Clayton Payne


This all started back in June of 2009 when my fiancé and I were at the Cheesecake Factory having some dinner. Looking through the window of the restaurant we could see Jared Galleria of Jewelry and decided it would be fun to go over there and look at rings. We walked in about 10 minutes before they closed and Kris Kizer took the time to show us some rings. Hailey immediately picked out the band that she liked and never found anything else that interested her. Then came the hard part of choosing a diamond. She looked at several and ended up deciding which one she liked. Once again we were just looking. We looked at several other stores for months after, but she continued to talk about how much she loved the first ring we saw that day in Tulsa. Nothing was ever said after this day about engagement except for a few jokes every once in a while. In mid July I began making payments towards the ring with hopes of purchasing it before Christmas. Many times she would plan on taking her friends by Jared Galleria of Jewelry to show them the ring she loved so much, but truth be told it was in the back with a sold sign on it. I had to make arrangements several times to have Kris pull the ring from the back and put it back in the case as if it were for sale so she wouldn’t suspect anything. After several weeks of thinking and planning, I came up with the perfect idea for the engagement. I booked 8 plane tickets to Las Vegas in early October departing December 28th and staying through the New Year. Carefully I selected 6 of her best friends and secretly talked to them about the trip. I did not tell them who was going on the trip but wanted to get a definite answer that each friend would be on board. I didn’t want them knowing who was going because they would talk about it and Hailey would more than likely have found out. Along with the plans of going to Vegas I bought tickets to several shows that she had always made comments about seeing. Turns out during the trip we got to meet Holly Madison, ate dinner next to Will.I.Am from the Blackeyed Peas and boarded our airplane home next to Gary Allan and several members of his band. As we got closer to the departure date, the 6 lucky friends became very anxious and it was quite comical watching them hang out together knowing they were each going to Vegas but thinking that they were going alone with myself and Hailey. I made several calls to Las Vegas skydiving facilities with the idea of me having a 50ft banner laid out on the ground at the drop zone that said “Hailey, will you marry me?” in 4ft tall hot pink letters with a black background. Most of the companies I spoke with didn’t seem too excited to help me out or very dependable at that. I then found Vegas Extreme Skydiving and made contact with Joe. He was excited to help me out and was always quick to return my calls. I shipped the banner out to him in early December and coordinated everything with him via email and telephone. As we got closer to Christmas, I could sense that Hailey was hoping to get that beautiful diamond ring on her finger like many of her other friends. I refused to have a cheesy engagement story for the rest of my life about Christmas, the fireplace, a sunset, etc. Las Vegas along with skydiving, front row seats to many shows, Lamborghinis and much more seemed like a story I would never get tired of telling. The evening of Christmas Day I asked her if she got everything she wanted for Christmas, with a sigh she said “yeah, I guess.” I could only look away and smile knowing in less than 72 hours she was going to be surprised with a plane ticket to Las Vegas. The morning of December 28, I bought a small kid’s puzzle from Walmart and put it together. I then flipped it over to the blank side and wrote a small message that said, “Hailey, pack your bags we leave in 4 hours. Do not ask me where we are going or what we are doing because I am not telling you. The weather is 55 during the day and 35 at night. Pack for 4 days….Love, Clayton.” I took the puzzle back apart and placed it in her stocking when I left for work. She immediately found it and put it together without even calling me. My phone started blowing up as she was mad that I wouldn’t tell her where we were going. Apparently girls don’t like to pack for vacation not knowing where they are going. We arrived at the airport and after receiving her boarding pass she knew where we were going but knew nothing about a ring, 6 of her friends being there, skydiving and much more. Approaching the metal detectors and scanners, I was a nervous wreck having the 3 karat engagement ring hid in a dirty sock in my carry on bag. Luckily it went through with no problems. The next morning I arranged for a bright yellow Lamborghini to be dropped off at our hotel for us to use to travel to and from the skydiving facility. I woke her up and said put your shoes on and be downstairs at 9:15. The look on her face as we walked up to the Lamborghini was priceless. We drove about 20 miles to Vegas Extreme Skydiving and then she figured out what we were doing. On our way there I was text messaging the 6 friends that had just landed and were going to be late to the drop zone where the banner was laid out. This was a large part of the surprise, so I forced them to drive 100mph and sure enough I saw them drive by the airport where we were fixing to depart. Hailey was looking out the same window and didn’t even see them pass by. Joe pulled me to the side and said everything was good to go and the banner was in place 4 miles from the airport in the drop zone. We got on the plane and both of us were nervous about the jump but even more I had to get on one knee if I safely made it down. As we got about 4,000 feet in the air, my instructor pointed out the banner to me. I could definitely see it from my window, but she knew nothing about what we were talking about. My biggest fear was her getting to 15,000 feet and being too scared to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I made several comments to her instructor about making sure she jumped after me and smiled. I jumped out and could only think about that ring somehow coming out of my pocket 10,000 feet above the ground. I did make it to the ground about 90 seconds before her and there stood the 6 friends that left Oklahoma at 3am that morning to surprise she did. As she got down to about 1500 feet, I knew that she could see the banner and then her instructor sat her down directly on top of the hot pink 50ft long 4ft tall banner that read “Hailey, will you marry me?” As I got down on one knee all she could say was “what in the world are you guys doing here?” She must have been overwhelmed by everything happening in less than 60 seconds. She finally turned to me and said, “Yes!” There was an entire skydiving team applauding and many other friends of the instructors, wives, etc. that were there to witness something never brought to their facility. We jumped back into the Lamborghini and headed back into Vegas for what turned out to be a wonderful experience that will never be forgotten by any of us.