The Story According to Amanda

Mark told me that I had to write my version of the story before I was allowed to read his, and I am anxious to read his so here it goes (long though it may be.)

About three weeks ago Mark hinted that he was going to ask me to marry him and that he wouldn't make me wait too long. Waiting a few weeks was ok, but I admit that I was a little antsy sometimes, but I really tried to be good and patient. I knew it was coming I just had to wait.

On Friday at work Mark IM'd me and said "I think that we should go take pictures together sometime, where would be a good spot to go?" I was busy so I didn't write back, but while we were at lunch I told him that we could take pictures basically anywhere: Leslie Gulch, Table Rock, downtown, the farmer's market, etc. We also decided that we would go picture taking at Table Rock the next day, and that the best time (lighting wise) would be in the evening (or early in the morning, but we were not going to get up that early on a Saturday.)

After work that night neither one of us really felt like cooking and Mark has been wanting to go to P.F. Chang's for the last several months, so he called to see if we could get a reservation. The earliest they had was 8:15, so he made the reservation. I said that that sounded good but I would have to eat a snack before then. So for lack of anything better we made an easy favorite - pizza sandwiches. While we were in the process of cooking/eating we decided that it would be good to do something with the Olsen's instead. So Mark called and changed our reservation to Saturday at 6:30. A little while later we went over to the Olsen's and watched a movie (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and ate ice cream...mmmm.

That night when I got home my roommates, Jenny and Shalise, were up so I talked to them for awhile. There was some discussion about getting engaged, if I would say yes, what Mark and I were doing the next day, things like that. They established that going out for a nice dinner and to Table Rock would be an ideal time for Mark to propose. I thought, that yes it could be but that I didn't want to tell myself that because what if he didn't? It ended up being 2 o'clock before I got to bed. Needless to say I slept in a little (at least compared to work days.)

On Saturday I got up about 9:30 and did some things around the house like put away laundry, iron, and clean the bathroom. In the midst of that I called Mark at about 10:30 to see what he was up to. He said that he was out running errands. He said that he had been to Fred Meyer's (later I would learn that that meant ring shopping) and things like that. I didn't pry much because I didn't want to ruin anything that he might have up his sleeve. I told him what I was up to and that it would be a few hours before I was ready for the day (after he asked how long I would be.)

I had breakfast (waffles with buttermilk syrup) with my roommates at 11:30ish. My favorite comment of the conversation was when Shalise said "But you can't get engaged in the mud!" (It was a rainy day.) I finished things around the house and got ready for the day, then went to Mark's around 12:30, where I was greeted with a "hello gorgeous." We were kind of boring, Mark mowed the lawn, during which he ran out of garbage bags and had to go to the store to get more. I asked if he wanted me to come with, he said no (because really he was picking up the ring too.) I stayed there and picked up the house a little because he wouldn't allow me to help with the lawn. After that I worked on my sewing and he played with some computer programming. Soon it was time to go to dinner.


We gathered up our cameras and jackets and went downtown. When we drove into the parking garage it wasn't raining, but by the time we got out it was, so we ran the block to the restaurant, so we didn't get too wet. Dinner was nice, I had never really eaten there (only chocolate cake). We had lettuce wraps, Mongolian Beef and some kind of spicy chicken (I don't remember what it is called.) I was a little indecisive on what to order so Mark tried to get them to let me have half and half, but it was a no go. But it was sweet of him to try. At the end of dinner we had fortune cookies of course. My fortune said something to the effect of " you will receive an unusual gift soon." I wondered if it would be true, turns out it was.


We finished dinner and headed back to the car (this time it was not raining even though it had been pouring while we were in the restaurant.) We headed up to Table Rock which is right by down town. We got there, parked the car, grabbed our cameras and started up. Since it had been raining quite a bit recently the trail was muddy so it was much easier to walk in the grass on the edge of the trail. We stopped a couple of times on the way up to take pictures. Mark prodded me along once saying that we needed to get to the top before it was too late.

We got to the top a little bit after nine. I proceeded to get out my camera and take pictures. Mark did the same. After a few minutes Mark said "hey, you know how sometimes people write on the rocks up here, I think it says something over here, you should come take a picture and see what it says." At that point I was suspicious as to what was coming. I went over to where he pointed (the top of a big boulder that was down below the ledge/outcropping we were on) and tried to take a picture. Because it was starting to get dark, it took me a few minutes to get the exposure right without blurring things (I eventually switched to his camera so I could use the tripod.) I wasn't quite sure exactly where he was wanting me to look, so I did my best. I think that Mark was starting to worry that things weren't going to go quite as planned. When I got a picture that looked good, he zoomed in to the right spot in the picture for me. Then I was able to see what I was looking for. On little rocks (the biggest being three or four inches wide) he had written "Amanda, will you marry me? Mark," one word per rock. I saw it and said "yes, sweetie." I was excited! Then he said "I have something for you," and pulled a ring box out of his jacket pocket. While he was opening it he commented on there being a lot of boxes (the real box was inside another box.) When he got it open there was a very nice, sparkly ring. I asked him if he would put it on me. He put it on most of the way, I had to help a little because it is a little small for my finger. Then we kissed and said I love you and all of that good gushy stuff. I asked him if he would love me forever and ever, and if he wanted to be with me for always. Of course he said yes. He asked if I was happy (yes.) He told me that he was happy, he said that when he was picking up the ring he was so happy and excited and wondered if he would feel that way again that night. He asked if I wanted to keep the rocks (of course), I told him if they weren't too hard to get to. They weren't so we went down and got them. While we were down there he suggested that we should get married in September. This was fine with me since that was the time frame I had been thinking of too. We went a little further down and took some pictures of us. My favorite part of this was that he held my hand up so that you could for sure see my ring in the pictures. It made me laugh.

And so we started our trek back down the trail to the car (via a slightly different route than we had taken up.) It was mostly dark by then so we had to be a little extra careful because of the mud (I managed to slip once, but I didn't get too dirty.) On the way down we talked about things like how he set things up in the morning, when he got the ring, him talking to my mom (all of this being hard to do without me knowing seeing as we are together most of the time.) In general we were just happy and excited (and I was glad that I didn't have to wait anymore.)

When we got to the car we took our shoes off and put them in the trunk (they were wet and muddy.) On the drive home he turned on the map light in the car so that I could see my diamond better, it was very sparkly. It also started raining again. I was glad that it hadn't rained on us while we were outside. We went to his house (it was 11ish) and picked up some leftover pie and then went to my house so that I could tell my roommates (and other friends from the ward that were there.) It was fun to tell them and show them my ring. They were all very excited (at least the girls were.) After that Mark and I ate pie and talked a little bit more and then he went home.

The next morning I called my mom to tell her the news, she was glad that I was happy, but wanted to know why I hadn't called her the night before. That morning I also learned that Mark had made a blog for us, I thought that that was really cute of him. I also took my ring out into the sunlight, it was even nicer to look at then (it still distracts me regularly throughout the day.) He did a good job.

I am so excited to marry Mark and that we get to spend forever together! He is a great guy.