The Setup:

On the second weekend in February, 2017 we are going on a ski trip, this will be the first time in your life you’ve gone skiing or seen fresh snow. I’m extremely excited to show you that stuff but the entire reason I planned this trip was to propose to you.

I am going to show you this presentation in Pagosa Springs, Colorado on the back porch of the Airbnb we are renting using my projector, mobile projector screen, and my Surface. The plan is for it to happen on either Friday or Saturday evening. I will make up an excuse to get you and Elise to go into town so that Tyler and I can set up the presentation and all of the lights. By the way, getting you to get your nails done and taking Christmas card pictures was a way to get you to make sure you would be happy with how the ring looked on your finger and any pictures we take afterwards. 😉

Preparation:

I have put at least 250-300 hours into this proposal.

This includes finding and sorting every picture you or I have taken during the 3 and 1/2 years we have known each other. Also I found and sorted every text and hangouts message we have ever sent. And making a list of every name/nickname I have ever called you. I have the downloaded files for all of our messages and I can show you a site with all kinds of fun stats about them.

I learned basic HTML, and CSS in 0rder to customize the site to get it as close to perfect as possible.

I relearned basic Python scripting in order to parse our sms conversations that were stored in email form into a csv file that would play nice with the hangouts data.

I relearned how to query an SQL database in order to get all your pictures to sort right on the site.

I took my projector down from the ceiling to test it on a tripod to see how it would work for when I use it to show you this site. I also bought foam to keep it from rattling, packed my umbrella to cover the projector in case of rain/snow and built a mobile projector screen.

I bought a display port to HDMI adapter for my surface to be able to hook it up to the projector to show you the presentation and the site.

I actually bought music (gasp) rather than using it from Soundcloud, so I could embed it into my presentation for you.

I’ve bought string lights and hid them in my black toughbox in the backyard. In order to determine the cord lengths I found the house on Google Earth and used the distance tool to map the railings and deck area.

Esther was kind enough to convince her parents to go out of their way so she could personally go to the Airbnb to scout the location out and give me an idea of what the area looks like.

I have put more work into this than anything else I have ever done for you, including planning our trip to Europe, picking out your center stone and later the ring, and every other little surprise and story we have many of which are included on this site.

Conclusion:

As you can tell by now this was a ton of work… but all of this will be worth it just to put a smile on your face and to give you a picture of how much I love you.

I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you and see you grow in your faith. I am already astounded by how far you have come in the short time we have known each other and look forward to helping you become more like Christ each day.

Love,

Aaron