On October 1, 2013, the two went to Melting Pot restaurant to celebrate their first anniversary. Along the way, they stopped at a red light a block away. “I looked up, took a picture and made a joke about Jared's, the jewelry store,” Ms. Carmichael said. “I posted it on social media and said, 'Look, he went to Jared's house.'”
Mrs. Carmichael had no idea what Mr. Hatcher had planned for that night.
After dinner, he handed her a glass jar containing 99 transparent stones. “Each stone had a memory from last year. She asked me to pull some out and read them, and so I did,” Ms. Carmichael said. The stones recounted her first “fancy date” at a steakhouse; taking the kids to a pumpkin patch; milkshakes at Carl's Jr.; and her new house.
Then he handed him one that he took out of his pocket. He said, “Commit.” She then pulled out a white gold and diamond ring, got down on one knee and proposed. “I immediately cried and said, 'Yes,'” Ms. Carmichael said. “The Melting Pot took a photo of us and gave us a printed copy that I still cherish today.”
Hatcher, 42, grew up in Albuquerque and works as an acquisition program specialist for the federal government. He has a master's degree in software engineering and database technology and an MBA from Regis University in Denver. A previous marriage ended in divorce. She has also been in a previous civil union.
Ms. Carmichael, 40, is a fourth- and fifth-grade special education teacher in Albuquerque Public Schools and also grew up in Albuquerque. She has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and special education from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.
Shortly after their engagement, the two began to have problems. His pastor recommended a therapist. “A few months later, we realized that a lot of the problems were because Spencer couldn't be her real self,” Carmichael said.
