I'm Engaged!

About 10 months ago, my friend Audrey told me she had a girl for me, so, knowing that she has plenty of quality friends and good taste, I decided to go out with this girl, even though she was several years younger than me, but am I glad I did!  

Katie and I have been dating for just under 10 months and I love her so, I figured it was just about time that I ask her to be my wife!  I wanted this ever important question to be extremely special, but I also didn't want to do anything TOO extravagant, or out of the ordinary, because I wanted the question to be a surprise when I asked her.  So, I thought, and thought, and eventually came up with an idea.  

I know that she loves the outdoors and she also likes to read, but I wasn't exactly sure how to combine those in a natural way.  I decided to make her a book with a cute, short, little story.  So, using my love of art, an old book and a few other crafty ideas that I found online (I'm not going to admit where I found them) 

I made a six page "pull down" book about a tree.  The story told of how the tree was sad and cold during the winter but loved the spring and summer as many people and animals came to enjoy it's branches and shade!  However, there was one day that stood out above the rest! ... I'll talk about more later on.  



Now it was finally time for the big day and I was excited!  I picked her up for dinner and we went to a fine establishment in North Minneapolis, called Victory 44 (if you haven't been there, you should go asap!).  The wait was a little longer than the hostess had told us it would be but it was ok because we got to spend the time together, talking and laughing. (although I secretly just wanted dinner to get over with so I could ask her to marry me and not have to worry about the ring in my pocket.)  We had a wonderful dinner and started our drive home to the southern suburbs.  As we were driving down Hiawatha Ave I brought up a conversation we had had the night before about Minnehaha Falls and whether or not there would be much ice, water, or anything for that matter, flowing over them.  (I had wanted to tie the Falls into this whole thing somehow since we both love Minneapolis, the outdoors, the parks, and also visited a few times over the past months and I also thought it would be memorable because she also attended Minnehaha Academy, so having Minnehaha Falls tied to us forever seemed nice!)  
Anyways... We decided to go to the Falls and see for ourselves, ya know, since we just happened to be nearby.  I told her how I only wished that the park's path lights would be on since it was getting close to 10:00 when the park closes, but as we got there, we saw the lights were on and we both excited to see the Falls, flowing or not, surrounded by the dusting of snow we'd had the day before.  We parked the car and I just had to grab something out of my trunk and tried to be all sneaky as I shoved a wrapped package under my jacket and tried to hold onto it with my left hand as we walked hand in hand through the park towards the Falls.  We got to the top of the Falls and the flood lights were shining bright over the area where water should have been pouring down, but instead we just saw the rocks beneath and heard a slight drip, drip, drip. (wa, waaaa) 

As we stood there in the cold, December night I told her that I had something for her.  I handed her the package and she started to open it, not really knowing what it was.  (She told me afterwards that she thought it might have been a ring, but then it was too heavy and she had no idea.)  She finished opening it and I told her how I'd made it for her and proceeded to read it together.  Now, you already know what was on the last page, but then she pulled down the "broken branches" and the story tells how the girl then made a young man's dreams come true! 


She then started shaking,she wasn't sure if it was from the cold or if the idea of my proposing had hit her.  As she finished the story, I closed the book, set it aside and got down on my knee and asked the question I'd been waiting to ask her since the very first time I met her (honestly! When I got home from our first date, I wrote on my calendar, "I'd say that tonight just could have been my last first date.").  Through blurry eyes, I finally got the words, "Katie, will you marry me?" to come shaking off of my lips as I found the proper finger to slide the ring onto.  She said, "YES!" 




She just kind of screamed, giggled, and jumped up and down for a while, and although I wanted her to stop screaming, ya know, since we were in a fairly dark park after 10:00, I just stood there laughing and giggling along with her!  It was everything I could have imagined, and more!  I CAN'T WAIT to spend the rest of my life with the girl who is truly the "Girl of My Dreams!" and I thank God every day that he brought her into my life!

To My Loyal Reader

Where to begin... hmmm, well, much has happened since my last post, so here it goes:

I met a girl named Katie in February (I know that was before my last post) and she is the most amazingly fantastic woman I have ever met and I fell in love with her rather quickly instantly!   

Here's one of a few pictures my friend Rachel took for us while we were visiting her and Joe this summer. 

In August, my roommate, Jeff, got married to a wonderful gal (who's also named Katie).  Since Jeff owned the house, Riley and I moved in with my amazing friends Brad & Tara.  I enjoyed landscaping again this past summer and am subbing again this school year in a few districts, and still enjoy the variety it brings. 

Well, I think that pretty much sums things up...for now. :) 

Oh, and for Halloween, Katie and Riley were Pirates and I was a Robot. 

It's March...again.

I was spending time with my family this past weekend and I was reminded that I haven't written a post in over a year, whoops. I also put two and two together and realized that since my sister pointed this fact out to me, she must be the one regular visitor I've been seeing in my monthly emails which update my site stats. So Jen, this post is for you! ;)

So, where to begin? This past year has been pretty eventful; I am a licensed teacher and have been subbing quite often in ISD623 in Roseville, MN. Almost all of my teaching has been in the same building and it is also in the same school in which I did my student teaching. Having a relationship with a single school is great because not only do I know most of the teachers, most of the kids know me as well, which makes being a sub SO much better/easier! Another exciting tidbit of info is that sometime in April, around the 16th, I'll be taking over a class of wonderful second graders as their teacher will be having a baby and leaving her class to me for the remainder of the school year!

While I'm very excited for the chance to be a long-term sub, I can't help but think of how I'll miss the times I've had enjoying the nice spring mornings outside with Riley the past few years. And speaking of Riley, she's doing great! She's seems to be turning a little more grey all the time but whenever there is ball around she definitely doesn't act like the soon to be eight year old "puppy" that she is.

... I know that more has happened this past year, but I can't think of much right now, so I'll end things here for now, but know that as I've been writing this I realized that I enjoy sharing parts of my life with the world, so I'll try to think of more life events and write again soon.

March

The sun is shining and the snow is melting. The wind is brisk, yet still refreshing. It is a perfect day for a walk. As much as I love winter and the fun that it brings, I might finally be ready for a change. It is, in fact, March 1st and spring is just around the corner, no matter how much I'd like for winter to stay a little longer. I am excited for things to begin growing once again. The first sign of plants sprouting up through the dirt is quite a sight to see, one that means there will soon be color all around.

I've begun to think of what I want to plant in my garden this year and have been getting excited to get things going, however, I soon put a halt to my excitement and remember that Jeff is planning on doing some changes to the house and garage, meaning that the back yard will be a big pile of dirt for most of the spring. It makes me sad to think that I won't have a garden this year; maybe I'll just have to plant in pots and place them around the front yard. If anyone wants to have a garden in their yard but don't want to take the time to tend to it, just let me know, I might be able to help.

happy valentine's day...i'm a student

yes, happy valentine's day. . .

As I sit in the kitchen, in the corner booth, the spot that i've been sitting in for many hours this weekend, I watched the clock strike 12:00 and my eyes instantly got heavy. (Disclaimer: all my typically amazing writing skills are gonna be missing tonight, because of sleepiness) I've been reading textbooks on grammar, literacy and mathematics and as boring as that stuff is, i've sort of enjoyed it (but my eyes are still tired). Now, its not quite the same type of enjoyment i get out of going to sleep at night, walking to get the mail, or even cleaning out the Roomba. It is a type of enjoyment that is hard to explain. Maybe the fact of the matter is that I am actually enjoying school and being a student again, even enjoying learning. For many people, this might be a normal thing, but for me, not so much. I don't think i've ever studied for 8 hrs in a month, let alone a single weekend, and if i didn't need sleep, i could keep going! I'm crazy!

But, anyways, school is underway and i am really enjoying it. my classmates are all great! very friendly and welcoming. One day last week we had to get into groups of 4 and find things that we all had in common. One of the groups said that they were "all younger than tim", which is true by a good 2 yrs.... oh wait... no, 7-9 yrs, i'm old. but it did get a good laugh out of the class and those sort of things help me feel a little more comfortable, since i don't, or didn't, know anyone. I am in a 3rd grade classroom every Tuesday and it is quite possibly the best 3rd grade classroom ever! my teacher is amazing in many ways, from the way she connects with each of the kids to how she organizes her day to how she relates to many of the parents. and the kids, the kids are practically little angels. They help each other when they need it, they behave when they should behave and they have also welcomed me in as one of their class. Last week i stayed after school to sit in on a few conferences. One family came in and my teacher introduced me to them. They said, "oh, we've heard about you. ... when 'our boy' gets home each day we have him share a high point and low point, YOU were his low point today. He said, "my low point is the fact that Mr. Olson is only in our class on Tuesdays." That made my day! Things like that really help you keep pluggin' along. well, off to bed so i can plug along tomorrow.