It all started one summer night in 2016 when I got a notification on my phone that "sweethands17" added me as a friend on Snapchat. At the time I knew of Nate, being that we went to the same school but I had never really talked to him. After he added me on Snap we began to snapchat each other occasionally but still never actually talked until the beginning of the school year. I was going into my freshman year and Nate was starting his sophomore year. Our friend groups started to mix together at the beginning of the year which lead to us finally actually talking and meeting each other in person. We became friends and spent the whole fall staying that way. Winter came around and one of my friends at the time started dating Nathan's best friend. This lead to the four of us hanging out quite a bit. I got to know Nathan really well during this time and naturally feelings started to grow but we remained friends.

That whole winter the four of us did everything together. Hockey games, skating, going out to eat etc. When I tell you that we hung out everyday we did! During high school I was in figure skating and March was here which meant it was time to start practicing for the Ice Show. Every year the figure skaters would have a number in the show which involved the hockey players. I begged Nate to skate with me that year as my partner and after lots of convincing and his friend agreeing as well he said yes! This would be the very start to us being more than friends but you know at that time no one actually dated it was just "talking".

After the Ice Show we continued to "talk" through the school year and beginning of summer. Over the summer we drifted apart and basically stopped "talking" all together. It wasn't a break up because we weren't dating but thats basically what happened. After that we took a couple months being without each other even though through that time we were both still very much in love with each other just wouldn't admit it. Nathan is good friends with my brother Daniel and one night I come home to Nathan's car in my driveway. I walked into my house to find them playing games downstairs. I didn't go down to say hi just stayed in the kitchen with my friend hoping that he would come upstairs. After some time he did finally come upstair but went straight out the door and didn't say hi. I didn't blame him because we hadn't talked for months but that night I decided that I was going to Snapchat him because I knew how much I still liked him. So that's what I did! After that night we haven't stopped talking since.

Fast forward to Nathan's senior year and my junior year. We have been "talking" STILL since that one night in February 2018 and he still has not asked me to be his girlfriend officially even though we were 100% dating. Looking back on it now makes me cringe just thinking about how dating wasn't a thing but "talking" was. Anyway, we both were very much enjoying our year. We became basically inseparable this year and got to know each other more and more. It wasn't until our 2019 Choir trip to Disney World when Nate finally got the courage to ask me out officially. We were on the lazy river at one of the parks and I was telling him a story about how my sister keeps asking if he was officially my boyfriend since she was seeing him in all kinds of pictures. I had to explain to her that no we were just "talking" but yes he pretty much is my boyfriend. Nate then asks me "well can I be"? And that is pretty much how he asked to be my boyfriend. If you lost track of how long we had been "talking" for before he asked it was 11 months. Ya, a long time. Anyways, we officially became boyfriend and girlfriend on March 30th, 2019.

2020 comes around and Nathan is off to college while I am stuck at home finishing high school. This would be the start of our 3 year long distance relationship. I think we both had our doubts on if and how we were going to make it living 4 hours apart but somehow we did it. Going out to visit Grand Forks was my favorite thing at the time. Nate was loving his new life out there and I was so happy I could go and join it every once in a while. Of course COVID happened and he had to come home early which was nice for me but still terrible. In the meantime through COVID I finally graduated high school and started college (from home). We went back to being long distance and we're still making it work. FaceTime was our best friend.

Fast-forward to the next year. We are still in a pandemic but utilizing the extra time and flexibility to do some traveling. Went back to the place Nate officially asked me to be his girlfriend and just continued to make long distance work. Just how everything goes it got easier with time. Holding on to both of us being home for the summer made everything better!

Finally after some time I was able to move from home to school! Now we only had a 2 hour distance between us which made a world of a difference. We would switch weekends going from Grand Forks to Bemidji. Being able to see each other almost every weekend was so much better than once or twice a month like we had been doing prior. After the spring semester of school was over, Nathan took an interning job in Fargo over the summer which meant doing more long distance with out a break. At this point I was sick of being apart so I made the decision to do my student teaching closer to him in the fall in hopes that we could live together for our last semester before we both graduated. I was placed in Crookston so it was a go! No more long distance. We just needed to find an apartment to rent. Long story short you can't find an apartment that does short term leases that end in the winter. So, one of Nathan's roommates suggested we BOTH live at the house Nate was currently living in. August is here and I am moving myself and my dog Sophie into the house to live with 5 boys. I know, crazy right? I came into it thinking that anything is better as long as we are together. Boy was I right! Yes the house wasn't clean all the time but that last semester of school was the absolute best! I was so nervous to live with the boys but we all had so much fun! Nate and I had to figure out how to live with each other in one small room but it truly was so much fun! We were starting to really plan for our future and what we want to do in our next chapter of life. Being that we were together made that much easier. We both graduated and moved out of the Nest which was a sad day (never thought I would say that) but we were both very much looking forward to what was ahead.

Here we are in the present. After graduation, both Nathan and I had about a month of free time before our jobs started in February so we decided that it was a great time to take a trip. We will probably never both be off together for a straight month so we were going to take advantage of it. We decided to head to Hawaii for a couple weeks to celebrate us being done with school and enjoying both our time off before the "real" world starts. Hawaii was a dream of course and it ended in the most incredible way. Getting engaged in the most beautiful place is something we will both cherish forever. After our trip we packed up our things and moved to Rochester. Nathan is starting his career working for Mayo Clinic as a medical ICU nurse and I am working for Rochester Public Schools as a 4th grade teacher. I ask myself everyday where the time has gone? It feels like yesterday we were in high school worrying about if we were going to see each other in the hallway before class and now we are engaged and share a home together! CRAZY! Thank you for being here and thank you for loving us. We are so blessed to have you in our lives.