Puzzle #6 - The Actual Proposal

On Friday the 11th, we went to Jeremy’s cabin with his family and sister’s friends. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing; at least I thought so at the time. We left as soon as I was packed after I got home from classes. It was dark by the time we got there, so we had to hike up the hill in the deep snow with our backpacks and everything. So we got up there and had dinner. Ondy, his sister, introduced me to her friends that were there. She said, “This is Tara, Jeremy’s f-friend, girlfriend.” Now what was she going to say right then? We played some games and I got some homework done. I knew that I wouldn’t have any time other than right then to get it done that weekend. Jeremy got dressed in his snow gear to go hide the clues for the puzzle that night.

I could tell it was something a little more extravagant because he kept consulting with his parents in the back room. It sure was something sneaky and they were all into it. Then he took off with his brother Zachary and Zac’s friend Bryce. As we waited, we tried to get the two-way radios to work, but to no avail.

Jeremy returned without his brother and gave me the first clue after I got suited up.


This led me to the snowmobile outside, where I found the next clue,

Of course, this referred to the trip we made during Christmas break where he took me up to his fort. On the way back he tackled me and white-washed me. He is so mean. I got sweet, sweet revenge. He deserved it. But anyway, back to the clue.

We took off on the snowmobile and found the clue inside a Pringles canister half-buried in the snow.

Clue #3 stated,

What could that be? I know we’re going to get married in the temple, but what is he talking about? After a few subtle hints, I finally figured out it referred to the swings. The next clue was hidden in a link of one of the swing’s chains. Very hard to find in the dark, it took me a minute to find it.

The funniest thing was that he tried to take a picture of me. I was all centered in the frame, and he pushed the button, but then I sank up to my waist in the snow. The only thing captured in the picture was the top of my hat.

He was also in thigh-deep, and we had quite the time trudging back to the road.

This clue stated,

Up to the basketball court we went. I drove! First time ever!

After some more trudging, I found the last clue,

I knew exactly where he was talking about, but he said we should wait a couple of minutes to make sure they were set up. Don’t want to jump the gun. He was waist deep again, so the obvious thing to do was lay back and look at the stars. Arm-in-arm, we watched as a shooting star crossed the snow-speckled sky. I believe we made the same wish.

After trying to start the snowmobile almost 100 times, we finally got it started and headed off towards the picnic with the snow fluttering down around us. As we approached, Zac and Bryce were standing on the side of road, camera in hand. Looking to my left, I noticed that there was an unusually bright light coming from the cabin. I thought they were words but chose not to read them yet. Bryce asked, “Sparkling cider?” He got us some clear plastic cups and after some fumbling poured us each a glass. On the side of the road, there was a picnic blanket spread out. On top, there was a letter held down by a lantern.


I picked up the letter and proceeded to read it out loud. I almost finished a paragraph when I was interrupted by a popping sound. Down in the meadow, fireworks were going off. I stood up and read what was on the lights from the cabin, “PLEASE SAY YES.” I looked at Jeremy and said, “You know my answer is yes.” He got down on one knee, asked me to take off my glove, and pulled out a ring box.

I could hardly control myself from the excitement. “Tara, will you marry me?” “Yes!” He slipped the ring on my finger. “Wow! I love you!” We embraced and turned to watch the fireworks together. “This is the best day of my life.”



The timing was completely off, but I guess that it makes it that much more real. The first form of communication to give the signal, the radios, failed. The second was signaling with the lights of the snowmobile, well, that didn’t work out the way it was planed. The sign was turned on before we even got there, I don’t think that was supposed to be on. I think I was supposed to finish reading the letter, and then he was supposed to signal for the sign and he was going to propose. I guess that even the best-laid plans don’t go off the way they should.

As we were talking later, I found out all of the planning and work that occurred behind my back this entire week. I couldn’t believe how conniving and secretive my fiancé could be. He had called Kristen, my roommate, to tell her to plan a girls’ night so he would have time to go up to Salt Lake to pick out my ring. Not only did he do that on Thursday, he made another trip to Salt Lake on Friday to pick up the ring. It was even more frustrating to know that she knew on Tuesday, so he could get away. He managed to make the sign, which has about 900 holes that he had to punch out, and I was wondering why he wasn’t getting any sleep that week. I guess I love him all the more for putting so much effort into all of this. He is even going to continue to give me puzzles, such as figuring out the “smallest happy prime number” (Puzzle #6).