I only got slightly lost on the drive up to Grenora where I met Jill and Tommy for their engagement session just north of Williston, ND.  We met up at Tommy’s parent’s home, where Tommy grew up.  His dad owned the tire shop in Fortuna for years. Tommy growing up around the tire shop it came as no surprise that it was the race track where Jill and Tommy met. Though they both have different stories on who pursued who three years later they are engaged!  Jill has two boys Dale and Jacob.  Tommy asked both of them and cooked up a plan, that ultimately got changed last minute this Christmas.  He popped the question she said yes, and they headed out the door to meet some family for dinner.  

During dinner, Jill’s Grandma started coking and needed the Heimlich maneuver at the dining room table! Things started to calm down a bit at dinner when Jills cousin noticed a shiny new ring on Jill’s left hand and the whole mood of the room shifted to joy and excitement! Though it wasn’t the day Tommy had planned it makes for a great story! 

A little over a week before their engagement session I got an email from Jill that Jacob had gotten kneed in the face at gym class and had broken his nose.  He would be going into surgery the next morning and would likely have a metal plate on his face during our session.  I was pretty surprised when I pulled in the driveway behind them when Jacob jumped out of the pickup without a metal plate, and a completely straight nose and no signs of surgery! The plate had come off the day before on its own! 

We headed out to the pasture and junk pile for photos while swatting mosquitoes away! (note to self, it’s time to start packing bug spray in the camera bag again!) It was crazy just how silent it really is when you get out of the oil field. They only sound are the sound of birds, crickets, and ducks splashing as they land in the pond. 

We finished up the session overlooking a small pond watching the sun dip below the orange sunkissed clouds! We headed back up to Tommy’s parent’s house where I got to meet his mom, and she showed me her shoe tree!  If you have never seen a shoe tree before its definitely something to look up online!  Though there isn’t really a conclusive origin of them they have popped up all over the United States and beyond.  Wasn’t something I was expecting to see but was pretty neat to hear about! 

Now without further a due here are Tommy and Jill’s engagement photos!  Join me in congratulating them on their engagement in the comments below! 

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Check out Jill and Tommy’s wedding photos here!