Our Story

If you want the juicy details, here they are!  If not, then here's the short of it:  I asked her to marry me and she said yes!

Friday (May 3rd) was four months for Nicole and me.  Nicole took me to Elitch's Gardens (an amusement park) since she was able to go with the Jefferson County school's employees.  Lots of fun.

Saturday was my day to treat her.  Nicole, Ryan, Amanda, and I headed to the Boulder reservoir at 5:30am for the Kinetics festival.  I told Nicole that you had to get there early to beat the crowds and enjoy the early activities.  The truth was that I had arranged to take Nicole up in a hot air balloon (several of which were planning to launch at 7:00am). 

When we arrived, there was hardly anybody there.  A little strange to Nicole I'm sure, but the surprise held.  The four of us walked over to where the balloon trucks were parked to check things out.  I even talked to my pilot without Nicole discovering the plans.  However, the pilot informed me that the wind was blowing the wrong direction (West into the mountains) and that they were on hold.

So, we passed the time by attending a pancake breakfast.  After a while, the balloon trucks started to leave.  Not a good sign at all.  (Actually, the ride had been cancelled the prior two Saturdays as well due to weather).  Not to be undone, I made some quick calls and got another activity scheduled.

We hung out at the Kinetics festival for a while longer.  Teams had to build human powered contraptions that would cross water and land, all while sporting some crazy theme and associated costumes.  Very interesting.

We took Ryan and Amanda back, and then headed to the Boulder airport to go gliding.  The glider is towed up to about 10,500 ft (about a mile above the ground, which is about a mile high in Boulder) by a tow plane.  Then it disconnects and our pilot flies the very lightweight glider around, soaring on thermal updrafts.  We flew over the flatirons and saw wonderful mountain views.  We also experienced 2 G's and zero G's for a while.  Our poor stomachs, already on edge from the amusement park and the early rise and the day's sun were worse for the wear.  By the time we got down, we had to sit in the car for awhile before we had the nerve to drive home!  (I'll try to post some pictures here when they are developed).

After resting for awhile, we had some time to talk and share.  I told her a story that still amazes me and always will.  When I was a sophomore in college, I had a late night conversation with John Guzzetta, my roommate and great friend.  I hadn't dated for a couple years and we talked about what the perfect girl for me would be like.  She would be spiritually grounded, fun-loving, beautiful (of course) and so much more.  We started talking about specifically what her name would be.  For almost two hours we guessed what the name of my future wife would be and shot down everything.  Then, I settled on a name.  Nicole (or Nicci).  It was just a fun conversation to have, but news spread to my college friends.  I got teased about it to the point that when I got a new vehicle, it got nicknamed 'Nicole.'

From that day in 1994 on, I never met a Nicole or Nicci until I met Nicole Staples.  Later, I started getting to know Nicole.  Right from the beginning I noticed just how wonderful she was and how much we had in common.  Sharing this story with Nicole (real name Nicole) was so fun.  I told her truthfully that she was everything that I had always looked for and an answer to so many prayers.

We had dinner at the house, and then got dressed up for dancing.  I had the basement decorated in Christmas lights and the band sound system setup to be a mini-dancehall.  After dancing for a while (or tying to dance on my part), I started to get nervous (the moment was approaching).  I had Nicole sit down and then I sang her a song that I had written for her.  I had been working on the music off and on for a month or so, and had had it prerecorded.  I stepped up to the microphone and sang to the music and basically proposed to her in the song.

Nicole didn't know quite what to think (as her jaw was at about her knees).  So, I kneeled before her and told her again that I wanted to marry her.  I reassured her that she was under no pressure to say yes anytime soon.  Not until she was sure.  I gave her the ring.  She was speechless.  No, literally!  She had a hard time talking for quite some time.  I really shocked her!  

She decided she did indeed need to take some time to make sure that she wasn't saying yes just for me.  I took her to the friend's house she was staying at and had to go home without the 'yes' that I sought, but it was okay.  I knew for sure that I was ready and I was prepared to wait.

The next morning (Sunday, May 5th), I picked her up and we had breakfast in a park.  It was a beautiful day.  I saw a few hot air balloons flying.  Nicole told me that she woke up with total peace about spending her future with me and told me yes!!  God was indeed answering our prayers!

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01/26/07