Short Story:
I asked Totem to marry me this weekend. She said Yes. :) Most of my family and her family already know. My parents and hers are VERY excited. She's gleaming over her ring (thanks Smilemoreb) and I'm buzzing off something Starfire said to me. "Finally, I'll have a nice brother." :) ::does happy life-is-finally-feeling-good smile::

Long Story:
Totem and I went to Canada this weekend as sorta a vacation / anniversary trip / Totem's birthday trip / I'm going to propose to her trip. Though, she knew nothing of the last part. ;) She had a clue that I was going to propose and was looking for subtle hints all night, but I kinda gave her wrong clues the entire night to throw her off...

Anyway, when we arrived there, it was pouring out and guess what we forgot??? So our first souvenier (sp) was an umbrella. ;) And it was of an American flag. "Hey Mom! Look what we brought back from Canada! It's an American flag umbrella!!!" We had reservations for dinner at the Skylon tower at 6 but showed up around 4 to be safe. I wanted a window seat and the reservations said to come early so I figured why not. We ended up eating at 4:30 which was really kewl because they had a special dinner for early eaters. We got tons of kewl pictures and had a really good time, aside from the fact that I am afraid of heights... (I did pretty good I thought.)

PICTURES! I'll have these up in a couple of minutes. I'm downloading them to my computer right now! :)

Here was the first bump for Totem. Chef4lisa24 had told her to call her after dinner. Totem was not sure why, figuring that she could not have wanted to know how good the prime rib really was. ;) She told me (later) that she was kind of expecting me to propose to her at dinner since she knew I would not go up that high up for no good reason. Well I didn't propose and I saw it in her face as we left. She was floored. I said she looked like she was going to cry, she said she wasn't. Either way, it proved to me that she had either heard rumors or the truth from someone. The reason I didn't want to ask at dinner is because I knew she was going to expect it. (As proven...)

After dinner we headed over to the casino where we proceeded to lose $50 Canadian very fast. My impression was three floors of slots and card tables. Tables were too expensive for me (I couldn't see paying a min of 15, 25, 50, or 100 to play a game of cards especially since I only brought 100) and slots we just not fun. We hung around for about 3 hours and only spent half of the money we brought in (the $50). Totem and I decided that we wanted to bring something home besides the menories of lights flashing at us asking for more change...

After this, we we able to do something that I had no clue about. Aparently, they have fireworks displays every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the falls during the Summer. So since it was getting dark, we decided to walk around the falls and check them out. They were really beautiful lit up the way they were. I wish I could have gotten a few good pics of the falls but they didn't come out... Anyway, since along the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is like a park, I took Totem off the main path a little bit and basically asked her. I told her that I knew she was expecting me to propose at Dinner and I said I was sorry I didn't. So I asked if I could propose now? ;) I did and she said yes. She loved the ring. Absolutely LOVED it! Thanks Smilemoreb again!!! :) We then watched the fireworks which was a nice way to end the night...

It turns out that she was expecting a bunch of things. First, she was expecting at dinner. Second she was expecting me to do it in front of a bunch of people. Third, she was expecting a speech. And fourth, she was expecting me to get on my knees. I guess I took her off guard by not doing it at dinner, moving away from everyone, being short and simple, and by just holder her close when I asked instead of being on my knees.

In the morning we had our free continental breakfast and checked out. As a last minute thing we took a ride on the Maid of the Mist. I've done it before on the American side and Totem has never been on the ride. It, as expected, was AWESOME! You'll know what I mean when you see the pictures...

(My) Mom and Dad's house was the first stop on the trip home. They were excited and tried to act like they knew nothing in front of Totem even though they were in on it from the beginning. ;) After this, we went over to my Grandparent's house to let them know of the news. Little did we know that three of my aunts would show up while we were there. :) I bet that the rest of my family found out within an hour of us leaving their house. 8) Next was a friends house and Chef4lisa24's work. Both were excited for and gave us hugs. We then headed over to Totem's parents house and got the same reaction. Hugs around and awesome comments from (to be) relatives like "I'm finally going to have a nice brother!" (HEHE Starfire ;) )

Since the reason for going over to her parent's house was to celebrate her birthday, lots of other people were there too, aside from the fact that we are now engaged. ;) Totem's grandparent's and great aunt/uncle were also there. More joy and happiness as the news spread...

Today was a good day. :)

Now were are sitting at home with Chef4lisa24 just relaxing. Her and Totem are watching a movie and I'm checking up on the news and reading my email (and writing this)...

I've had a great time and I can't wait until I can do it again. For anyone wondering, we are pencil-ling in a date in early August of 2004. Totem and I have to look over our schedules (like when school starts again for her) before we finalize anything. But you can bet that I'll post it here once I find out!!!

::does happy-content-excited-happy-happy-joy-joy smile::