Honeymoon...

The honeymoon is set!!! We will be going to St. Lucia and staying seven nights at the Sandals Halcyon in the Caribbean. Looks like a beautiful place with many adventures awaiting... Sea kayaks, snorkeling, scuba, sailing, zip lines over the rainforest canopy, rainforest mountain biking, waterskiing, hiking...






These are the Pitons... Apparently quite famous twin mountains (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), rising from the waters on the southwestern shore of St. Lucia. Our resort is on the northwestern shore, so I really hope we'll get a chance to get down there and see them... maybe even climb to the peak of one. I'm guessing they are about 30+ km down the coast from our resort. (The entire island is only 620 square-km.)

The Boys...

I'm excited that we're having a small wedding party. My groomsmen will be my two great friends who accompanied me on the West Coast Trail the summer before last. I've had a lot of good friends over the years, but these are the two guys who I've always kept in close touch with, despite the strain that time and distance can often put on friendships. They are faithful and encouraging friends whom I will be honoured to have stand up for me this summer.

Daron is my buddy from Salmon Arm, where he works as a youth pastor at an E-Free church. He and his wife Shauna are expecting their first child in late August. He also has two brothers getting married in the next few months, so it's going to be a busy spring/summer for him! Daron and I have been great friends since being roommates back in 2000 in Taber. Here's Daron checking out wolf prints on the beach during our hike on the WCT.


Bryan and I have been buddies since 1995 during my University of Saskatchewan days. He works as an accountant for a builder in Vancouver, and lives with his wife Rhianna in Langley. No kids yet, but their dog MJ keeps them busy. Here's Bryan negotiating a log bridge on the WCT.


Chryslyn will have just two attendants as well -- her longterm friends Hillary and Jessica. Interestingly, both of her girls live out of town as well! Hillary lives in Ontario where she is dating a great guy named Mike, while Jess lives in Calgary with her "hilarious in unexpected comments" husband Mark.

"Our" colours...

I've been told what our colours are.... haha.... Actually, apparently we had a conversation and I agreed, although I don't really remember that happening.... Doesn't matter... Whatever Chryslyn wants will be great.

So she's introduced me to "damask".... I didn't know what this was until a week ago. She wants black and white damask with yellow accents/highlights. Of course, this may change as she does some fabric shopping, but that's the idea so far...




On another note, I've been deep into research on honeymoon locations. PEI and Quebec were early contenders, but I think we've narrowed it down to Cuba and Belize now. And as of tonight, I'm rooting for Belize... Ecotourism.... Still beautiful resorts, but more secluded and environmentally friendly, with some really cool adventure possibilities.... Snorkeling, scuba diving, zip-lining above the rainforest canopy, tubing through cave rivers (that one kinda scares me), touring ancient Mayan ruins, ocean kayaking, jungle hiking, mountain biking. And of course, gorgeous beaches for R&R...

Possible Venues...

This is the location of our reception. It's the Boys and Girls Club of Lethbridge, a non-profit organization for before and after-school programs for kids. Nothing fancy, but it's available and the price is right. Basically it's just a gymnasium, but neither of us are too concerned about its plainess. The most important thing is that we have good food, nice decorations, plenty of family and friends, and copious amounts of FUN!

Treating the Girls Well...

Thursday, of course, was Valentine's Day, and because we COULDN'T cancel Survivor night, Chad and I decided to make supper for the girls. I made steak-kabobs and baked macaroni and Chad made mandarin spinich salad and mocha cheesecake. And my mom made the wine...haha... It all turned out great. Chryslyn spoiled me with a beautiful, breathable Adidas pullover (cuz I'm such a hot guy).

The Ring...

The engagement ring is actually a little unique because we decided to go with moissanite for the main stone. The 30 tiny shoulder stones are actually diamonds, as moissanite isn't cut as small as those needed to be, but the .5 carat main stone is moissanite, which is a lab-created gem not found naturally on Earth. It was actually first discovered as fragments of a meteorite by Nobel Prize winning scientist Henri Moissan in 1893. Only one company in the U.S. produces these stones, which are quite similar in many characteristics to diamond. They are the second-hardest gem next to diamond, but may actually be stronger and more durable as they won't have any natural faults that mined diamonds may have. Like diamonds, they don't fade, cloud or change colours with time. And they actually have more fire, luster and brilliance than diamonds. After seeing the movie Blood Diamond, Chryslyn and I did some more research and talked quite a bit about the state of the diamond industry, and so for both ethical and financial reasons, we decided that moissanite was the way to go for us. And we're both so happy with this gorgeous ring!

If you're interested in knowing more about this fairly new diamond alternative, you can check out the company's web site at www.moissanite.com

A Perfect Day to get Engaged...

Sunday, February 10, 2008.... It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Waterton. It was almost raining at the town site and probably around +5 degrees C, so it was very slushy until we got higher up the mountain and closer to the ski trail at Cameron Lake.

Now, apparently I'm not mysterious as I had thought, as Chryslyn said after the day was over that she had pretty much figured it out that I would be proposing today. In fact, she was so confident that she even told a few friends of her theory. As the day wore on, she started to wonder if she'd have to eat her words, as it didn't happen as early in the ski trip as she predicted... Haha.... At least I kept her guessing a LITTLE bit!

So we reached the Little Prairie Picnic Shelter on the road to Cameron Lake sometime after 2 p.m. and headed into the woods on the ski trail to Cameron Lake 2.5 km away. We have just started out in these pictures. It is beautiful skiing through the trees, which provide complete shelter from the high winds that plague the town site!

Warning Signs!!!

This is the sign that greets you once you reach Cameron Lake.


We thought it would be funny if I tried to imitate the image on the avalanche warning sign...

Is he gonna ask yet..... Yeesh!

When we arrived at Cameron Lake, there was a family enjoying some time there as well. We played around in the snow and easily climbed up onto the roof of the visitor centre at the lake. The mother of the family there took these pictures for us...




Chryslyn found this crawl space between a wall of drifted snow and another building.


She really thought I would propose here at Cameron Lake, and she even drew this heart in the side of a huge drift to try to "set the mood."

But it was windy and chilly being beside the exposed lake and out of the trees, and there were other people there... And besides.... I had something else in mind!

Chryslyn wanted me to try to get a picture of the softly falling snow.... Such a beautiful day in Waterton.


Moments before I told Chryslyn we were going to take off our skis and hike into the trees on an "adventure." She thought I was crazy because the snow was so deep. And she also thought, "This has better be IT if I'm following this nutcase through this waist-deep snow into the forest!"


I led her in a ways, and it was quite a struggle really to plough through. We were surrounded by trees and I sort of got down on one knee... Really, one leg was completely down in the snow up to my groin, and the other leg was kind of bent up on the snow. So I looked up at Chryslyn and took this picture, and then put away my camera and took her hands, said some nice words, and asked if she'd marry me!

The Ring on the Finger for the First Time...

This is moments after I proposed... Hard to get a clear picture, as I think both of our hands were a little shaky...


This is the spot in the forest surrounded by snow-covered trees where I popped the question.


OK... Confession time... I may have been the one who wrote "YES" in the stone... But really, she DID say it!

Celebration time!

This is the start of the area where I convinced Chryslyn to take off our skis and follow me into the woods..... She was right.... It got pretty deep pretty fast.....


Once we skiied back to my car, I had prepared a special Engagement Music CD and I cracked open a bottle of Mom's homemade wine for us to enjoy... Maybe not the best idea after an afternoon of dehydrating cardio, but hey....

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