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. 

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.

I've been home for a while

Well, little has happened since Thanksgiving. Let's see, where should I start?..... ok, here it goes.

The next morning was a brisk and lovely morning, I slept in a bit, until about 9:17, and after my breakfast, I walked my 9 minute walk to church. There was definitely a chill in the air and I knew that if I had been in Minnesota that a snowfall would be just around the corner. Ok, so maybe I won't be quite THAT detailed, when i told Jen that I was going to update my blog she said, "WAHOO!!! Good job! Is it going to be 5 pages long since it's been so long?" I said, "I hope not! I'm tired." So, you're going to get the shortened version on my last couple of months (don't be TOO excited)

My last month is Sweden was simply, wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better experience. My host family couldn't have been more amazing, I still think about them all almost every day. As the month went on I was all of a sudden getting the questions, "are you getting excited to go home?", "what are you most looking forward to when you get home?", "are you going to come back soon?" and several other questions that I didn't really want to answer. I wasn't ready to go home yet, I was just getting comfortable, just getting to know people on a deeper level, making great friends and gaining family members. I really didn't want to think about those questions, but my answers where, "don't know if I'd use 'excited'.", seeing my dog & new nephew." and "hopefully." 3 months is NOT a long time to live somewhere and even after being home for over a month now, I often think about when the next opportunity will come for me to go back. I don't know what I miss the most, if it was all the walking I did, if it was the great bus system, if it was the church or if it was all the wonderful, kind people that helped make me feel more welcomed than I feel I deserved... maybe I miss it all equally, yep, I think that's it.

Anyways, Tuesday morning, December 22nd, Birgitta drove me to the airport and as we hugged, wished each other "Gud Jul" and then as I watched her drive away, it hit me that I was going home to be with my family for Christmas. I landed in Minneapolis and Jen, Jeff & Brad were at the gate waiting for me. It was really good to see all of them, even though I had practically just seen Jen ;) We got home and Mom & Dad were there to help welcome me back. We went inside and there was my baby! Riley hadn't forgotten about me, she was so excited she peed a little bit :) ... I think I might have too, but I don't remember the details, whatev. Brad, Jeff & I went out for dinner and had a good time. I was home and was ready for Christmas.

I went to Mom & Dad's on Christmas Eve and after dinner I fell asleep on the couch, since my internal clock thought it was about 4 in the morning. I was dreaming about Santa, or Reindeer, or Snow, or something when I was abruptly jostled by an adorable little 4 year old! Erika, JJ, Kaleb & new baby Alek had arrived and Kaleb needed to give his uncle a big hug, even though I was sleeping, it was the best way to be woken up! After a big, stronger than when I left, hug, I got to hold Alek for the first time after getting to just see him via Skype. He was/is ADORABLE! (and so much more real in person).

Ok, Christmas was great, New Years was fun. I'm pretty tired after a long weekend and should get to bed, because tomorrow morning I will be a full time student at Bethel University. yep, once semester of classes/practicum and one semester of student teaching and I will have my teaching license, which I will elaborate on later, but i MUST keep this under 5 pages.