Jennifer won a cake from a cake walk her freshman year of college. When she sent Jim a text late at night that stated "come over for cake," he wasn't sure what to think. When he arrived and saw nine or ten other people in her dorm room cutting up a marbled cake, he thought "I got out of bed for this?!" Jennifer served him a piece and handed it to him kindly. Jim looked down and saw the dry, unappetizing piece of desert. He took a risk. He grabbed the cake and shoved it onto Jennifer's face. She looked daze, confused, shocked. But in a split second she laughed, and her eyes said "GAME ON" as she grabbed her own piece of cake and shoved it in Jim's face. In the next day or so, Jim texted his mom and dad, introducing her to them as his "friend." Mom and dad later thought to themselves, "yeah right."

Jen and Jim's First Date during the COVID pandemic shut-down.

The day we got engaged on December 10th, 2024. The days leading up to the engagement, we had gone on our annual winter hiking trip up north in Grand Marais, MN with our entire friend group. Unbeknownst to Jen, everyone on the hiking trip knew of the pending engagement except her. Jen and Jim made plans to stay with their other friends in Duluth after the hiking trip in Grand Marais before they head home, or so Jen thought. Unfortunately, on the drive down to Duluth, a massive blizzard hit, and Jim couldn’t even see the roads. They drove with their hazards on, going maybe 30 miles per hour in their small all wheel-drive vehicle. They were driving blind, with Jen calling out curves in the road based on Google Maps. They made it to Beaver Bay, which would normally be an hour drive, in three hours. It had become impossible to proceed without an impending crash. They oaid for a one-night stay at the Cove Point Lodge and spent their night by fire, decorating silly Christmas ornaments depicting the terrifying drive. They finally reached Duluth the next day to visit their friends. Instead of heading home, Jim suggested they do the hike they do every year in Two Harbors, MN, that they conveniently ran out of time to do on the way up to Grand Marais. Jen of course was very excited to get to squeeze this last hike in. It was a 1-mile hike straight up-hill to a cliff overlooking Lake Superior and the beautiful expanse of northern pines. Jim used to come to this spot every fall with his dad to hunt deer, and Jen was the first person he ever showed this spot to. There is a small wooden structure as seen in the picture that Jim and his dad used to drink hot cocoa under. Then it became a place Jim and Jen would stop at every single year to kick off their annual hiking trip. On the hike up, Jim made Jen carry a tripod for his video camera as he wanted to get some “cool shots.” Not completely out of the ordinary as he had been videotaping many hikes before, but the tripod went completely over her head. At the top of the hill, they stood where they had many times before, and Jim asked Jen to marry her. She was unfortunately wearing her glasses and was crying and laughing so much she couldn’t even see the ring. They joked that they left their boyfriend and girlfriend at the top of the mountain. They spent the next three days at a surprise A-frame cabin nearby, where they got to call all their family and tell them the news.