Things have been very busy and secretive around our house. Royal told me he was going to propose to Charlee and to help him come up with a special way to do it. Then there was the ring and let me tell you it is NOT an easy thing to pull the wool over Charlee’s eye! She catches on to everything…smart girl that one is for sure. So we got the details worked out-and there were plenty of them. Then there was Charlee…so curious…but between Royal, Kelly(Charlee’s mom), Crystal and I, we were able to deflect all of her curious questions and managed to pull off this huge surprise!
First there was the ring. Royal started looking at rings a couple of months ago but he just couldn’t find anything he liked better than his grandmothers rings. Then there was convincing me to give them up…then he had to convince his sisters. They all agreed that the ring should go to Royal but would Charlee like a 50 year old ring? Mom never got the ring welded together because she never found a jeweler she trusted with her ring. So you can imagine how worried I was…but Crystal’s sister-in-law knew the perfect jeweler. He works out of his home and he happens to be the Bishop of the singles ward (that man is in the right business). So we took the ring to Ren Keeling in Mesa. Ren was more than thrilled to re-do moms rings and promised they would look new again. Mom wore her rings for 37 years…until she passed away December 19, 1997 of Leukemia. Then the rings went to me and I wore them for 9 years. I quit wearing them a few years ago because I was afraid the prongs were too loose so they went into the jewelry box until Monday.
Royal with wallet in hand
Inspecting the finished ring.
I was SO SO happy with the finished results…I think it’s Gorgeous! I also think my mom would be happy to know the rings have been restored to their original beauty.
Ring in hand with a now empty wallet…but one happy man!
Texting Charlee’s mom in Holbrook to let her know the ring was done.
Royal barely made it home and hid the ring before Charlee got home from work…yes my house is already decorated for Christmas. (thanks to my girls!")
Crystal and I got up early and drove to the desert…but the tree with the table under it was surrounded by motorized airplane enthusiasts! Amanda warned Royal yesterday that they fly every Saturday. But the men said they were all for “Romance” and loaded up the table into one of their trailers and moved it away from their air strip. Then we had to call Royal and tell him where it was moved to. This hitch in his plans made him a little nervous but he found the new location with no problems. We decorated the table while Amanda scoped out the perfect bush to hide in with her camera and telephoto lens.
See the tree and bush in the upper left corner of the picture…Amanda is in there! Good hiding spot. Royal was so afraid Charlee would spot her that he made her wear his camouflage hunting clothes.
Royal wanted her to have things she could keep to remember this day. So we got her the western stocking holder’s, some ornaments, Christmas stockings, Christmas place settings, fancy glasses, and decorations all with a cowboy Christmas theme.
They had salads, sub sandwiches, chips, and reese’s peanut butter brownie cake with water and sparkling cider.
We decorated the tree in red and Silver bells. Her favorite color is red.
Her ring is in the toe of the Cowboy Santa stocking.
Crystal and I rushed home so I could take a picture of them leaving. I told Royal to let her know I wanted to take their pictures so she would dress nice. I knew she would want to look good on her engagement day and for the photos. She later said, “I’m so glad Royal told me you were going to take our pictures because I was just going to wear my old purple hoodie”. I thought it was awesome that she chose to wear red.
One of their first dates was riding double on McClintock to the old air strip East of our house. So Royal wanted to ride double today. Charlee didn’t want her backside to get dirty so they put a horse blanket down but…
…McClintock didn’t like it and started to buck so back to the barn they went to get rid of the extra saddle blanket.
I sent a text to Amanda to let her know they were on their way. They rode right past her and they even rode through part of the bush she was hiding in! Mandy thought for sure they were going to step on her. She was well hidden they never even noticed her.
She was so surprised to see the table… she cried.
Poor girl her bottom got dirty after all (horse sweat for those that are wondering) but Charlee’s a trooper and didn’t let it bother her.
Royal said he was looking for Amanda in this picture…he never could see her even though he was looking right at her.
Amanda’s view from the bush/tree
Making his move. I asked him yesterday if he was nervous and he said, “No I’m SO excited!” Then I called him this morning and asked him if he got any sleep last night and he said, “Not a bit I’m too excited!”
He leads the horse around…
Get’s down on one knee and when Charlee saw this she shouted, loud enough for Amanda to hear, “Oh SHUT UP!” “Get up..what are you doing? Then she burst into tears. Royal said his speech flew out the window because he also started to cry and he simply said, “Will you marry me?”
She said YES!
She was so happy and very surprised…
Then he told her Amanda was in the bushes somewhere with a camera. They shouted for her to come out and were so shocked to see she was in the bush they rode right over.
The Happy couple. The wedding will be in March in the Showlow/Pinetop area. Oh I almost forgot…she LOVED the ring!
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