Romantic proposal by Christmas lights

Staff report

link Aaron Valdez pops the question to Anhelica Salazar at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens while family, including grandmother Beth Lopez of Clovis, watch and wait for an answer.

When Anhelica Salazar’s boyfriend asked her to go to the Amarillo Botanical Gardens the night of Dec. 13, she thought it was just because she liked Christmas light displays.

She found out later that night it was a plan by her boyfriend, with her whole family in on it, to make her a fiancee who liked Christmas lights.

Salazar, whose family moved to Canyon about six years ago but still has family in Clovis, accepted the surprise proposal from Aaron Valdez.

“I was really surprised,” said Salazar, a recent graduate of Canyon High School who intends to attend Amarillo College.

Shantiell Hammitt, Anhelica’s mother, said Valdez worked with the family on the surprise, even setting up a random visit from grandmother Beth Lopez of Clovis, who was also in on the surprise.

“It’s been a couple of months talking about it; he didn’t know how and when,” Hammitt said. “When he saw the botanical gardens online, he said, ‘That’s where we have to go.’”

The two plan to get married in February 2016, Hammitt said. They wanted to get married in February to honor their anniversary, but didn’t believe they could pull off the wedding they wanted in two months.