Tyin the knot!

Rumors are true. I'm TyInG tHe KnOt to the most amazing man ever. I was going to wait till I had more pictures and the video, but I gave in and I'm posting.

It all began in Mesa, AZ. Two young kids names Derek Walker (6) and Amanda Hallsted(5). In the same ward. Played on the same soccer team. Amanda had a crush on Derek. Derek didn't really pay any attention to Amanda. Derek and his family moved away to Bountiful UT about 10 years ago, and Amanda and her family followed to Cedar Hills UT 4 years later.

The summer before Amanda's family moved, they journeyed up to Utah and stayed with the Walkers. Amanda(13) and Derek(14) had a BLAST together. They jumped on the tramp together, went hiking, had a pinecone war, played basketball, talked, watched movies, etc. Amanda was so sad to leave.

Derek started emailing, Ammon, Amanda's older brother. Amanda thought it would be funny to be the one always emailing Derek back and pretend she was ammon. Ammon, Amanda, and Mom Hallsted were all in on the trick. After a while, Amanda came out and admitted it was her, not Ammon. Derek and Amanda continued emailing each other. Amanda's family finally moved up to Utah, and the Walker and Hallsted family got together a few times a year. Derek and Amanda really liked each other. They would chat on MSN every night. Amanda put up pictures all over her wall, and had what she called her Derek folder. She saved all of their emails and msn chats.

Ok I'm sick of 3rd person. Derek and I just recently went back and looked through the folder and were laughing pretty hard. I thought I'd never admit to him that I had all of those, but it was so fun. I have the movie tickets to harry potter which was the first time he held my hand. He was the first person I ever held hands with, and I was the first person he held hands with. Cute, I know. :p

We saw each other a few times a year, and when I was finally old enough to date, we went out a couple times a year.

Derek left for 2 years and served a faithful mission in Bangkok Thailand. We wrote here and there. I loved getting letters, but I was terrible at sending them.

Derek came home, our families got together many times, and it was a blast. Derek and I decided to break away from only family dating and finally go on a date without the families. :) I have seen him every weekend since California. We meet in bountiful for the weekend most of the time, but sometimes he will drive ALL the way down to Cedar Hills from Logan. He's such a sweetheart.

Two weekends ago was the happiest moment of my life....thus far. Derek and I knew we were getting married, but nothing was official. It was kind of an awkward stage. When people would ask, it was always hard to know what to say.

Ok ok I'll get to the story. So Derek invited me to go to AZ with his family for President's Day weekend. I was so excited. Derek had never talked to me about rings so I didn't think anything was coming. Earlier in the week, my Dad called and said something to this effect. "Amanda you CANNOT tell Derek I'm telling you this, but he's been looking at rings with me. He had decided on one ring, and we called on it. It can't come in until March 22. He is way bummed. So we tried another ring he liked, and it also can't come until March 22. I've never heard Derek so bummed. I feel really bad, and I don't know what to do. Are you ok with waiting till March 22?" I believed every word he said and was sad that Derek was sad over this. I told my Dad that I really would be happy with whatever. As many of you know, my Dad's a big talker. I thought maybe my Dad was stressing Derek out over it by talking too much. So I advised my Dad to not talk so much. Ha!

Friday rolls around and I'm SO ecstatic about the trip. Before we headed to the airport, we went to a reception, looked at a few places for our own reception, and then headed to the airport with his family. (Note: Derek had the ring at the reception and was showing many people. I never even noticed or caught on to any hints) We ate some dinner at the airport, then got on the plane. Derek's little brother Justin (16) hung back a bit with his mom. I didn't think anything of it. I honestly thought we wouldn't be officially engaged for about a month. Anyways, so we were all sitting there on the plane talking and having a good time. I sat between Jacob (9) and Derek. Derek's mom Joni was just across the isle from us, and the other 3 in the row behind us. Rob, Derek's dad, dared Justin to go use the intercom phone and say something in his announcer voice. Justin can do amazing voices. He is honestly one of the funniest kids I know. Justin walks up and acts like he's asking the flight attendant. I guess they had already talked to her before hand and gotten permission. He starts out with "Ladies and gentlemen we have a special announcement." I am dying laughing already. He continues with something like this. I can't remember exactly what he said. "Coming this summer, a story of love and passion. One man, has a journey.....Amanda Hallsted (note: I STILL didn't catch on. I die laughing even harder cause he said my name.) Amanda Hallsted................Will....You....Marry...Derek Walker. After will you marry, I freaked out and to my surprise, Derek was on one knee with the ring in the isle with the cutest smile on his face! I started to cry and the whole plane was cheering and clapping. No joke, people were crying and screaming. Everyone was standing up out of their seats and was trying to push to see us. It took me a minute to catch my breath before I was able to say yes loud enough for everyone on the plane to hear. I had said yes, but the plane kept asking, what's your answer?! We hugged and he put the ring on my hand. No actually, he handed me the ring and I put it on my own hand cause we were both so nervous. I was shaking so bad. So many times people walked by and asked to see the ring, and I would stick my hand out to show them, and it was shaking out of control.

Later on in the flight, the cute flight attendant brought us a gift. A lovely bottle of Wine! It was hilarious. Derek and I are definitely keeping it forever.

I was in such a daze and on cloud 9 the whole plane ride. The whole weekend. The cloud 9 hasn't died off yet and probably won't ever. I love Derek Walker! He is incredible. AZ was a BLAST!!! Some fun things we did during the trip:

Rode cruiser bikes around the resort
Swimming
Hot tubbing
Spa at the resort
Visiting family on both sides
Going on night time walks
Family scriptures and prayers
Reading my temple prep book on the porch every morning
Climbing camel back mountain. We thought it was a simple family hike. It was literally bouldering. Dad, justin, jacob, derek, and I all came back with jello legs.
Visiting the old ward we grew up in. People were so excited we were engaged.
Getting Gelato at the cafe
Having water fights
Spending time with my best friend

Here are some pictures of the weekend. I don't have all the cute ones from his mom yet though. These are just a few my mom got at the Hallsted family party.

Me and Grandma
I love this picture.
Telling our story with all the family gathered around.

I am the luckiest girl in the world. I couldn't be happier that I get to spend eternity with Derek Walker.