I was made the happiest girl in the world as Robert asked me to spend eternity with him! I wrote a brief recap of the moment
HERE but wanted to take the time to tell the entire story for our own memories in the future.
March 5, 2008 we were driving up to Mammoth for our annual Winter "Hilzek" Family Vacation. It was a Wednesday and I had just had 2 1/2 VERY crazy days at work. I had been traveling on Monday for a New Hire Orientation in Texas, flew home Tuesday morning and after 8 hours of travel put in another 8 at the office, and then worked a half day on Wednesday....I worked like a crazy women to get all of the new hires set-up before leaving for vacation! I did but needless to say it was a little crazy and by the time we were on the road Wednesday afternoon I was exhausted and a little grumpy :)
The Nemzeks, our family best friends, were ahead of us on the drive up and my parents and sisters were behind us. When possible, we try to caravan but apparently this was all part of the Grand Scheme EVERYONE was in on except ME! I slept on and off throughout the 5 hr drive and later discovered Robert was constantly texting my sisters and my friend Kristen (Nemzek) to make sure we all stayed an adequate distance apart from one another on the drive up. Robert wanted to make sure we would be alone when arriving in Mammoth and knew that if anyone was close to us I would insist on waiting for them to grab a bite to eat before heading to the house we were all staying in.
As we were leaving Bishop (the last town which is about an hour away from Mammoth) I checked in with my family and they said they were just coming into Bishop and were going to stop there and eat. Since we were already on our way out of town we weren't going to turn around just to eat. I then got a call from Kristen and they were up in Mammoth already and had unloaded the car and everything at the house. She said that her and her brother were going to go to a bar and grab a drink and wanted to know if we wanted to meet them when we got there. I said "ehhhhh I am really tired and think I would rather just head to the house, get unpacked, and settled for the night". The conversation ended at that....or so I thought....apparently Robert immediately texted Kristen and said do ANYTHING you can to make her agree to go. Kristen was then incahoots with her family and my family to come up with a "plan" to get me to the special place! In the meantime, Robert was asking me "Are you sure you don't want to go? I bet they have food and I am REALLY hungry...aren't you hungry?" I sort of just blew it off and replied with something to the effect of "Yes, I am but I would rather just eat something at the house. I am tired and just want to get unpacked and ready for an early start tomorrow". Needless to say I was being a bit of a pain in the rear :). Just as we were getting off the highway in Mammoth I get another call from Kristen. This time she tells me that her and her brother got dropped off at the bar because her parents needed to go to the grocery store and wanted to know if we could meet them, grab something to eat together, and then drive them back to the house. I relentlessly agreed and we headed to the bar :) At this point, Robert had a huge sigh of relief and figured 1 obstacle down, 1 more to go :)
We ended up parking across the street from the Village where the bar/restaurant was that Kristen and her brother were supposedly at. Robert was trying to hurry me out of the car but I was trying to find my jacket. He came around the side of the car and said "I have something for you". I was still leaning in the car trying to find my jacket and without paying any "real" attention to him or what he was doing I said "What do you mean you have something for me? I just drove in the car with you for 5 hours....why didn't you give it to me before". At this point my jacket was on and I was getting ready to close the door when I looked at him standing on the sidewalk and noticed he was holding something behind his back. I said to him "What are you doing. What's behind your back???"
From behind his back he handed me a teddy bear (a build a bear to be exact) dressed in a tuxedo. He proceeds to hand it to me and says "Press the hand". At this point my mind began racing, things started clicking and I KNEW what was about to happen!!!!! I grabbed the bear and squeezed the hand....it was Robert's recorded voice saying "Will You Marry Me". As Robert got down on one knee I was so surprised and shocked that the 1st thing out of my mouth...technically the 1st several things out of my mouth...were the words "shut up" and "I can't believe you are doing this...RIGHT NOW!!!" Both of which I repeated several times before I said 'Yes'....or 'let me see the ring'...or 'put it on my finger already'...we aren't really sure which...it was kind of a blur after the million shut ups I uttered.
Despite the fact that we had been together 7 1/2 years at that point and we had looked at rings and talked about getting engaged I was completely shocked!!! I TOTALLY did not expect it to happen at all at that point which made it perfect!
Rewind 2 weeks to a conversation Robert and I had at a Ducks game where I casually said "I think it would be neat if we were engaged by the end of May so I could show all my Friends from the Masters program I just completed in December at graduation" and Robert replied with a worried look "Oh, I wasn't planning on doing it before then. Geez, now I feel pressure" Which I responded with "Oh my goodness, No, no pressure, I was just saying! Whenever you have it planned for is fine." I later find out that he already had asked my Dad, already had the ring in his posession, and already knew EXACTLY when he was going to propose. He was just trying to throw me off! Mission accomplished!
I am a self proclaimed 'hater' of surprises but I LOVED that one and was so glad that I was surprised (it actually gave me a little change of heart about surprises, but shhh...don't tell anyone....haha).
Back to the story....there on the sidewalk in Mammoth surrounded by snow and twinkling lights from the village Robert asked me to be his wife, to spend a lifetime making and sharing memories, to become Mrs. Kurz. Although, I hate to admit this I don't remember anything he said while down on one knee before putting the ring on my finger...I was in shock and amazed and caught completely off guard. We laugh about it now but just to be sure, leading up to the day we got married Robert asked me several hundreds times (actually probably daily)..."Will You Marry" and I have Replied Every Time..."Yes"! We hugged and kissed and I stared at my ring and we hugged and kissed some more! Then I was like "Oh my gosh....my family...do they know????" He told me they did and that I should call them and tell them to come meet us. I said what about the Nemzeks and he said they knew as well and actually weren't even at the bar/restaurant, they were at the house and were just trying to help Robert get me to this place :). Tricksters!!! All of them haha!
I called my parents and they were just driving into town and were going to come meet us with my sisters. Robert and I went and waited in the restaurant and ordered some champagne to toast to this new journey we were about to embark on! When my family got there my sisters gave me a build a bear to match the one Robert gave me except this one was a girl in a wedding dress and he birth certificate read "Leslie Marie Kurz"....my soon-to-be new name :) It was soooooo sweet! I made a few phone calls to my grandparents, Aunts, and Best Friends before enjoying the rest of the time with my parents, 2 sisters, and my fiance!!! We eventually headed to the house where I got the chance to tell the complete version of our engagement story for the first time (as opposed to the synopsis I told to the family and friends I called) and we toasted with beer this time with the Nemzeks...our 2nd family...thus the "Hilzeks"!
Toasting Our Engagement!!
Calling Some of My Family & Best Friends!
Me with the Leslie Marie Kurz Bride Bear :)
The Soon-to-Be Mr & Mrs Kurz
Celebrating at the House!
The Bride & Groom Bears
The next morning we received flowers from Robert's parents congratulating us! Since they couldn't be there they wanted to send us something and it was sooo sweet of them! The rest of trip was such a blast and I was beaming the entire time!!! Robert did such an amazing job selecting and designing my ring....it is perfect and I LOVE it!!!!
My Ring!
Mammoth has always been a special place to me and the "Hilzek" family as a whole....a place where we travel every Winter for ski/snowboard trips and every Summer for a camping trip...a place of great memories and funny stories...a place of family bonding....a place of growing...a place filled with experiences I will never forget and which have helped make me the person I am today...and a place that I truly LOVE vacationing at! The fact that Robert proposed to me there just makes it all the more special! It is the place where the next chapter of our life's began and a place wehere we can celebrate that promise and milestone everytime we go back!
