We took family pictures during the break, and I had my mom take a couple of Clark and I in about 60 seconds before we froze.

Here is Clark when we went golfing. Since I'm such a beginner, he even wore flip flops. I'm sure he'll be excited to see this on here... :)






Clicking on the images will take you to a website where you can see them larger.

In July, when we'd first started dating, Clark came out to my hometown's anniversary/July 24th celebration with me. I was so excited to try my new lens out, and it was good practice, because the sun was so bright that day, and I was shooting directly into it! Clark was recruited by by sister's boyfriend's mom (now my sister's mother-in-law) to play on their family softball team. He was pretty much just the DH (designated hitter) and never went into the outfield. Everybody was impressed, just like I knew they would be (which is why I mentioned his softball prowess to the recruiter mentioned above...). However, Clark decided that they didn't really need him, so the next morning he didn't come out until later in the day, missing the final. Bad move. Throughout the whole day, members of the team, or their mom, made comments to him about not being there. Yeah, they lost. So, Clark's popularity took a quick drop. :) Just kidding. Well, they like him now, anyway. Here are some pictures of my man:

Clark with Tyler, the organizer of the tournament. They used to work together.



These next two are really funky. Somehow Clark is glowing purple. But he's still hot. :)




Hanging out with Ty, my sister's then-boyfriend-now-husband. The two best players on the team, of course!


Hanging out on 3rd base



Getting ready to run...



Nope, still stuck on third.


Shaking hands after they won!

It was really fun to hang out for the weekend. Clark even got to meet my Aunt Sonja, who was visiting with her two kids. It was really hot, and I had a hair disaster on the Saturday, but we survived!

I get to go home in a week from today, and I finally get to see Clark! We've been engaged for 3 weeks this Saturday. Time flies! 156 days to go. Well, technically,

155 days
3735 hours
224146 minutes

But who's counting? ;)

It's amazing what you can find using google.

We've set the date! Clark and I are getting married on May 16, 2009 in the Cardston Alberta Temple, which is a Saturday, and we'll have a reception that night in Barnwell. It's 'only' 164 days away!

Happy Thanksgiving! This year, in addition to my amazing family and friends, good health, an opportunity to get an education, and the great countries I live in, among other things, I'm especially grateful for an amazing fiance! :) He's doing long distance for 8 months, even though he said he'd never do it again, so that I can finish my degree. He talks to me on the phone every night. He sends me flowers randomly when I have tests, etc. He listens to me vent. He keeps buying me presents! He says mushy stuff to remind me he loves me. Even though he's been sick, he went to a lot of work to make sure I felt amazing this week. I am such a lucky girl, and I can't wait to marry this guy:

We're getting married! Clark made a whole day out of the proposal. The night before, I stayed at his house and when we got there, there were 2 dozen roses, an adorable little stuffed horse, and an envelope with my name on it. I opened the envelope to find tickets to Twilight the next day! The next morning we went to Lethbridge and started our very first Christmas tradition by selecting children in need (from this tree they have) to buy gifts for. :) We went to Toys R' Us and had fun wandering around trying to find the perfect presents.

We went to Twilight, then went back to his house to get dressed up for a nice dinner. We walked out to his Jeep, and he opened my door and started grabbing stuff from inside, then shut the door and walked around to the other side. Clark always opens my door for me, and usually waits until I'm inside the vehicle before he shuts the door, so I was a little unsure as to what was going on. He came back around turned me around, and we walked over to the garage. He made me open the door, so I was expecting something crazy, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. He then walked around to his dad's truck and opened the door for me. :) He knows I love big trucks, so he pulled some strings with his dad to let us take the truck.

I had no idea where we were going, especially as we headed west out of Raymond, since we always go north to get to my house or to Lethbridge. Clark asked me where I thought I was going, and I had no clue. He told me we were going to take a little journey to revisit our past, and we were going to a special spot. I got it - Waterton! We had spent an afternoon in Waterton this summer, and it was a really good memory for both of us.

To start the night off, he told me, I needed to open the glove box, open the envelope I would find inside, and tell him what it said. I did as I was told and opened the envelope to find tickets for floor seats to the Carrie Underwood concert on Monday!! I had really wanted to go months ago (in Salt Lake) when tickets first went on sale, but things didn't end up working out with roommates, etc., and I wasn't planning on coming home for the Thanksgiving break to see her here. So, I was disappointed. She is one of my favorite artists, and I was disappointed that she was so close and I wasn't going. I had mentioned this to Clark when I was down in Utah, and he had immediately begun the hunt for tickets. Unfortunately, it being only a couple of weeks before the concert, tickets were impossible to get. He tried all of his friends, acquaintances, eBay, etc. On Thursday, a day before I came home, a lady at work told him she had heard on the radio that there were a few more tickets available. He called every radio station, and no one knew anything about it. So, he called the ticket office first thing Friday morning, was on hold for about 15 minutes, and got the tickets!

When I opened the envelope, I was caught completely by surprise, and for some crazy reason (I'm a girl?) I started crying! Of course, I was a little embarrassed, so I ended up laughing and crying at the same time. Clark just laughed, but I think he was okay with the reaction. :)

After that, he told me he was just getting started. On the way to Waterton, we made stops at other places where we'd had dates, etc., and at each stop he gave me a present to open (all of them were so thoughtful and sweet), including my very own Blue Jays hat. :) Finally, in Waterton, we stopped at a certain special spot, and he told me he was giving me the final present. Of course, that kind of gave me butterflies! I opened it to find a ring box inside, and he took it from me and got down on one knee. He said all kinds of mushy amazing things, then asked me to marry him! Of course, I said yes. Oh yeah. I was a happy girl. We went out for a really nice dinner in Waterton before we headed back to Raymond. Along the way, we stopped at the Dairy Queen in Cardston (more memories!) for dessert. We got back to his house, and told his parents, and I called my mom and told her the whole amazing story.

6 months until we get married....we're thinking May 16.