When Mitch told Ruth “you should be my girlfriend”, it was 12:20 in the morning after they were hanging out with his friends. Later that night when they went out to get pizza Ruth was still a little shocked. She wasn’t fully sure what had happened that morning. Someone they were hanging out with had made a comment about Ruth being Mitch's girlfriend before he had "asked." So then at dinner she was still confused. But then he told her that the week prior when he was away on vacation in Florida with his family, he had missed her. And he knew that he wouldn't just miss any one, so she had to be someone to him.

Thanksgiving, 2023 (Don't mind the Christmas Tree already up!) Mitch had brought Ruth home for Thanksgiving to meet his sisters and the rest of his extended family. It would be this Thanksgiving that he made it up in his mind that he wanted Ruth to be with him for the rest of his life. The Thanksgiving get-together was at his Aunt Debbie's home in South Saint Paul, MN, as it usually is, and celebrations continued on into the night as the family was wrapping up dinner, desert, and chit-chat. Ruth had volunteered to help dry dishes along with Mitch's sister Sarah, who was washing them. Across the room, Mitch was sitting next to his older cousin George. They were chatting about Ruth and relationships, as to which George had pointed to Ruth, acknowledging just how well she had been getting along with the family. And most importantly - how much she had reminded him of a late relative of theirs, one that was a striking symbol of joy, love, and kindness. Unbeknownst to George, this caused Mitch to tear up as he looked at Ruth, and it was at that moment, he decided he would propose that following summer.

The day it happened! Mitch and Ruth went camping at Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming, something they had been anticipating for almost a year. And since Thanksgiving, Mitch had been secretly planning on proposing at some point during their trip. Luckily for Mitch, his grandmother had been keeping a ring for him to use to propose to the right girl. He got a box for the ring, but wasn't sure how to keep it discreet on the hike they would be going on. He wanted to keep his load light, and not carry a heavy backpack - but also not have a ring box blatantly sticking out of his pocket. So, he brought his camera and hid the ring in his camera bag. He made the excuse of bringing it so they could take timed photos in front of nature along the trail - something he completely forgot to do in order to camouflage the surprise. It was only when they got to the peak of their hike when he finally took out the camera for their first "timed photo." Really, Mitch set the camera up on a small tripod on the base of a rock in clearing a little ways from the trail, and set it to video. He awkwardly struggled to set the camera up and get Ruth in the correct placement... and in walked another couple through the trees. They were no longer alone. "Shit," Mitch thought, "now there's an audience." He continued on anyway. He walked down the rock towards Ruth, and completely forgot to pretend pose for the "timed photo." Instead, he stood there awkwardly looking at her and struggling to take the ring box out of his pocket. After a couple seconds of fidgeting, he got it out, got on one knee, and proposed to Ruth. He was so nervous that he said the usual line of "Ruth Anna McCulloch, will you marry me?" - which seems like a fine thing to say. Except he most desired to mimic how he had "asked" her to be his girlfriend - by saying "you should be my girlfriend" awkwardly instead of asking her. (Fellas, confidence is good, but when the veil is completely torn down by a stupid phrase such as that, it's probably better to just stick with the question.) So after he popped the first question, the declarative statement of "you should be my wife" came after. She said yes! The couple who had encroached into the area Mitch and Ruth were in captured the moment in photo as well as Mitch's video and offered to take some photos of them afterward as well. Which are the photos you see here! So there they had been, at Inspiration Point in Grand Tetons National Park, walking down the trail as a newly engaged couple.