A Gem of a Proposal

CHRISTIAN LIDEN WAS in eighth grade when he hatched a grandiose plan to create a personalized engagement ring for his future fiancée. Never mind that he didn't have a girlfriend. If a natural diamond could take billions of years to form, he figured he could be patient.

- Cathy Free

Liden decided that he would not pick out a ring in a jeweler's case like most other people. Instead, he would go into the wild to find his own materials: the diamond, the gold, the accompanying gemstones. Everything.

"I've always been a rock hound, so, to me, this is the perfect way to get an engagement ring," said Liden, who lives in Poulsbo, Washington, near Seattle. "Actually, it's the only way. I couldn't imagine not making it myself." Last year, Liden decided that it was finally time to put his plan into action.

He and his girlfriend, Desirae Klokkevold, had been together for more than five years.

"I knew that I wanted to marry her, and I also wanted to surprise her," says Liden, who works for his family's excavating business.

So, in May 2021, Liden told Klokkevold that he and Josh Tucker, his best friend since sixth grade, were heading out on a camping trip to Yellowstone.