Michael and I were set up with each other, unbeknownst to either of us, by our friends, Kyle and Linnea McGaw. I was living in Denver and went to the gym with Linnea and Kyle. Michael lived up in New Castle, CO, about three hours away, and worked with Kyle. Michael was in town for a work meeting and staying with the McGaws. I had plans with Linnea and Dani to have a girls night after the gym. Linnea told me that Kyle had to work late so she had to invite his coworker that was staying with them. Kyle wasn’t actually working late, so she told them to meet us at this restaurant. Michael arrived, he shared his pizza with me, and the rest, you could say, is history.

Beginning the first year that we were together, we started going to Telluride every December to celebrate Michael’s birthday. December 2023 was no different, and I was excited because we had a great group of people committed to go. Everyone seemed to make it happen, even though it meant that Dani was flying in from Tucson, Stacy was flying out from Telluride to Japan for work at the end of the trip, and Dan and Kaylee were driving straight from Telluride to Phoenix for the holidays. I thought that was so special! Turns out, they were all in on the surprise, which made it even more special that they all made the trip happen. On December 17, most of the group got up to ski. Michael wanted to grab dinner at Allred’s, which is a restaurant at the top of the mountain with amazing views of the town below. They didn’t have reservations, but seated groups on a first-come-first-served basis. Michael suggested that we head up to the restaurant ourselves before they open while we let the rest of the group get ready after the ski day. This made sense to me - why make everyone go wait at a closed restaurant?? When we got to the top, he said the concierge told him we had to check out this lookout area because it had the best views. When we got to the lookout, there were a couple of photographers already there taking pictures of the scenery. They approached us and said they were working on a project and would we mind standing in so they can work on the lighting? This alone didn’t cause any alarm bells because Telluride is full of photographers and we had been asked to stand in on their projects many times before. They took a couple shots, and then told us to turn around and look towards the town below. When I turned back around, Michael was on his knee, ring box in hand. It was perfect. The photographer took us around the mountain to get some engagement shots in, and then we took the gondola back down to the village, where all our friends were ready to greet us at Tomboy Tavern. We had a champagne toast and spent the rest of the evening celebrating throughout the town! It was everything I could have hoped for. We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in Telluride!