Twelve years ago I was sitting in 7th grade math class and asked the boy sitting next to me if he would share his pretzels with me. Who would have thought that twelve years later I would be engaged to that same boy. Crazy how life works out like that.

Last year I shared our entire love story that you can read here.

Our Engagement Story

About 6 months ago josh began talking about this trip he wanted to take in fall to New England. His favorite trip as a kid was a trip to Boston and the greater New England. I was all for this idea because fall, duh.

I started getting a bit suspicious when he kept bringing up this trip again and again, even though fall was months away. Now you have to understand Josh is not much of a planner, like at all. So you would understand my suspicion when he kept repeatedly bringing up planning this trip.

Things got even more suspicious when his mom and sister started asking me questions like, “what does your dream engagement ring looks like?” And “is there anything specific you want when Josh ask you to marry him?”

So obviously I knew it was coming up and with all the talk about Boston I got it stuck in my head that, that was when he was going to ask me to marry him.

Now fast forward a couple months to August.

Josh’s sister and her husband are visiting from Texas for a wedding in Aspen, CO. Nonchalantly they asked us to tag along because “they had an extra room at their Airbnb.” I am always down for a trip to the mountains, especially one of my favorite mountain towns ever. In fact Josh and I were in Aspen just last fall for peak leaf weekend (you can read that post here).

We got to Aspen on Saturday morning. Kaitlyn and Kyle spent most of the day preparing for the wedding they were attending, so Josh and I did a little exploring of our own. Like I said, if you have never been to Aspen or Snowmass I highly recommend it. There are tons of cute restaurants, high end boutiques, and of course outdoor activities.

That night we began to talk about what hike we were going to do in the morning. Kaitlyn and Kyle has never been to Maroon Bells so naturally that was our first choice.

We slept in a bit which meant we would have to take the shuttle up to the Bells because you can only drive up if you get there before 8. From Maroon Lake we decided to take the trail up to Crater Lake, a Lake (or should I say dried up hole) that Josh and I had hiked to just a year before. Thankfully some hikers informed us that there was water in the lake, unlike last year, thanks to the wet summer we had.

Josh and Kyle ran ahead of us to try and find a route to the other side of the lake that was less crowded. When Kaitlyn and I caught up Josh was waiting for me (I thought to take a picture).

He then asked me to talk. I knew right then, by the tone of his voice, that he was about to get down on one knee and ask me to marry him.

He did and I, of course, said YES!

Initially the ring wouldn’t fit on my finger, because well sausage fingers (all my hikers out there know what I’m talking about 😂). We eventually shoved it on there with quite a bit of effort. Josh had custom designed the ring using diamonds from his grandmother’s wedding ring and it couldn’t be more perfect. My only request was that it be gold, but besides that it was all him. He even got the sizing right and it fit perfectly once we got down to normal elevation.

Now it is so easy to see, the boys running ahead to find a secluded spot, the Boston trip decoy…. it was all part of his plan. I did not see it coming.

The part I couldn’t quite figure out was how they were able to keep it a secret and act so normal the whole time. Of course Josh would have told my family and his, neither of which can keep a secret. Josh told me that no one else knew besides my father because he knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret (which was a lie).

The entire hike back down we plotted how we would break the news to our families.

Upon returning to town we went to dinner to celebrate. I couldn’t stop smiling or looking down at my hand. I just kept thinking about how that ring was now going to be a part of me forever.

After dinner we went to stop by the hotel the bride and groom from the night before were staying at because Kaitlyn had forgotten to give them their wedding gift. Seemed ordinary enough to me, except it wasn’t.

When I opened the hotel room door my entire family and Josh’s entire family were there screaming congratulations and popping bottles of champagne. I was in complete shock!

Josh had rented out the presidential suite at the Westin and planned a surprise engagement party. My entire family had made the four hour drive to Aspen just to be there to congratulate us.

What’s even more special is that when Josh went to ask my dad for his blessing, my dad told Josh that he had proposed to my mom in Maroon Bells. Josh had no idea that he had chosen the same place to propose to me that my dad proposed to my mom, a complete coincidence, or maybe fate.

I am lucky beyond words to have such a supportive and loving family and a fiancé who planned such an amazing engagement for me.

I love you Joshua Graham Newell and I can’t wait to marry you ❤️

xoxo,

Cara