June 26, 2008: I called a team meeting with Rachel's best friends Kat, Catherine and Jill and told them the plan. Little did they know, I had purchased a ring months before and was waiting until the perfect moment to propose to my wife. In that meeting I gave them all of their instructions, destinations, and filled them in on my plan.

The Plan: Rachel thought I was working that Friday, so she had no clue, however I planned a scavenger hunt around Dallas to 5 places that were meaningful to our relationship. At each place, one of her friends was waiting with a handmade card with details about our relationship, special memories, a picture and at the end, 3 words.

Action: About 3 that afternoon, I called Rachel andtold her that the electrician who had come to our house on Thursday had left some things in the attic and he needed to come to the house to pick them up that afternoon, so she said she would come home from work and let him in.  When she arrived at the house, much to her surprise, there was no electrician, but instead a note on the door with the first clue. From the house, she went to Chipotle, 5503 Glenwick Lane (the house she lived in in law school), Mr. Gattis, 5869 Tokalon (her cousin's house and the site of our great biking adventure) and finally 9106 Angora Street (the house I moved to when I moved from Lubbock to Dallas.) Each place holds special memories for us and as she was driving around Dallas, following the plan, I was nervously waiting, ring in hand ...

 

The last clue said to "come home, so I can tell you three little words", where I had been waiting for her the entire time.  Throughout our relationship to this point, I hadn't told Rachel that I loved her. I had decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to say I love you until I was proposing to the girl I was going to marry because I wanted I love you to hold its true meaning with me and my future wife.
 
So there I was in the backyard with our dog Zhor and my friend, John, so he could take pictures.  I was a nervous wreck, waiting for her to come home and follow the candle & glo-stick trail towards me.  When she came to the backyard I told her that I loved her and among other things asked her to marry me.  She said yes, as you can see. 

We always joked about getting engaged in Paris, so I posted a picture of the Eiffel tower, and as you can see I also dressed up for the occasion.