The proposal, as told by McKay. [Brackets] indicate Makana’s notes

I told her that I was going to pick her up at 9 in the morning, so she was totally prepared for that. Well I, on the other hand, got up at 530a to start cooking breakfast (German pancakes…yum!) I took JD [his brother] with me to decorate her room while we were eating breakfast. Well I walked into her room and woke her up and told her that it was 9:30 and that she needed to get up and get going. She was so confused and looked at the clock and said “Really?” So I told her that it was 6:30 and that I was kidnapping her for breakfast. So I told her to put some shoes on and we were leaving. So she groggily put them on and followed me to the park. Then Tami and JD snuck in and decorated her room with hearts, champagne glasses, candy, streamers, potpourri, etc. Well we ate breakfast and I tried to take enough time so that they could decorate the room. Well we went back and she opened her door and she was stunned. [(that is an understatement)] I showed her all the little notes that I had put in the hearts in the champagne glasses. They were things I had put that I liked about her. I told her to hurry and get dressed because we were on a tight schedule. After she got dressed, we went on a scavenger hunt. I showed her the first clue in the heart container. It led her to the next clue at the tennis courts, then to the bridge at Raintree, then to the volleyball courts. [After the clue said something about riding a steed.. horses i thought?] We went to Jacob’s house and his mom was out getting the horses ready. We saddled up and rode around for awhile. Trouble was that Makana’s saddle was loose and was slip sliding all over the place and my horse was a little gimpy. Her saddle was so loose that Makana fell off the horse into the grass and got a grass-stain on her pants. It was so funny to watch and she didn’t get hurt at all. [I was laughing so hard!] The view up there was just spectacular though. Oh and I forgot to say that I brought a video recorder and taped the whole day. Well the last clue in the scavenger hunt was under a tree. It had a box of junior mints and two kites that Jacob had rounded up. So it said that we were going to fly kites and Makana was excited because she had taken me on a scavenger hunt to fly kites before. Well I told her I knew this great place to fly kites and so I took her to the Spanish Fork airport where my friend Bryan Harris was waiting. As we entered the airport I told her, “Well I lied to you again. We’re not flying kites because we’ll be doing the flying ourselves!” [When we pulled up and Bryan was standing there i could not even believe it.. i was in shock and completely spoiled all day. When i told Tia she said that she pictured us at the airport running around with our arms spread out.] She was so excited. I pulled out some release forms and had her sign them so that we could go and then we got into a 4-seater airplane and took off. We flew up Provo Canyon to Park City and flew around and then flew back. We did a few roller coaster maneuvers and watched balls float. Then he made us float. It was so much fun and the view was incredible.We then went back to the Hodge’s and had lunch and Makana packed for the weekend. We then went home to South Jordan and made pies (our first date) and she made her favorite pie (except that we really screwed it up…quite comical actually) and then we went to Pirates 3 (Pirates 2 was our first kiss). Somewhere along the way she lost her pearls…kind of sad. [They were the pink pearls he got for me in Tonga. I am still sad about that and feel terrible but McKay is good about trying to help me not feel bad.] Well we then came back and I sent her on some errands while I got dinner and the proposal worked out. Shelby and Cassidy and Kelsi [his sisters] took off and found the view in Salt Lake and set up dinner. We then went up there and after looking around for awhile to find the table (and after a few phone calls to my sisters) we found the table on top of a hill with an incredible view of the Salt Lake Valley. We had her favorite, Parmesan chicken, and sparkling cider with candles that wouldn’t light. We then watched my movie. [Talk about a lot of time and effort he put in!] Then came the proposal.

The whole time the girls had been pretty sneaky and army crawling around the mountain so they wouldn’t get caught. In fact, when we got up there we saw their car and we knew we had found the right spot so Makana already knew they were up there. Apparently, they thought that I didn’t want Makana to know that they were up there so Cassidy came down to move the car and she put on a hoodie and dark glasses and drove off with this big smirk on her face like she was trying to go incognito. It was pretty funny. [i was cracking up!] So anyway, I was waiting for them to give me the signal that they were done. They were going to light a bunch of candles and spell out “MARRY ME?” and were going to tell me to come look. However, the wind was really blowing and they couldn’t light the candles so I was hoping they could think of something and was trying to stall. It was really cold up on the hill and Makana suggested that we go. I just said, “No, lets stay a bit longer and admire the view.” [I had NO IDEA! I thought that the day had been great already and really wasn’t expecting him to propose that day. I also thought we were waiting for his sisters to come up and get the table and chairs.] I also kissed her a bunch to stall for time. I kept on texting them to see what they were doing. I didn’t want her to know anything so after awhile I said, “Well, I think that I am forgetting something I wanted to do…what was it? Oh well it must have not been important.” Well then I went to the edge of the hill and looked down and saw them scurry out of the way. So I turned Makana away and told her we’d have to pack up the stuff and take it down. On the way, I called Cassidy and asked her if they wanted us to take everything down. She then told me that they were almost done and to go to the edge of the hill and look down. So I told Makana, “Apparently they want us to go to the edge of the hill because they have something planned for us.” She had NO idea what was coming. I got to the edge and started looking for the words and couldn’t see them and then I saw Makana freeze and then I saw it and thought “That’s my cue.” I got down on both knees and then thought “Oh shoot! Its only supposed to be one” She was just standing there with a shocked look on her face. I then said “Makana Christine Memary (I totally slaughtered her name!) will you marry me?” I totally forgot to even take the ring out of my pocket so I offered her nothing (man all that planning for naught because I choked in the clutch!) [I didn’t even realize what was happening and was still in shock at him getting down on his knees.] I then came to my senses and took out the ring in a cute teddy bear container and showed it to her. It was the ring that I had stolen from her key chain. I told her that it was just a filler ring and that I wanted her to pick out her ring. She was just standing there…an emotional wreck. She was laughing and smiling and said yes. So I got up and hugged her and put the ring on her finger. She then announced to the folks below that she had said yes. We got down and she was mauled by the girls and then we took a few pictures in front of the letters. The candles hadn’t worked so this cute couple helped them out and gave them tire foam. I then had her call her mom and other people. Then we spent the rest of the night telling people. [It was a fairy tale and talk about what a day! We got my ring and it is beautiful. It is being sized and will be ready on Saturday. The temple is scheduled and we are going to Hawaii for the Honeymoon. We will be living in Ogden, UT. He will be working as a chemical engineer for Flying J and i have one more year of school. I will be in Weber as an English major. We hope that you all can come to the reception. Love, McKay and Makana]