Months before the night Freddie proposed, we had agreed to spend his birthday weekend in Cleveland tailgating for the Browns game.  For those of you who don't know, Freddie is a die-hard Brown's fan so he could not have been more pumped about this idea.  Little did he know, I had arranged to have our families meet us at Delmonico's Steakhouse in Cleveland for a suprise birthday dinner!  

I had everything planned, and everyone had agreed to get to the restaurant by 6:30pm before we arrived.  I was definitely feeling proud because I am not the best at planning surprises- mostly because I can hardly keep secrets when I'm so excited!!

Before we went to the restaurant, Freddie let me know it would be best to stop at the hotel and drop off our bags.  At that point I agreed, although we were running behind, because I had no idea when we would get back to the hotel and I didn't want to give the surprise away by acting anxious.

As we approached the door to the room, Freddie handed me the key to open the door.  As I opened the door, it took me a moment to register what was happening.  The room was dark and beautifully lit with candles, and rose pedals were scattered about the room.

On my first instinct, I SLAMMED the door shut in a state of total panic and exclaimed that this was definitely not our room and that the front desk must have made a mistake!

It's true that we had planned that weekend in Cleveland as part of my birthday celebration. And yes, I do believe that I will one day see my Brownies win a Super Bowl! I knew that because she would be so caught up in planning my "surprise" that it would be the perfect time to pop the question. 

So, the arranging that she had done to have our families meet up for dinner  . . . not the case. After informing my family of the plan, I called Laura and told her to bring up to Kelli the idea of coming down to surprise me for my birthday. Check.

The hard part was going to be getting the hotel room set up before our arrival. So, while Kelli was at her volleyball game, I drove an hour up to Cleveland, checked in to the hotel, and dropped off the arrangements for my GodMother, Val, to get everything set in place. Then, I had to drive all the way back before the end of her game. 

We get the car loaded up and we get on the road. It wasn't until we were getting off the exit that it hit me;

1. I was about to FREAKING PROPOSE!!!

2. With all the planning I had not once thought about what I was going to say when I proposed

We arrive at the hotel and I have to slip the box into my pocket without her noticing (it was hiding in a shoe in the backseat). I asked Kelli to get the luggage cart while I pretended to check in. We arrive at the door of our room and I hand her the key. She opens the door and immediately closed it. "Babe, I don't think this is our room!" I laugh and inform her that I upgraded the room to a honeymoon suite. This was perfect because everything that was set up in the room she believed to be part of the package. Rose petals were in place, candles were lit, and as soon as we stepped back in to the room our song began to play. Perfect timing!

There's a card on the bed and she asks to read it. (Still thinking that this is part of the honeymoon package) Inside the card was a beautiful poem that expressed how I want to love her forever. Then from her, a look of confusion because I had written my own little message of my own inside the card that read: "In other words . ."

Kelli: "How did you? . . . ."

With all the excitement, she didn't see that there was a box that was behind the card, so I had to point it out to her. She opened the box, that was of course empty, and when she turned around and I was on bended knee.

"Kelli . . . baby . . . will you be my wife?"

AND THE REST IS HISTORY!!!