Spell check is going to have to get used to "Schwanke"

I've noticed a trend. People start blogging when they are engaged or married.
On June 11th, Garrett put a ring on it.


And since we are now officially engaged, we've decided it is appropriate to start our very own blog!! Secretly I've wanted to start a blog for a while.. so I'm excited.

I've been wanting to share pictures from our engagement and from our recent trip to Oregon and of the amazing rubber stamp of our faces that Garrett JUST BARELY finished carving out (he is literally sitting at my side working on it :) So I'll start with some engagement pictures and a brief story of how it came about:

Mom was in town and staying at my Aunt Fay's house in Heber. Aunt Fay and Uncle Tom had invited us to come up to their home that weekend for a BBQ. I suggested it to Garrett. He was hesitant so I made it easy for him to say no and he suggested we spend a little time together on the weekend since I'd been with my Mom and busy with school most of the week. "How about we go out Friday AND Saturday night?" I couldn't see anything wrong with that. I knew we were "going on a drive". And I thought it was a lovely idea. It wasn't the greatest weather for being outside (rainy) so a drive was the perfect way to enjoy some nature without getting wet and cold.

Garrett picked me up at 5ish and drove me South of Provo towards Mount Nebo. We drove up the mountain road and it got REALLY foggy. Most of the time we could only see 50 ft or so in any direction. That was a little unfortunate (since I'm sure Garrett would have preferred a more scenic drive), but it didn't keep us from enjoying the time to just visit and see the limited view we had of the roadsides.As we climbed up in altitude, we kept hoping that we would get above the clouds and come to a beautiful view of Mt. Nebo. Unfortunately that didn't happen. We got to the Nebo outlook and it was still white white white.

The way Garrett proposed was really sweet and creative. He had a book made and that's what I saw first. He told me he had something for me and pulled it out. The cover was made of a map of Waterton--my favorite mountain place--and it had a green tie on the side of it. Inside the front cover I found a watercolor painting of Chief Mountain (an original by Garrett Schwanke) which is, to me, the icon mountain of my home in Southern Alberta.

After I admired the book and the painting and read the love note written to me on the back of the painting, Garrett opened the book further to reveal the hole he had cut out of the pages in the back and I spotted my rings threaded onto the green tie:

(Green tie hand-crafted by Jasmine ;)

How did he know I'd always wanted to get engaged on a mountain? Of course I was thrilled and bursting with happy feelings. Garrett asked me if I'd marry him and I said yes. Then we tried to take some pictures outside the car in the rain/mist/fog.

Before we drove back down, we had a little dinner of some of our favorite things including PB and Banana sandwiches, aloe-vera drink, and mixed berries. When we got back to Provo, Garrett's sister Katelyn and our roommate, Katie, had some friends over and had prepared a chocolate fondue.

And there it is. We are happily engaged and busy with planning our wedding. It has been busy trying to balance that with school, work, and trying to enjoy the beautiful summer here in Provo. But wedding planning is fun. I just can't believe it's me planning the wedding this time!

Here's to hoping that we'll see you in Cardston on August 19th for our wedding!

<3 Karli

P.S. For those who have asked for a better picture of my ring, here you go. The set will be completed with a wedding band much like the yellow gold twig ring (top ring) just in rose gold:

Garrett found the rings on Etsy. Check out the artist who designed them and made them especially for us:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bmjnyc
Barbara has been really great to work with!

And don't worry. Garrett's band with be matching.