SHE SAID YES!!!

This past weekend, on 10.2.10, something significant, life-altering happened to me...I asked the woman of dreams I wouldn't dare to dream if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me.

SHE SAID YES!!! and my life changed forever :) :) :)

Nicole and I are getting married!!

Saturday morning 3 of my best dudes and I went to a wholesale flower shop and picked up some gorgeous daisies and purple spider mums.

We drove to Snowbasin ski resort and proceeded up the Gondola to "plant" them at the top. My beautiful fiancé's free-spirit makes it extremely hard for one to plan things she doesn't know about...though this time precious little Georgia played a role ;)

She is the littlest one of the three kids Nicole nanny's for. She got the stomach flu on Thursday and lovingly passed it on to Nicole on Friday. We had planned on hiking to the top of Snowbasin Saturday afternoon (after Sean and I helped Sam plant a ton of flowers around his house...yea, yea, the truth got stretched a bit :). So me and the 3 dudes are on top of the mountain planting away and I get a text from my then girlfriend saying she wasn't feeling well and probably wouldn't be able to hike. I look around at a view from 9000 ft up and wonder what now...kinda hard to figure out a backup plan! Prayer always helps though.

I can't tell you how much He stretched me through this whole process. Everything, I'm telling you, every last detail came together for this to work that week! I didn't even have a ring until Wednesday, but a month before I knew the 2nd was the date. GOD, in His faithfulness, brought everything together perfectly! I knew this would be no different, but knowing it and acting on it are two very different things. I texted everyone asking them to be praying and tried to convince Nicole of resting and coming up later for a drive and maybe a short hike. Being the warrior that she is, just as I was heading home I got a text saying she was on her way!! Excitement is far too weak of a word to describe the feelings swirling around inside me. Having picked up said stomach flu myself on Monday, I am in awe of Nicole's strength and commitment in listening to the small, still voice inside her telling her to go! You are such an inspiration babe!!

We drove the scenic way up to Snowbasin and I suggested we take the Gondola up and hike around the top (it was still a good twenty minute hike to the very top). She welcomed the idea and away we went. Near the top we veered off the trail to a little ledge that showed the glorious mountains all around and a special little spot directly below that said, "Marry Me" surrounded by a heart. Once she put everything together in her head (the not feeling the greatest thing worked out to my advantage) she looked at me and exclaimed, "YES!!" What more could a man wish for!! :) I am naturally a planner and have been trying to work on some more balance in that area of my life and was praying that GOD would give me the words that her heart needed to hear the most in that moment rather than planning a speech out. Turns out I didn't need any words at all :)

We spent the rest of the afternoon on top of the ridge line watching the sunset and celebrating with a little dinner and Reisling...ok so maybe I was only one that got to enjoy the Reisling, sorry babe!

We both agree it was the most perfect day and exactly what it was supposed to be. Thank you GOD, You are amazing!!

I Concede

It's true....Colorado is more beautiful than UT. I spent the last two weekends driving through the San Juan mountains and was absolutely speechless! It has been a dream of mine to drive these mountain passes ever since I heard C.W. McCall's song Wolf Creek Pass (a classic you have to YouTube if you've never heard it :)) on a record I made my Dad cycle through over and over and over again while growing up.

Approaching Ouray, CO (Switzerland of America)

Look at all those Aspen just waiting to change color!

"Here comes the Silverton up from Durango, here comes the Silverton a shoveling coal. Here comes the Silverton up from the canyon, see the smoke and hear the whistle blow!"

Another classic C.W. McCall song about the narrow gauge steam locomotive that runs between Silverton and Durango which my parents rode back in their long haired days ;)

Silverton was beautiful!

I spent the night at a rest stop in Santa Fe, it was beautiful! They even had a Whole Foods :)

"Wolf Creek Pass way up on the Great Divide..."

"...and right in the middle of the whole damn show was a real nice tunnel, now wouldn't ch'ya know. The sign said clearance to the 12 foot line, but the chickens was stacked to 13 9. Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen. Took that top row a chickens off slicker 'n scum off a Louisiana swamp."

"We went down and around and around and down and we run outta ground at the end of town, bashed into the side of a Feed store, in downtown Pagosa Springs."

It was an incredible trip and a dream come true! :) I can't wait to go back in the Fall

Food Co-ops Rock!

A friend told me about a food co-op out here called Bountiful Baskets. This is my second week using them and I couldn't be more impressed! Each week you get different fruits and veggies depending on what they got in on their shipment. Check out this week's winnings :)

In case you can't make it out, it's:

1 head of Romaine lettuce

2 huge stalks of celery

10 pears

4 green peppers

3 heads of broccoli

1 bag of red seedless grapes

1 cantaloupe

1 lb of strawberries

6 oz of raspberries

7 tomatoes

1 lb of carrots

8 bananas

Yes, that's A LOT of food for a week but since all I'm eating are fruits and vegetables it's awesome because sometimes I get stuff I never would have picked up in the store and it forces me to learn how to cook it and to try new things. If my last order is any indication, this fruit is some of the best I've ever had too! So......how much does it all cost?? Try taking a quick estimate from your experiences in the grocery store and then scroll down :)

$16.50 and no membership is required. You just place your order Monday night online and pick it up early Saturday morning. Unbelievable!! We'll see what we get when you're (Mom, Dad, Jesse, Jessica, Liam and Ana) out here to visit! :)

10-days of pure joy!

Well, the surprise was supposed to be for Nicole but I am the one who walked away feeling like I received the biggest surprise!

This past weekend I went out to Minnesota to surprise my girlfriend, which her family helped me pull off to perfection, it was so great :) Her first question to me after the surprise was, "So, do you have to leave tomorrow?" It was asked with such pure innocence that my heart melted. My last visit could only be for 36 hrs over Mother's Day weekend so getting to spend 10 full days was quite a treat!

On the plane ride home I was left in awe looking back over the week. GOD blew me away, it is clear He had a bigger surprise planned the whole time. Of course I knew Nicole was amazing, I'm dating her after all, but GOD was about to show me just how incredibly special He made her just for me!

There were no plans made, no agendas to follow, I was just looking forward to doing life together and enjoy whatever it brought our way. That is exactly what happened and so much more!

Nicole works at the Great Harvest Bread Company and had to work most of the mornings but was off by 1pm so I was able to spend time with her mom (who works the night shift at the Mayo Clinic Emergency Room) in the mornings which was so rewarding. Monday afternoon brought a blend of our kitchen talents as we created a delicious gluten free pizza and baked the famous Coley's cookies!





Unfortunately, the camera did not make it out of my bag for the rest of the trip, so rather than pictures being worth 1000 words you will have to read my thousands of words of description :)

Tuesday afternoon we made our way to a State park that surrounded a huge lake (it's true by the way, there are 10,000 lakes in MN, this was Lake #327...later in the week we would visit Lake #4040) and laid out on one of the docks in the sun for hours. We had great conversation and relaxed, enjoying the immense beauty free from watches and phones.

Wednesday afternoon was family time and, of all the days, the one I wish I had remembered the camera for the most! We drove to Northeast Iowa where Nicole's two sister's live. Kristen is the youngest and is married to Elijah and has a son Landen (pictures borrowed from facebook :)


Landen


Kristen, Elijah and Landen


Kristen and Landen

Vicki is the oldest and is married to Matt and has two daughters Maya and Maize and is a few months pregnant with their third child.


Vicki


Matt is in the blue shirt


Maya


Maize

We bbq'd and had a great time on the farm...I even learned how to drive the tractor and was trusted enough to give the youngens a ride :) Just give me a cowboy hat and watch out!


The farm in IA

After a late night on Wed, Thursday was a welcome chill day of relaxing again. We went for a walk in the neighborhood and ended up in a beautiful park where we threw out a blanket and took a nap under a perfectly blue sky. Did I mention the weather was perfect nearly the whole trip! A cool breeze, no humidity, blue skies, warm sun...amazing :) Compliments of my brother, we spent the evening watching Bandits and rolling in laughter.



Friday we took our first official road trip and found out that driving to a place you've never been before that is "out in the middle of nowhere" at night is not really the best plan but we certainly had a blast with the journey :)


Wilderness North



Saturday and Sunday were spent staying at a place called Wilderness North that hosts retreats and is simply serene! Kari and Jeremy (amazing friends of Nicole who were instrumental in pulling off the surprise) met two years ago at a retreat there and made friends with the owners so we all got to spend the weekend there and meet some other couples as well. We went canoeing, hiking, helped with projects around the place, cooked, killed an army of mosquitoes and had a great, relaxing time.

We went to a small town called Two Harbors on Lake Superior for the 4th of July. We shared a salmon dinner from Black Wood's Bar & Grill served on a cedar plank that was simply delectable. Then I was able to introduce Nicole to the joys of Magic Shell over vanilla ice cream! It was quite a treat. We'll have to visit that town again in the future...

Monday we took our time driving back to Minneapolis to catch my flight and spent some time exploring Dulth, MN. That is a beautiful city with incredible views of Lake Superior, it is also home to the Superior Hiking Trail in case you wondered where the best trail was ;)

GOD showed both of us some incredible things throughout the week and the timing of the trip could not have been more perfect (His deal completely!). One of the things that stood out the most to me over the week was how incredibly natural and relaxing the time was. Nicole had no clue I was coming out and all of a sudden there I am in her life for 10 days. She didn't miss a beat, she just let me enter into her life seamlessly. I also found out that by her very nature she encourages me to be true to who I am. Throughout life I've always tried to model myself after other people in my life that I respect and look up to. Just recently I have realized this and started to search out who I am at my core and have been learning to be true to who that person is. Well, come to find out Nicole loves that person dearly and by her just being who she is naturally helps me continue being true to who I am rather than trying to change to impress her or earn her love. It is amazing and so exciting and freeing!!

There are many more stories that will be told over the coming months I'm sure. This has just been a preview of the incredible things GOD is doing and the amazing week I enjoyed :) Love you all!

A special thanks to those that made all this possible:

Kari and Jeremy Erdman
Momma Wendl
Kristen and Elijah
Matt and Vicki
Maya!

Strawberries!

Would you pay $3.50 for this?


I found a U-Pick-It place just around the corner. Boy did it bring back memories! :) Thanks mom for bringing us all the time, I would have never known to even look for such a place :)



YUM!!

My First Triathlon!

I did my first triathlon this morning. It was a 400m swim, 20K bike, 10K run and was held at Hill AFB. It was awesome now that i'm on the other side :) There are people out there (like my girlfriend) who have a few wires crossed and would include racing in triathlons on their list of 'fun' things to do in their spare time ;) It was an awesome experience and i look forward to doing another one though I think biking is more in my blood...that was a blast!!

In honor of my inspirational girlfriend, I give you the Nic pic :)

Decision Day Sunset

meanwhile, on the east side...

that's real i promise :)