So, its been awhile since I've done a REAL blog post... lets catch up shall we?? Today makes my 1 week of being engaged! Crazy huh!?! Ya tell me about! I'm SO SO SO excited! I'll get to that story in a minute but first, I had a friend ask about how Kasey and I actually got together and I told her I'd blog it... which I've failed to do until NOW! YAY for me remembering to do something :) (oh and I'm feeling like a narrator from a really bad movie today just as a heads up) anyways Kasey and I started dating back in February but our story does not begin there, lets go back in time to 1997... It was a time for awkward phases, weird teeth (for my age anyway) and finally starting to get some good fashion back after the awful setback the nation had in the 80's and early 90's. This was my 8th grade year of Jr High School. I was a Falcon and I had more confidence that I should have. Finally not being a lowly 7th grader I thought I had it made! I was loving my friends, my teacher and ya even my classes. I was never a nerd but I always did enjoy school, I think mostly for the social scene but either way I normally was excited to go back to school because by the end of summer I was pretty bored no matter how much I had done. Anyways on to the interesting stuff! I was a semi drama geek and had class after lunch so I was normally there a little early. That's where I first saw him. The 'bad boy' that stole my heart. His name.. Kasey Michael Fackrell. Plain and simple I had one of the biggest crushes of my life! Thankfully I was quite the outgoing kid (even though now I'm kind of shy sometimes) I went right up and talked to him and from then on I was 'in love' well as much as I could be at 13. Nothing more than a friendship ever developed though, and I was stuck day dreaming about what it would be like if we 'dated' I tried everything I could to woo him and nothing worked. I guess I was just to much of a goodie for him, that or it could have been my REALLY bad hair cut! I was pretty cunning though and was able to get a picture of him

Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?? Anyways... I remember seeing him at the end of that year at 7 peaks when all the 8th and 7th graders got to go for school, and he was with this girl, (that I was friends with) and I was SO upset!! I told my best friend and we talked about how stupid it was, and even though he did come and give me a hug in his swim shorts... (and yes I still remember the hug, he was soaking wet from the water slide and I was dry and afterward my front side was dripping....)I wanted more than a hug... My 8th grade year ended with me putting little pink hearts around his picture in the yearbook and dealing with reality. I watched him date this girl in high school and yes I was still jealous, WHY did he have to keep dating people I was friends with and not me?!? Please keep in mind I did not sit around and mope about him my whole life. I did date other boys and had a great time in school I met 'the one' twice. One of which I'm sure you're all very aware of and who is still one of my closest friends. Kasey left Orem High and went else where and all I knew at the time was he wasn't coming to school anymore. I was so sad, but we kept in touch mostly over the phone and email, but he was always someone that I made an effort to talk to. I got engaged and Kasey joined the ARMY so we didn't really talk much. I did send him a few emails via myspace and when he came home to visit I made sure to call him and see him. I remember one time when Ty and I were on a 'break' and Kasey was in town, as I was leaving my apartment I was thinking... "ok Ashlee this is it, you're going to kiss him tonight" but when I saw him I couldn't do it. The timing was SO off... Kasey was home for his Grandpa's funeral and Kasey and his grandpa were best friends, and he was in no mood for kissing, and when I saw how devastated he was, I wasn't either. So it was ice cream and a hug! He went back to KS and I went back to Tyler. I got a call from him one day telling me he was getting deployed to Iraq in the fall but that he would be home for a few days before and we were going to hang out I was SO excited! Until I got another call that he was going to stand me up because him and his buddies were going to Vegas instead! But as things happened he was shipped off to Iraq and I was coming to an end with Tyler (which is a ENTIRE story of its own) I still sent him emails and we talked. I got his APO and was getting a package ready to send to him, at the same time I finally added him to my Yahoo messenger contact list in the beginning of January and we started talking every single day online. The timing was actually perfect, he would be getting ready for bed and I was at work so we were able to chat for a few hours every day. It was pure heaven! I instantly fell back in love with him and it was just our luck that he was coming home for his mid-tour leave in February. Everything was perfect and we decided to become a couple. Everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to exclusively date someone that was in Iraq, but I knew that it wouldn't matter if he were here or 7000 miles away my feelings for him would not change so what was the point of pretending and going on meaningless dates? I'm not going to say having him in Iraq was easy because it wasn't, I had breakdowns ALL of the time and Kasey was there for me, he put up with my mood swings, my tears, my screaming... all of it, and he never complained... he just told me he loved me! I think that brings us almost up to date! (if not you can read my previous posts about him to catch yourself up) October 3rd was the best day of my life (so far) Kasey was home from Iraq and Annie and I had driven out to welcome him home! It was our first kiss our first hug our first time holding hands and gazing into each others eyes all over again. It had been almost 8 months since we'd last seen each other or kissed each other, it felt new again and it was finally our turn to be happy. Last Thursday I took the day off work to spend some time with him since he was only in town for a couple of weeks and had to leave on Sunday. We went to lunch with some of my friends and then decided to head up to Wendover for a day trip to get some cash since he had gone on Tuesday and didn't do so well, he wanted to make some money back. Kasey must know me pretty well because as we were driving he asked me if I wanted to write my name in the salt flats with rocks. (If you've never seen the salt flats in real life you will have NO CLUE why he would ask this but see the picture below and then visit the flats!) Anyways of course I wanted to, I thought that was the coolest thing ever and I've always wanted to stop but never have. But he kept driving and when I asked him about it he said he just wanted to find a place with alot of rocks, we finally pulled over and got out, Kasey had been driving so I made it to out of the car first and when I looked at the salt there were already words written in the sand that said 'Marry Me' I turned around to tell him (and half thinking what a weird coincidence) but when I turned around there he was with my ring! Shock went through me because I thought for sure he was going to ask me at new years I walked over to him and the little opened box and honestly I don't remember what I said... it was either Yes or Of Course but you'd have to ask him! I was shaking even though he thinks I was just cold. We kissed and then he put the perfect ring on my finger and we kissed again :) We still went to Wendover and hung out for a few hours, I called and text everyone I could think of let them know and that was that. It was perfect! So now it's on to planning the big day..... :)

PS- Sorry for the extremely long post!