A Christmas Miracle!

It may come as a shock to some, but I have been dating Collin again for the last few months.  We dated for a year and then had been broken up for the last year and a half or so.  That whole time though, we kept in contact by talking, texting and mostly gchatting. (Weird, I know!)  Anyway, we saw each other every once in a while throughout the course of that time too.  Every time I saw him, I would always be so happy and have a great time with him. 

Then, one of those visits would make a distinct impression on Collin.  He said he saw me and just realized that he couldn't live without me.  What an epiphany, huh?!  Every girls dream come true to have a handsome man tell them this.  He told me how he felt, but of course after 18 months of NOT dating, I was a bit reluctant to take him back so quickly.  With my hesitations, he knew he had some work to do, but he promised he'd prove that he/we deserved a second chance.  It took a few weeks until I came around, but since then, everything has been so great and he's definitely done an amazing job at proving himself.

This Christmas, I was able to take a few days off of work to come home to Colorado.  I considered myself incredibly lucky, as a slave to the retail world rarely gets any time off during the holidays.  My flight arrived late on the 23rd (so late, it was actually the 24th) and I was so excited to spend time with family.  We did all our traditional activities on Christmas Eve at Grandma Shirley's house and then Christmas morning we'd do our own thing as a family.  My mom woke me up to make sure I'd shower before Amy's family arrived.  I thought that was weird, but succumbed to her suggestion.  After opening gifts, we started Christmas breakfast. Emily said she'd forgotten her in-laws gifts so she had gone home to pick them up.  Aaron was taking random pictures, as usual.  

I was naturally posing, even while buttering toast.  Then all of the sudden, Collin was 4 feet away from me, standing in the kitchen.  I was completely shocked, and extremely surprised to find out my ENTIRE family was in on the whole thing!  Even Cory, who was in Texas, knew it was going down. :)  

 He came into the kitchen, I jumped up and down 3 or 4 times and then hugged him.  I couldn't articulate any sentences, so I just asked him random questions about how he got here and what he was doing here. (Not a very bright one at a time like this, I guess.)  He got down on one knee, whipped out the ring and said, 

"Will you marry me?"  

I took the ring out of his hand and said "Yep" and just wanted to hug him again.  The rest is pretty much a blur, but just enjoyed spending the unexpected day with Collin and family.

Here is the Christmas Miracle, though!  We're engaged and getting married March 14, 2009 in the Denver Temple!  WAHOO!!! :)  I guess it's true what they say: 

            "Timing is Everything."