, and booked the same return flight she had, which was that Saturday evening.

Over the next few weeks, I bought the ring, and had numerous conversations with Kim and Morgan (one of Lea's sisters). I had never been to Omaha, so I needed their expertise on ideas for where I should propose. I was also working on writing and recording a song for Lea, building this website, and trying to throw Lea off-track so she would have no idea of what we were planning.

Sidenote: Morgan and Kim had some great proposal ideas - a carriage ride, some cool coffee places in Old Town, etc, etc. The carriage ride got scrapped about a week before because of the weather, and all the potential Old Town locations got scrapped the day before because the atmosphere wasn't right.

Even after I had the ring, I was still telling Lea about the research I was doing on diamonds. One day I even went to another jewelry store - in part so I could tell her I went to one! I also asked her to get Sunday, March 19 off work because I had something special planned - hoping that she would think that was when I was maybe planning to propose.

The day before she left I was at her apartment, and I told her I wanted to keep something of hers while she was gone. She said I could and so I asked if I could take this fake rose I had bought her a few weeks before (it's a big, soft rose). I told her I would bring it to the airport on Saturday when I picked her up.

Monday morning I took Lea to the airport. I gave her a sealed manila envelope and told her it had cards for each day she was away. I told her she had to give it to Morgan and let her distribute the card each day. I said that I had called Morgan the day before and asked her to help. That was true, but I had called Morgan about five other times in the weeks prior!

Once she left, I started getting really antsy for Thursday. I also started fighting a cold. In fact, I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday because I wasn't feeling well. I was so nervous about being sick, I drank water and orange juice constantly! I also took the song I had written for Lea and put it on my ipod and set it to a slideshow of pictures and phrases from the song, etc.

Thursday morning I was feeling better. I boarded a flight and arrived in Omaha just before 2 p.m. (I even got bumped up to first class for the flight - but that's another story!) Kim picked me up and took me to their house. Kelsey, Morgan and Lea were out shopping and Kelsey and Morgan were under strict instructions to keep her away from the house until at least 4:15. Kim went to pick up Maddison from school at around 3 - I stayed at the house and tried to breathe! They returned at about 3:45 and we waited for the girls to arrive. Sure enough, just past 4:15 they pulled up and I ran down into the basement and shut the door.

When they came inside, Morgan went and got "the card" for Lea. She told Lea that she was allowed to open a second card that day. Kim suggested that they take video for me, since Lea had said she wanted to do that while she was home. So with Maddison filming, Lea opened my card and read it. Inside the card, I had written, "I can't wait to see you today." Confused by that, Lea said something about it maybe being the wrong card. Kim then pulled out the fake rose and said it had come in the mail for Lea, and there was also a package in the basement for her.

Lea opened the basement door and came down the stairs. When she saw me, she just said "oh my gosh" - over and over again. She was just hugging me saying she couldn't believe it. I told her I made something for her and asked if she wanted to see it. She said yes and I led her over to the couch and sat her down. I had the ipod plugged into some computer speakers and I played the song & slideshow for her. She was crying and smiling and crying and smiling.... When the song got to the bridge (where I sing "Marry Me), a picture of a ring popped up on the slideshow. I got down on my knee by the couch, pulled out the ring box, opened it and asked, "will you marry me?" Lea, still crying, said "of course" and grabbed me and just hugged me and cried and said "yes, yes, yes!"

After a minute or so, I asked, "well, should we see if this thing fits?" - and we put the ring on.

Needless to say, it went great! She hadn't seen it coming and her whole family was a huge help in the planning. It was wonderful to be there with her family for this moment. That night we all went out to dinner to celebrate.

I love Lea so much and am still a bit surprised that she agreed to marry me, but her decision certainly works in my favor!! She is the most beautiful woman in the world - inside and out - and I can't wait to marry her.

Lea's Story
First of all, I am still in shock over the whole thing. James, apparently, had begun planning and carrying out the proposal process 3 weeks in advance of when it actually took place. My sister Morgan and parents were all involved. They kept the secret well! I had no clue!!

Did I mention I am still in shock!? Here’s how it happened…I was planning a trip home to visit my family in Nebraska. The trip was planned from March 13-18th. A few weeks before the trip, James had asked me to take March 19th off from work. This would be the day after I returned to Arizona. I asked him why he wanted me to take that specific day off. He told me he wanted to do something “special” with me the day after I got back. Immediately I thought…“He might propose!” So, like any reasonable girl, I poked and prodded for more information! I asked him what “special” thing he had planned for us. He said “I don’t know.” And after I asked a few more leading and appearingly innocent questions….I realized I wasn’t going to get much more information out of the man. As frustrating as this was, I backed off. I didn’t want to ruin his “special” plans. But on the other hand I was thinking, “He wouldn’t be that obvious about the proposal, would he?” I was perplexed. But I was able to get the day off!

March 12th finally arrived. I was excited about leaving, but also sad because I knew I was going to miss James so much! James came over to my apt. that day and asked if he could keep something of mine while I was gone. I gave him the stuffed rose that he had given me a few weeks ago. He said that he was going to bring it back to me when he picked me up from the airport on Saturday, March 18th. How sweet!!

James insisted on taking me to the airport on March 13th. He gave me a manila envelope, filled with cards, and asked me to give the envelope to my sister Morgan. He said there was a card for me to open for each day that I would be home. I asked him if I could keep the envelope. He said, “No because you’ll just open all the cards at the same time.” No I wouldn’t! Well now that I think about it, I’m sure I would have. So I agreed to give the envelope to Morgan. She was in charge of giving me a card to open each day.

Wednesday rolled around (March 15th). I had been home for three days. It was so wonderful being near my family again. However, I was missing James like crazy!! I was enjoying each and every card from him, and they were making my heart melt. What a charmer!! I talked to him that afternoon and he informed me that he stayed home from work because he was not feeling well. He said that he thought he would be able to go to work the next day, no problem. I missed him even more.

My sisters and I decided to go shopping on Thursday. My mom said she couldn’t go because she had a “doctor’s appointment.” I called James while I was at the mall, and he didn’t answer. I left a message for him to call me, and after several hours of not hearing back from him – I mentioned to my sisters, “This isn’t like James, he usually calls me back or text messages me to let me know he’s in a meeting.” They just kind of shrugged their shoulders and turned away. I was feeling a little ignored…

Anyways…So my sisters and I got home from shopping at approximately 4pm. As we were walking in the door, my sister gave me another card from James. She told me that he wanted me to open two cards from him that day. This didn’t surprise me, since James is so incredibly thoughtful. My mom suggested that we videotape me opening the card so that James could see it. I thought that was a good idea since I wanted to make some video for James while I was at home anyway. He had never been to my home in Nebraska before. I agreed to this suggestion. I sat down and began to open the card. It was very sweet (just like all the others). But at the bottom of this card it said, “I am so excited to see you today!” I told Morgan she gave me the wrong card, and that this card was supposed to be for Saturday, since he was going to pick me up from the airport that day. She said, “No, it’s the right one.” I was completely confused!

Meanwhile, my mom left the room and reappeared with the stuffed rose in her hand. It looked identical to the rose that I gave James before I left. Hmm…She said it had come in the mail for me that day. And before I could say much more, she told me to go check the basement because there was a package waiting for me down there. Honestly, the first thing I thought was, “He wouldn’t mail me an engagement ring with a note attached that said; call me if the answer is yes.” Would he? I wondered.

So I started to walk downstairs and all of the sudden I see James sitting on the couch. OH MY GOSH!! And that’s basically what I said for the next 10 minutes or so. He gave me a big hug and said, “Hi, I missed you.” So many thoughts were racing in my head…. “What is he doing here?...How sweet of him to fly here, and just because he missed me (if you know James, this would not be out of his character)…How did he book a flight so fast?...Now he will get to spend a few days with my family!....etc.” But mostly I just thought….OH MY GOSH!!

In the midst of my disbelief, James asked me to sit down next to him on the couch. He said that he wanted to show me something. He had his IPOD with speakers set up on the end table. A song that I had never heard before started to play. It was beautiful. It was James singing! Then I saw the lyrics to the song flashing across the IPOD screen, and then I saw pictures of us during our times together over the last several months!!! I was amazed and speechless. As the song was playing and as I watched the slideshow of pictures, I realized he had put all of this together for me! James had written and recorded a song for me!! What a wonderful man. I started to cry. Thankfully, James came prepared with a tissue box. Can this get any better!!?

Toward the end of the song, I heard and saw the words “Marry me!” and then I saw a picture of a beautiful diamond ring. WOW! All I could think was, OH MY GOSH! James got down on his knee in front of me and brought out a beautiful wooden box from the middle of nowhere! My heart was beating so fast, and I kept asking myself if what was happening was real. It was then that James asked me to marry him. The first thing I said was, “Of course!” Then I said, “Yes, yes, yes!”

We spent a wonderful next few days celebrating and spending quality time with my family in Nebraska. (Meanwhile, I was still in shock). Then we came back to Arizona, and had a wonderful family dinner/celebration at James’ parent’s house on Sunday. I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal or a more perfect man to marry!