Adventures with Ninjas: Our engagement story

Neal really wanted to go to Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo, and planned a date to go down there a couple weeks before Christmas. We almost weren't able to go, but Neal worked really hard to find a time that we could go. We finally decided on December 23, 2010.

We drove down to Denver that evening, and stood in line for about an hour. It was FREEZING!

See? This is me being "sad cute" because it was cold standing in line.

We finally got inside and wandered around the zoo looking at the gorgeous lights. Neal kept trying to get me to go into a secluded place (and I must admit, I was convinced it was because he just wanted to kiss me in private). He kept acting really strange and I couldn't figure out why he wanted to get me by myself! It actually got to the point where he got kind of frustrated with me.

Finally when we got to the polar bear enclosure, Neal convinced me to go down into the basement (where you can look through glass into the water of the polar bear enclosure...because ya know, polar bears will be swimming in the freezing cold water at 9:30 pm when it's pitch black...and you'll be able to see them through the pitch black water). When we walked into the area there was another couple there and it became VERY obvious that we weren't going to be able to see any polar bears. I immediately turned around and started to walk back up the stairs. Neal grabbed me and said "No, just wait stay here and don't move!" I was very confused, but listened to him and stayed put.

When the other couple left, Neal started getting very fidgety, and kept fiddling with something behind his back. I could NOT figure out what he was doing! It finally started to dawn on me what was probably about to happen. As he pulled the box with the ring in it out from behind his back, he looked at me and whispered,

"Do you kinda sorta wanna be my wife?"

For some reason (which I still don't know, and Neal still won't let me forget) I looked at him and said "Are you serious?" He kind of just stared at me and I exclaimed "Yes!" and started jumping up and down. Neal swears to this time that he looked at me and said sarcastically, "No, I'm just standing here holding a ring for a joke," but I don't remember that part :)

After we had a group of girls take a picture for us, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings, for dinner. No one from our family really knew Neal was going to propose that night, so we slowly started telling family members via phone and text, and dropped a few hints on Facebook (like Neal posting "So this is what being engaged feels like....)

I honestly thought Neal was going to propose on Christmas day, so it didn't even cross my mind that he might be proposing while we were at zoo lights. It came as a complete surprise.

See the pretty lights?? Oh, and the super happy couple.

We dated for seven months before getting engaged (read out dating story here which will also explain why Neal asked me to marry him the way he did). We were engaged for 5 months, and got married May 13, 2011.

We took our engagement pictures in downtown Denver, in February, on a day that it was FREEZING outside. They still turned out amazing, though, and we love them!