I cannot tell a lie. I lied. It was the only way to surprise Kylie. Besides, it was just one of those harmless little white ones that ultimately lead to something bigger and better, so I feel no shame. Yep, earlier in the week Kylie asked if we were doing anything on Friday night or if she should schedule a girls' night. I told her to go ahead and do something with one of her friends because I had photography work to catch up on, and with that the stage was set. Since we weren't doing anything together, she would never expect that would be the night. Now I was just hoping I had contact info for whatever friend she was going to do something with so I could ask them to help me out by canceling at the last minute. Fast forward to Friday night. Kylie's plans had fallen through, so I casually mentioned we could go grab some quick dinner before I headed home to work on some photography stuff. She said she needed to go to the grocery store so I said no prob, I'd go with her since I needed a few things, too, but first - and this is where the lying comes in - I told her Darlene (my realtor) had called and said the security system guy wanted to meet us at the house I'm closing on at the end of the month to have me sign a couple papers for insurance purposes. "Should only take a couple minutes" I told her. What she didn't know was that there was no security system guy. Instead, I had talked with Darlene the day before and told her what I wanted to do, and in typical Darlene fashion she went out of her way to help. She called the seller of the house and asked if I could have the key for a few hours on Friday night to propose, and they were gracious enough to agree. I say gracious because technically if anything was too happen to the house while we were there, it's still in their name and under their insurance. Not only did they agree to it, they had the lawn mowed and tidied up so everything would look perfect. Awesome. I also solicited the help of my friend, Tina, to help add a few finishing touches. I had photographed the ring and added a few messages and needed her help to frame the images and put them up in the new house before we got there. She also picked up some roses & rose pedals and set out some champaign and strawberries to add some ambiance. To top it off, she arranged to have the CD playing when we walked in with some songs I had put together that were meaningful to Kylie and I. So we get to the house and I told Kylie Darlene was running a few minutes behind but that she asked the sellers earlier in the day to leave the key in a hidden spot because her electronic security code box thingy to access the key wasn't working. (Okay, so I told two white lies to Kylie). I told Kylie Darlene told me where the key was and to go on in when we got there and she'd meet us there in a few. Yeah, um, Darlene wasn't coming. We walked into the house and a few seconds later we went into the living room where TIna had set everything up. Kylie saw the the photos on the mantle but it didn't really register. Keep in mind we were far enough away that you couldn't really see what the photos were of, but she had a puzzled look on her face because she couldn't understand why the sellers would put up photos after they'd basically already sold the house. Then I started talking to her and told her that I didn't want the house to be my first house, but instead our first house. I said a couple other things and then followed tradition and got down on one knee and presented the ring and asked her if she would do the honor of being my wife. As you can see, the rest is history.

After taking a few more photos, I told her we needed to go get dressed up and head downtown because we had dinner reservations down at Craft at the W hotel.

A view from the W.

Thanks to all who have gone out of their way already to say thank you and wish us well. We're very blessed to have such fantastic people in our lives. We're excited about the road ahead and to see what God has planned for us. Now, I can't wait to wear those tux pants with the adjustable waist size. Greatest thing ever. Well, maybe after the iPhone.