Announcement

Ladies and Gentlemen!

We are ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!

Yes, yes, it’s true.

Mark Hales and Andrea Worthen
are engaged to be married in
the Manti Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
on
24 May 2008.

Many of you are saying, “Wow—that was fast.” We agree—it is fast. But, it feels right. And we are very happy.

Below is a detailed account of our background and how this change came about, if you feel so inclined to read it.

Introductions

Andrea:
I guess for those of you who don’t know me, I will give you a brief background.

• I am 29. I am the third of five kids (brother, brother, me, brother, (14 year gap) sister). All of my brothers are married.
• I grew up in a teeny tiny town in the middle of Nowhere called Ferron, Emery County, Utah. My whole county still doesn’t have a stop light. I am a redneck—which Mark reminds me of often.
• After high school, I spent seven and a half years at BYU. I graduated in April 2001 (BS, Business), April 2004 (MPA), and December 2004 (JD). Mark and I originally met in law school. He started the year prior to me—we didn’t have any social interaction there.
• One summer during graduate school, I spent almost seven weeks in Samoa.
• I am Navajo (Mom) and White (Dad).
• I currently work for the State of Utah doing policy and administration for the Utah System of Higher Education (the public colleges and universities). I have been working for the USHE since October 2006.
• I spent a year in DC/VA working for the Navajo Nation as a lobbyist.

Well, that ought to give you a good look of who I am. A lot of the experiences I have had have given Mark and me a whole lot to talk about. I guess not just a lot to talk about, but also a foundation to build trust.

Mark:
Now it is time to introduce the infamous (which means “more than famous”) Mark Hales.

• I am 32-freaking-years-old and finally tricked somebody into marrying me (well, there is still time for her to come to her senses).
• I am the youngest of 5 kids—so my Mom has been waiting 10 years to announce my engagement.
• I grew up in a “pretty valley in the center of the state” (that being Ellensburg, Washington).
• I served a mission in Arkansas Little Rock and on occasion I can speak with my southern drawl.
• I have an AAS in Geography from Ricks College (1998) (it will always be Ricks to me), a BS in Planning and Resource Management (2000), and my Juris Doctor (2003) from BYU.
• I am overconfident in my acting abilities since I have made brief “appearances” in 5 films and 2 musicals. (It is true… go check me out on http://www.imdb.com/ to see my Bacon Number.)
• I just returned from a 1 ½ year adventure in American Samoa where I was an Assistant Attorney General and where I learned to SCUBA dive.

The Story

Andrea:
About a week and a half before Christmas 2007, Mark started emailing me on a social site. I wasn’t really interested in him. But, he kept on emailing me. And, it turned out he was also discouraged about another girl—so we talked about that.

I invited Mark to a New Year’s party I was going to. He came, but I still wasn’t interested in him. And then he sang a very bad karaoke song and I knew we were just going to be friends. Heheheh…..

New Year’s Day Mark went to a chick flick with me and my bestest-friend-cousin. She told me he cried. I didn’t have first-hand knowledge of this because my cousin was sitting between us. Anyway, we were friends. Good stuff.

Friday, January 4th, my roommate and I hosted a mini law school reunion. Mark came along with two other law school friends. https://campfirebug.smugmug.com/gallery/4113873_Ybv7J#239901498. One of those law school friends thought perhaps she was the reason why Mark and I have ended up hooking up. Actually—I give the credit to Mark. I still haven’t got it out of him why he decided to email me in the first place.

January 5th, Mark took me to lunch. This is because January 6th is my birthday. It was fun to be with him. That evening he came to my house for dinner along with 26 of my other family/friends. Then he went with me and 10 of my family/friends to the FMX (Freestyle Motorcross, or in other words: crazy motorcycle stunt riders) show at the Energy Solutions Arena. After the show, he came back and visited with me, my parents, and some of my other friends. We had birthday cake.

The whole next week, we saw each other every day. What truly catapulted this relationship was our weekend trip to Idaho Falls. We left Friday, January 11th. Road trips are truly make-or-break events, if you want my opinion. And, our weekend was AWESOME.

Pretty much since the Idaho trip, it’s been both silent knowledge and a topic of conversation that we really COULD be great and happy together as man and wife.

Apparently, we disagree on who initiated the first kiss. He initiated it. I promise. (At this point, I, Mark, assert my comment that I emphatically deny this allegation and assert that she kissed me first.) However, there is no denial that Mark did say "I love you first." But--when I tried to respond that I loved him, he just kept kissing me. It's hard to talk when your mouth is being occupied. And then I wasn't sure that I really heard him say what I thought I heard--because he barely whispered it. But, yes, he did say it first. And no, I didn't say it back to him (but if he could have only read my thoughts).

I don’t know when we actually made a decision that we SHOULD be married. Maybe Mark knows when that happened. I just know he started talking to his family about a week and a half before I did about when they could all come out to Utah for a wedding. In fact, he has been telling his family a whole lot more about me than I have been telling my family about him.

This all became pretty official just recently—when I dragged Mark to Cedar City to spend time with my entire family. I was very nervous. Mostly because I hadn’t yet told my family how serious it was between me and Mark. I told my parents that Sunday morning, February 10th—including dates we were possibly considering. They now expect Mark to give them 10 cows. Mark is counter-offering with a dead chicken.

Later Sunday afternoon, we had a family meeting before we all left Cedar City. We discussed important dates to keep in mind for the summer. And, that was when my dad kept hinting (“Anyone else have anything they need to discuss? Anyone? Anything?”). I chickened out. I TOTALLY admit it. (This is why Mark says he is offering a dead chicken.) But, my Main Man Mark stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.

Mark: “Well, we were wondering if any of you have any conflicts toward the end of May—possibly the first of June.”

Sister-in-law: “Why?”

Another sister-in-law: “Are you making an announcement or something?”

Mark: “Well, even though Andrea and I have been dating for just a few weeks, we’ve been talking about getting married. We want all of you there at the wedding.” Cheers erupt and “Congratulations!”

So, that’s when our engagement became officially unofficial—or at least it did to me. I mean, we are official: we set a firm date the next day. We’re “unofficial” because there is no ring yet.

And, now that I’ve told most of my family (grandparents, aunts, uncles)—we figure we can tell the rest of the world. So-there it is, the story you all wanted to hear.

Peace out!