Thank You

We want to thank you guys for all your support. This is an exciting and wonderful time for us and we feel blessed to have wonderful people to share our life with.

Our Story

Our first date was more or less a blind date. A mutual friend of ours gave me Marjorie's number (with her permission) and I called her one Sunday night in March 2007. The first thing Marjorie asked me was "Do you speak Spanish?" I replied, "No, is that a qualifying question?" Despite that my potential "disqualification", we went out on our first date on March 14, 2007. We had a wonderful time! Marjorie looked so beautiful that night!!

We continued to go out for the next few months and by May/June we knew that things were getting serious between us. We absolutely loved spending time together!! I met her family for the first time in May when I met up with Marjorie in Orlando, FL. Her family was so kind and accepting of me. I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with them so early in our relationship.

Marjorie and I continued to date through the summer. At the end of September, went country swing dancing. After a little bit, we went outside to talk. This conversation was the first time the "M word" came up. I knew that I loved her and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Marjorie was the most incredible woman I had ever met! We agreed that our relationship was definitely heading towards marriage. In November, I was already shopping for a wedding ring and planning the proposal - a proposal that I wanted to be a complete surprise.

The Proposal

I began planning the proposal in the first week of November. Now I didn't want this to be any old thing - I wanted this to be a proposal that she would never forget...something completely over the top! While we were traveling in Arizona on her tour with ROC, I would spend my nights planning in my hotel room. Finally, the plan of action for proposing to her came down to the following:
1) I bought two plane tickets to San Francisco for December 14, 2007 (same day flights).
2) I always told her that in a perfect world I thought that after about nine months of dating we should be thinking about getting engaged...Dec. 14th was nine months to the day.
3) I purchased her ring and had it in my possession.
4) I secretly called her boss 2 weeks ahead of time and told him what I was doing that she would be asking for a December 14th off work, but it he wouldn't have two weeks notice and so I was giving him notice now for her so that there wouldn't be any problems for her in getting the day off.
5) For Marjorie's birthday (Dec. 11), I got her a manicure so her nails would look nice for the new ring when she showed it off to her friends.
6) I told her the following lie about 5 days before - The president of the company I worked for had received a call from one of my clients, HP. The informed us of a conference in San Francisco on Dec. 14 dealing with technology within Higher Education (I had just returned from presenting at a similar conference in Phoenix, AZ). The president said that instead of paying to stay over night, all five employees at work would be allowed to bring their significant others to San Francisco (all expenses paid). During the part of the conference we were interested in, the girls would go out shopping together.
7) I sent around an email to all employees and spouses of employees describing this story and the part they would play making her believe it.
8) I had our graphic designer make two conference badges for us and I pretended like they had been mailed to us from San Francisco.
9) My Christmas party was the night before the flight. Everyone played along and told her how excited they were to go to San Francisco the next morning.
10) Because my coworkers had children, they would take a later flight than us.
11) I contacted the Marin Headlands at Golden Gate National Park to find out about good places to propose.
12) I had Marjorie bring a change of clothes for the "conference" so we would both be dressed nice when I proposed.
13) We left the next morning and spent the day in San Francisco - a city Marjorie had always wanted to visit, but never had.
14) At 3:30pm, my coworker was suppose to call and tell us that they wouldn't be ablt to meet us at the Spinnaker Restaurant in Sausalito because of traffic, but that we should go ahead and eat without them and then meet them at the conference at 6pm. (My friend got stuck in a meeting and so I ended up faking a 5 minute conversation with him over the phone...lol).
15) After dinner, we went up to Hawk Hill over looking the Golden Gate Bridge for sunset (5:10pm). We then took a small walk up the hill and then that's where I got down and proposed to her. Marjorie looked absolutely beautiful! I couldn't of been happier. It was really funny though because I think she was more nervous for me than I was. I love Marjorie so much!

Yesterday and Today

Marjorie

Birthday: December 11, 1983

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Favorite Movies: Crash,Wicker Park, Shrek, The Incredibles, Volver, Motorcycle Diaries (edited), The Sandlot, Pride and Prejudice, Monsters Inc., Mary Poppins and Disney Movies

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Food: Japanese

Favorite TV shows: Friends, The Office, and now House (Thank you babe)

Favorite Books: Equality by Default,Rich Dad,How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Millionaire Next Door, Bonds That Make Us Free, No Doubt About It, The Alchemist

Favorite Music: Garth Brooks, Rascal Flatts,India Arie, Jack Johnson, Alicia Keys, Chris Brown

What makes me smile: Friends & Family, God (Religion), Missionary Work, Temples, Dancing, Modern Dance, Art, Musuems, Traveling, Butterflies, Dolphins, Baseball, Reading, Government,Nature, the Sun, Beaches, Pedicures, Massages, Being Kissed On The Forehead, People Playing With My Hair, Flowers, Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Smoothies, satisfying my cravings, Scalp Treatments, Thunderstorms, Breezes, Spring, Christmas, Warmth, Ice-Cold Soda, Cheese & Ham, Dancing at home, Face mask, Africa, Rainbows, Sunsets, Gummi Worms, Playing with John, Sour Candy, Breakfast, Saturday Mornings, Pineapple, Reading outside, Taking a Walk, Walking to Church, Barnes & Noble, Smiling, Stretching, being silly, Jumping, Listening to "Don't Worry Be Happy" w/ my girls on a saturday, Cuddling, and Making People Smile.

John

Birthday: August 10, 1981
Hometown: Fairhope, Alabama
Favorite Movies: Rudy, Rundown, whatever...I like all types of movies!
Favorite Color: Green (R: 120, G: 162, B: 46)
Favorite Food: Thai
Favorite TV Shows: Lost, The Big Idea, Mad Money, The Office, O'Reilly Factor, House
Favorite Books: A Tale of Two Cities; Freakonomics; How to Win Friends and Influence People; Rich Dad, Poor Dad; Guns, Germs, and Steel; The Da Vinci Code; The Book of Mormon
Favorite Music: The Rocket Summer, Jack's Mannequin, Garth Brooks, The Postal Service, Damien Rice, Ok Go, Dashboard Confessional, Marc Broussard, Five Times August, Hellogoodbye, Amber Pacific, Cartel, Cute Is What We Aim For, The Boy Least Likely To, The Format, Love You Long Time, Mates of State, Peter Gabriel, Kalai, Tyrone Wells, Jason Mraz, October Fall, Phantom Planet, CocoRosie, Phoenix, Geoff Byrd, Matt Wertz, Mika, Scott Hicok, Blue October, Josh Woodward, Left One Lower, Paul Sforza, Used for Glue, My Chemical Romance...this list is endless so I better stop here
Things That I Enjoy: Spending time with Marjorie, running, golf, gym, reading textbooks, food, going to the temple, looking at stocks/options, thinking up ideas, analyzing social behavior, economics, snowboarding, racquetball, drawing, telling crazy stories from my life, traveling, teaching, giving to and learning from others, passion fruit, etc.