Our family announcement picture of the proposal back at our cabin....
Nick's Version
I am a planner at heart and knew that when the day came to claim Laurie for eternity I would want something special. I didn't choose to spend my life with just some normal, oblivious, unsuspecting girl. I knew that I had a challenge to come up with a trip and plan a special proposal without her catching on to anything. So, when the day came that we decided on taking a trip together to Yellowstone, I knew I had an opportunity. I had never been and had always wanted to go. Why not make our first solo-travel trip and my first visit to Yellowstone even MORE memorable, right? Thanks to Laurie's parents and our love of internet searching, we had quite a trip planned. Our frequent trips to New Jersey gave me ample opportunities to ask her parents for her hand. After I got the OK late one night after a late-night Star Trek movie outing, I told them I was planning on doing it at Yellowstone and to be prepared for "the call" during our trip. The trip couldn't have worked out better for us. We saw much more wildlife than we had expected and everything went off without a hitch. We decided to move hotels every couple of nights so that we could experience different areas of the park. We made our last night at the Lake Yellowstone hotel and I had planned for a basket of goodies and flowers to be in our room when we arrived (which is a logistical nightmare trying to arrange - apparently nobody likes to deliver in a State Park or something). So, I knew that I had to ask before we got there. We stayed at a great cabin next to Old Faithful for the few nights leading up to Lake Yellowstone. I had a plan of taking her out on a walk around Old Faithful with just some wine and the stars (awwww). We had an awesome day hunting down some wildlife. We ran across several bear families, got some great pictures and spotted a moose on our way up to ride some horses. To end the day, we made camp at Hayden Valley with some of the regulars and watched for wolves and listened to some stories. We made the dark drive back and I was sure that she was going to object the late night walk with me but I thought I'd ask one more time. I knew that Laurie loves a good bed when the sun goes down and this might take some negotiating. However, Laurie was still up for our walk and the butterflies started firing up in my stomach while driving back. We got to our cabin, we grabbed the wine and headed over to Old Faithful. It was pretty darn cold out so I was able to hide my shaky nerves with being chilly. She took a seat on my lap because she was so cold and we sat and checked out the stars and waited for Old Faithful to do her thing. Enjoying our wine from some plastic cups and admiring the view of the stars, I began to hone in on my mission. I began telling her how special she was to me and that I truly loved very few things in my life and she was in a special group with the Lord and my friends and family. I could tell she wasn't catching on so I kept on going. Told her more about what I loved about her and how many great times I have had with her, including this great trip we were on. Then I told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life making great memories like this with her. I picked her up off my lap, sat her down and got down on one knee and proposed my heart out. She was completely shocked and in her confusion said "yes" and I didn't give her a chance to second-think her answer. She is truly something special to me and am glad it's her that's taking this journey of life with me.
Laurie's Version
My family did tons of US road-tripping growing up and one of my favorite places to vacation was Yellowstone. I knew Nick would love it but I had no idea how different of a trip it would be. Seriously, NO CLUE. We had an amazing day horseback riding, bear hunting, and wolf searching and I remember Nick mentioning SEVERAL times how he wanted to take a walk that night. I was really tired as we got back later than expected and it was pretty cold outside but I didn't want to ruin such a fun day by being a buzz kill. We picked one of the hundreds of benches in front of Old Faithful, and this is how my proposal went... Nick started rambling about how we have a great relationship and he loved me etc etc etc. My response was of course oh yeah yeah I love you too, we are great together. I didn't suspect any sort of proposal until he actually got on one knee and even then it took a second or two to comprehend what was happening. He was adorable, I obviously already knew I would say yes the ring was gorgeous, and there is no one else I would rather experience life with.
Click the picture for a few photos from our trip!