This Ellensburg engagement session may have been a little cold, and snowy, and we almost fell a whole mess of times, but it was a blast! Let’s start at the beginning.

It started at Moron Mountain.

When I first heard the name, I didn’t think it was a real thing, but as we drove up to Sean’s family cabin, I’m sure I asked “oh? You were serious?” And he definitely was. Right in the front of the shop is the sign, sure as day: “Moron Mountain.”

A few years ago, Sean was throwing a party up there for his 21st birthday. Thanks to some mutual friends, Hannah ended up there as well. She was so confused why someone would be up at a cabin on their 21st and not down at the bars, which is what she recommended. Hannah thought he was “kind of a tool.” HA! That’s literally what she told me. He was kind of drunk, as most boys are on their 21st, but they did end up heeding to Hannah’s advice and making their way downtown.  From the sounds of it, he had a memorable night, and the next day, Hannah had messaged him on Facebook and asked how he was feeling.

That Facebook message let to more, and Sean ended up inviting her back up to the cabin one day, but just the two of them.  They started spending more and more time together, and Sean took her over the mountains for Christmas to meet his family.  I didn’t think much of that until I found out that his birthday is around Thanksgiving. Hannah joked that it was a good thing something was there and it wasn’t just a short term thing. We had a good laugh about that.

Years went by, they spent more time together, got a bit more serious, and for Christmas 2014, Sean surprised her win plane tickets to Hawaii!  They were going to head there in April, when Sean was in a horrible accident at work and his leg was crushed by a steel beam.  He had to go through 5 surgeries for the doctors to put it back together, plus healing time. They didn’t think that there was even a chance they would make it to Hawaii by April.

Sean starting healing faster than any of his doctors expected and as April drew near, his surgeon told him he would clear him for the trip, BUT there was a catch. He had to take crutches, and had to be on at least one during the trip. That didn’t seem like too much of an issue because they had planned on just relaxing during the trip and just enjoying their time together.

Hawaii was pretty great, even though at one point Sean got sick and had to leave Hannah alone at the restaurant. Their last full day there Sean told Hannah there was a beach he had heard about that was pretty secluded and not many people went (called Hidden Beach, imagine that! ;). They made it to the trail head and figured out quickly that it was straight downhill. Hannah didn’t want to go down it, but Sean was determined with his crutch, and he insisted that they head down! She kept asking if he wanted to go back, but he had a plan. I’ll leave the rest to Hannah:

“So we get down there and it’s absolutely gorgeous, only a couple people there. We do some snorkeling, laid on the beach, relaxed. It was great. We picked up a bunch of cool reef and rocks from snorkeling, and we’re laying on the beach and he said “Okay you can only take one home with us, you have to pick which one.” So as I’m going through them I said “it’s going to be this one”…. And he opened his hand and said “or how about this one?” And was holding the ring :).”

Of course she said yes.

Ellensburg Engagement Session

When it came to finding a location, Hannah and Sean were on top of it. It wasn’t until we were headed up to the hills that I knew about Moron Mountain. Like I said, it started thanks to a few mutual friends and a cabin where Sean spent most of his time. They knew that it would be a great spot for their engagement session.

While we were driving up, we broke through the fog that had inundated the Ellensburg valley and realized soon after we settled in that it was staring to snow. It was perfect.

I could tell just from being around them that they are best friends. The can be silly together, but then they can snuggle in close and be lovey too.  I can’t wait to be a part of their wedding next year. Here they are, the future Mr. & Mrs. Forster.