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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Distracting things from Australia...

The land down under has provided me with two distracting things that have really kept me from accomplishing too much this weekend. The first is this book, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. It is a fascinating novel that was recommended to me by two different school librarians. It might be classified as Young Adult literature, but was first marketed as an adult novel in Australia. It is narrated by Death, and tells the story of a girl living through Nazi Germany. Very unique and interesting...



The other distraction is the Australian Open, and I'm sure any tennis fans would agree that this weekend has provided some enthralling matches. I was gripped to the game between Federer and Tipsarevic -- a relatively low-ranked Serb who almost ousted the king of tennis in the early rounds of the tournament. I stayed up until well after 3 a.m. Friday night watching that game, which unexpectedly went to five sets, and ended 10-8 in the fifth set (tie-breakers aren't played in fifth sets)! I went to bed after that game, but caught a rerun the next day of another marathon battle that lasted until 4:33 a.m. in Australia between the country's favourite Leyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. The match looked like it would end fairly quickly when Hewitt was up 5-0 in the fourth set, but Baghdatis rallied back to win the set in a tiebreaker, forcing a fifth set! Incredible...

To understand the post below...

These are the videos I stumbled across by Stephen and Amber that inspired the response I have posted below...

If you've got 15 minutes or so of your life to waste...

This is a video response to a very funny/strange video I stumbled across by Stephen and Amber (Chryslyn's brother and sister-in-law). Enjoy...

Part One


Part Two

All things new...

It seems it's all things new for my friends Chad and Sharon lately. Here they are in their new Toyota Yaris with their first-ever cell phone (I think)...


And here they are doing "American Gothic" in front of their new house in Sunridge in Lethbridge.


They'll have a nice view of the mountains as long as nobody else builds... ;-)


And here's the group of us after taking in the touring Banff Mountain Film Festival in Lethbridge.


One of my favourite films of the night was King Lines about one of the world's best rock climbers doing an amazing deep water climb on an arch of rock off an island in Spain. Check out this crazy trailer for the film: http://senderfilms.com/KLclip.html

Christmas at the Farm!

This year's family photo...


All the grandkids... The twins hit five months just before Christmas.


My favourite moment from the holidays. I took this picture of Laura, Ryan, Caleb and Chloe sitting on the bridge over the river behind the house. I said I would take one more...


And then this happened... Caleb suddenly decided to jump off! Look at Laura's expression. It was hilarious. He was fine, landing on the snow about five feet below. The day before, both he and Tate had been jumping into Ryan's, Murray's and my arms, but I didn't expect he would jump without anyone to catch him! Too funny... Unpredictable toddlers!

Christmas Goodies...

Chryslyn and I spent Christmas apart... She in Paraguay visiting extended family, and me in Saskatchewan with my family. When Chryslyn got back, she had several present for me. The first was this sweet piece of pottery from a market in Paraguay.


These "cups" are called guampas and the "straws" are called bombillas. They are used for making yerba matte tea, a popular drink in several South American countries. It is definitely an acquired taste. The cup filled with the yerba mate leaves is passed around the circle as a social drink, refilling it with hot water for each new person. Traditionally the cups are made out of a bull's horn, but these are both wooden. The one on the right is from Chryslyn and the one on the left is a gift from her grandmother in Paraguay!


This is my Christmas gift to myself... an HDTV from Costco. I was in need of a new TV and decided that I should get an HDTV, as by next year, all American networks will be legally required to broadcast strictly in digital formats, and Canadian stations have to make the switch by 2011. Traditional analog TVs will require a special converter box in order to work. (Note: The photo of Hillary on the TV is not intentional... I am much in favour of Barack Obama over Clinton.)