Our CRAZY Proposal Story!

For any of you who haven't heard the UNIQUE way that Russ proposed to me, hold on tight! Here it is:  

I told Russ I wanted our engagement to be special, unique, not your average dinner and roses kinda crap. Well, I got what I asked for unfortunately. He picked me up from work and we drove out to the canyon at dusk on a cool March evening (3/18/92) in Utah. Way up in Vivian Canyon where there are no more houses he pulls over because this creepy looking guy is flagging us down. 

 (Army jacket and jeans, plaid shirt, wool cap, gloves with the finger tips cut off and reeking of alcohol)

He tells us his car is broken down and asks for a ride to the nearest house. Russ lets him in the car even though I am protesting! As soon as we get going my worst fears are realized when he pulls out a gun and puts it to Russ's head and tells him to do exactly what he says or he will kill him and his girlfriend. He puts the gun to my head and tells me to put my hands on the dashboard and then on the floor and he smells like beer and is acting all crazy. After swearing and getting confused, he tells us to stop the car and me to get out and lock the door behind me. I do get out but I don't lock the door, I am so defiant! I walk to the back of the car and am sure he is going to kill Russ and then come back and rape and then shoot me. Surprisingly, Russ gets out and comes back to where I have been waiting for death. The guy drives off in the car around the corner.  

As soon as he is out of sight I take off running up the side of the mountain in case he changes his mind and comes back to kill us. I ask Russ if my engagement ring is in the car, he assures me it's not. My relief didn't last long because sure enough, he had turned around and is driving up and down the street looking for us. I dive down in some bushes and am praying out loud to God begging him to let me live long enough to marry Russ, have kids etc. I am laying there picturing the article in the paper the next day describing the murder of the two BYU coeds up in Vivian Canyon. Finally, when the guy is out of sight I take off running again toward where I think houses might be. The guy gets out of his car now and is hunting us on foot. I can see the gun in his hand as he searches for me.  

(This is us retelling the story after the fact. Notice the gun in his hand and Russ's Bronco II in the background. I have my hand up because I am fingerspelling everything...adrenalin helped my speed)

After running and hiding for what seems like forever, Russ is kind of obvious and the guy sees him. He waves the gun at him and yells at him to come down the side of the mountain to the street. I stay hidden on the ground hoping he doesn't see me. He does see me and says, "Get down here too, I see you!" I am sure we are marching to our deaths so I tell Russ that I think he is drunk and to try and grab the gun. Then I ask Russ to tell the guy that he can have the car or whatever he wants. By this time we are down to the road and the scary killer says to me, waving his gun at me, "You know what I want? I want you to marry him!" I am totally confused and say, "What?" and then look over at Russ who has my wedding ring in a box in his hand and asks me to marry him! Then it dawns on me that this is all a set up for our engagement and I am super mad and relieved and excited that I am not going to die and that I am getting engaged at the same time.  I say "Yes, you JERK!" and punch Russ as hard as I can on the arm a few times. I am alternating hitting him with looking in awe at my beautiful diamond engagement ring.  

(Me, biting my tongue as Russ puts the ring on my finger for the first time ever! Too bad I lost it 7 years later)

Russ's friend Tim had been hiding the whole time in the bushes along the side of the mountain with a video camera and he had tried to catch the whole thing on tape.  The car jacker finds him near the end so this last part was all caught on tape until my kids recorded cartoons over it!! Luckily I was able to take all of these pictures from the tape several years ago before that happened! Phew! On the video we retell the whole story together. Russ and I are kissing and the scary guy is laughing about how I did exactly what he said and how I unexpectedly ran half way to Heber.  

Russ and I are both wearing our long winter jackets that kind of match. He has shaggy hair on top and was wearing his stylish glasses. I have super long hair and am nervously playing with it and wrapping it in a big knot on my head and fingerspelling crazy fast (I was taking ASL at the time and had a habit of fingerspelling constantly).

As you might have guessed, things didn't go according to plan. The car jacker was confused in the car because he had taken his glasses off (to look scarier) and couldn't see the right spot where he was supposed to make us get out of the car and get it on tape. He also screwed up by driving so far away, around the corner (thus giving me time to run away and mess up their little plan). He was supposed to act like he was driving away and then get out of the car, come to us and point the gun at Russ and say, "What are your last words?" Russ then was going to get on one knee and say, "WIll you marry me?" 

Instead I was getting scratched up running through the woods for my life! But happiness was the overriding emotion as you can tell from these pictures! After we finished retelling the story on tape we headed to the Chalet restaurant where we met Jim and Marisa, and Tiffany (Tim's girlfriend) for a "celebration." I went and threw up in the bathroom then watched them eat. I spent the next 5 years or so suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Really. I was terrified of being alone, outside, around scary looking strangers (places like Pike Place Market in Seattle scared me to death) or camping in the woods or being in canyons. Basically, I never wanted to feel like I was in any kind of danger. I didn't want to ever feel like I was going to die again. At least not until I was an old granny! I am better now thank goodness, but even telling this story to my friends gets my hands shaking and my blood pumping.

Our official engagement picture. April 1992

I feel bad for Russ though because the whole thing sounds so terrible but it got way out of hand. My roommates and future sister-in-law helped him come up with the idea and plan it all and then when it all went horribly wrong, they kinda left him high and dry. I wasn't mad, I was mostly glad I was alive and getting engaged. I knew Russ didn't mean for it to be so scary. In fact, they were sure the only real flaw in their plan was that Russ wouldn't be able to act like it was real or that he would start laughing or something. But the gun made everything seem quite real and Russ's acting skills kicked in. The other problem was that Russ let things keep going cuz he thought we would run into his friend in the woods with the video camera at any moment and it would all be over but still get caught on tape. This is why he didn't stop me when I ran into the woods. He still wanted to try and salvage the botched operation. 

This all happened over 16 years ago and even though it was scary, I am still glad I said "YES!"