Our Story!

I had a reader ask me to share how Jake and I met and started dating, which I thought was a wonderful idea! I’ve been reflecting on our story a lot lately and it just makes me so happy. I can’t believe I get to spend forever with the man of my dreams. Jake is kind, loving, a hard worker, compassionate, HILARIOUS, has strong morals, takes care of me, and puts my happiness first. Plus, I think he’s the most handsome guy in the whole world! He also pushes me to do things I don’t think I can do/am scared to do. I worry about everything, so I need someone who will constantly reassure me and encourage me. Jake does those things EVERY day. I am very blessed, that’s for sure. So, here’s our story (kind of condensed)! It’s not all that unusual, but it’s special to us! I posted some of our first pictures together, too!

Here’s one of our very first pictures together! This was actually before the JJ Grey and Mofro concert, which was the day we decided we were dating. <3

Jake and I had known each other for years through mutual friends. Actually, one of his closest girl friends is also one of my closest girl friends – Kallie! Isn’t life funny?? So, I was out one night in March of 2016 with some friends and we went to Creekside, which is an awesome little bar by where Jake and I live. At the time, I was living in the apartments right next door to Creekside, which are just down the street from our house now, where Jake has lived for about 6 years. Well, we walked into Creekside and there’s Jake! On a date. ; ) We recognized each other, so we said hi, I told him I had moved to those apartments and he asked for my number since we were so close to each other. I think we texted a little that night, nothing serious – just that we should grab a drink or something later on in the week. I thought this was all just as friends, I was recently single and enjoying all my friend time! Plus, he had been on a date, so I honestly didn’t think anything of it. Well, the next day was Sunday and my friend Katie and I were doing some paperwork at Panera. We were wanting to grab dinner somewhere, but couldn’t decide where. She mentioned that I should text Jake and see if he was doing anything – a little tidbit about Jake – he is one of the most social people I know, so we knew if he didn’t have plans, he’d definitely be down to hang out with us! So, I texted him and he invited us to meet him and another friend at Galloway for dinner. We went and it was a BLAST. I remember leaving and telling Katie that I hadn’t had that much fun in a long time, especially with people I hardly knew. At this point, I still wasn’t thinking about dating, I was just enjoying Jake as a person. I think he texted me after dinner, and then the next day.

Here’s another picture of us – just being real weird! I have super thick hair, which drives me crazy most of the time, and Jake is bald. I think we were seeing what he would look like with hair? I think we sent this to Kallie, our mutual friend.

After that first dinner at Creekside, we hung out a couple of times – it was SO nice having a friend just up the road from my apartment! We would meet to walk on the trail that runs through the area, grab dinner or a beer, all just as friends. One night while we were hanging out, Jake asked me to go on a date. I was flattered, but told him no. (I also asked about the girl that he had been on a date with when I saw him – even though I said no to us going on a date, I was going to be mad if he asked me out while dating someone else – crazy, right? ; ) He told me she had mentioned going out again, but he told her he was interested in me. I know, I know. I’m dumb.) I knew I liked him (I was scared!), but I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. He was super cool about it, like he is about everything, and we continued hanging out as friends for about a month. Every. Single. Day. Hello, Chelsea! You were obviously crazy about this guy! Have I mentioned before that I’m stubborn? Side story – I had told myself I was going to be single for 6 months to a year literally TWO weeks before I ran into Jake at Creekside. That obviously didn’t work…Here’s us and Katie, my girlfriend who finally knocked some sense into me about how crazy I was for not dating Jake.

Jake and I were still hanging out and talking every day and I was obviously falling for him. I kept a journal during this time and I’ve gone back through it and laughed at myself. I had written things like, “I really like Jake, but I don’t want to ruin our friendship”, and “Jake is HILARIOUS and so cute….”, etc. But I had this plan in my head and I’m so dang stubborn. After hanging out for about a month as friends and spending almost every day together, we went to the JJ Grey and Mofro concert in April. Katie and Jake both loved their music, but I had never heard of them. Our friend, Zach, and I tagged along, just because we didn’t want to miss out on the fun. Ever hear of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)? I have that. Bad. While at the concert, Jake brought up the idea of us dating again. This was actually a long, serious conversation, but I’ll give you the short version. I told him that I liked him (DUH) and would be open to us dating BUT that having him as a friend meant a lot to me. He told me that my friendship was really important to him, too. What better way to build a relationship than to date someone you respect and love being around? So, in the middle of some of the best music I’ve ever heard, I stopped being stubborn and said yes to the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

So, that’s our story! I am SO thankful that Jake is persistent and didn’t give up on me. We still talk about that night all the time. And now, a year and a half later, I got to say yes (for the second time) to spending the rest of my life with Jake. You can watch his proposal HERE, which he did after a 100 mile run through the mountains. He carried my ring the WHOLE way.

We have just about narrowed down our wedding plans! Eek! I will hopefully get to share all of that with you later this week. We want to get everything booked fairly soon!

I hope everyone has an awesome Tuesday!