Goodbye to summer

Over the course of the summer, Kaylin and I attended many concerts. Both of us witnessed the classic rocking (and classic getting-into-a-fight-with-grown-children/men) of Styx in St. Louis and the metal glory of Iron Maiden in Cleveland. A week before school was scheduled to start, we were planning on topping it all off with a trip to Indianapolis to see Hanson.

The summer may have started quite well (hanging out with Emily who was in TH for the summer and going to Holiday World for free), it was a pretty rough one. Aside from the concerts, the summer consisted of dealing with getting Kaylin back into health (which we are still working on), Blondie's Cookies shananigains, and trying to just get a grip on having time for one another. What seemed to be a pretty clear schedule this summer ended up being a mix match of conflicting schedule's. So when we finally got to the weekend before Hanson, we decided that it was time to make time for us. Instead of running up to Indy for just the concert, we made it a two day trip.

Staying in the Presidential Suite at the Baymont Hotel provided for a nice place to stay (two rooms together, a nice hot tub, and a couch and mini fridge). The first day consisted of school clothes shopping and book buying. We also spent a collective 80 bucks at the Irish Publish in metropolis.

The rough summer tried to rear its ugly head however. Monday night into Tuesday morning saw Kaylin develop the annual sinus infection. She would not be detoured however. The concert came on Tuesday night and we had a great time. The most suprising thing was the alcohol was served at a fregin Hanson concert. I think it may have been for the 10 men who attended the show. We both joked that we went from the previous concert being mainly men (Iron Maiden) to a concert that was mainly women. The show itself was, as hard as this is to admit, very good. The musicianship was superb and I've gotta give cred that they all sounded very well.

All in all the trip was very good for the both of us. We returned home just in time for Kaylin to jet immediatly to head to her first class of the semester.

After a pretty rough summer, we found a way to end it on a good foot. No matter how much b/s we tend to deal with, we always are able to make time for us and make the best of it. I believe this is really the key to any relationship. No matter how rough things may get, you have to stick by each other and try to make life better for the both.

-G

Marmots

Gary and I decided to take the past couple of days for ourselves. The original plan was to head out to Turkey Run and spend some time talking to people regarding how we could go about booking one of their rooms for our reception. Unfortunately, the place was booked solid. We couldn't even book a room for two nights in a row it was so packed. I'm not going to lie; I was pretty bummed out about it. Don't all you people know that my wedding is more important than your hiking and canoe trips? ;)

Since we had planned the trip for awhile, we decided to go ahead and get away anyway. On Monday afternoon, we headed out to McCormick's Creek to stay at the Canyon Inn there. We spent two days doing absolutely nothing besides playing video games and eating junk food. On Monday, we went on a four hour hike in record breaking temperatures. It was not a pretty, when all was said and done. Sweaty and gross is not a good look for me. But it was fun.

Although our trip fell through for wedding purposes, Gary and I did spend some time talking about what we would like to see happen at our wedding. We even set a tentative wedding date of October 6, 2012. And when I say tentative, I mean, don't hold your breathe, don't count on it, it may be pushed back as far as a year from that date. But I feel better having some sort of goal to work toward. We hashed out colors, wedding parties (top secret for now!), and what sort of decorations we would like. I would like to start looking around now that I know he and I are on the same page. We (and by we, I mean me) are considering a trip to Turkey Run sometime next week to look around for good outdoor locations for the ceremony. I don't anticipate being able to talk to people about the reception for awhile, so looking around outside will at least make me feel useful.

Our nights away were a good way to start the week, even though our original plans fell through. Gary and I were able to spend some stress-free time together (which meant no arguing!). It was the first time I'd been to McCormick's Creek since elementary school. We walked trails, saw salamanders, and hit up the nature center where we saw frogs, turtles, and a fat marmot. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him; he was easily the highlight of our entire trip. We went back to the nature center at least three times hoping to see him again, but no luck.

Mouse Hunt

I received an instant message from Gary tonight that read: "I need your advice. There's a baby mouse in the dog food." It was almost midnight, and he had just dropped me off at my house about twenty minutes earlier. I advised him to put on a pair of gloves and trap the little guy in a box, so that he could be safely deposited outside somewhere.

"I don't want to hurt it," he said. "Can I come and get you?"

It should be noted that my fiance is a broad, 6'2" guy who might look terrifying if you didn't already know that he's a big teddy bear. I've learned throughout our relationship not to ask him to hold any living creature smaller than his 80+ pound lab puppy. For the longest time, he wouldn't touch my cat, and I'm still attempting to get him to hold my guinea pig. He says he's afraid to crush/hurt them.

So honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised that he asked me to come rescue a tiny mouse from the depths of the dog food bag. I feel like most normal people would refuse something like that anyway. But I changed back out of my pajamas, got in the car, and drove to Gary's house at midnight. Armed with gloves, a flashlight, and an empty popcorn box, we were able to scoop him up and set him free outside in under five minutes.

There's a point to my rambling. Much of my relationship with Gary is and has been based on moments like these. No, I don't routinely rescue baby mice as a declaration of my love for him, but the idea behind it is why I value our relationship so much. We can come together over the smallest things--whether it's me going to his house at midnight to save a mouse or him coming to pick me up at nearly three in the morning just to watch a lightning storm--and those small things set the foundation for everything else.

When I know I can depend on him to be there for the little things, I don't worry about the big things--except for things like "How in the Sam Hill are we gonna pay bills when we live together?"

I guess we'll save that little mouse when we come to it.

-K

How I proposed

Ok, so when I tell people about proposing to Kaylin (this is Gary btw) they usually want the whole story, which is a pretty long and detailed thing. So instead of trying to explain each time and forgetting things, I decided I would just describe on here.

We had talked about engagement for a long time. I technically drunkenly proposed to Kaylin 6 months in. After I sobered up I made sure to explain that it didn't count. Over the next couple years we had talked about it and Kaylin dealed with my "wanting to do it right" with much frustration. I had wanted to do it since day one, but I wanted to make sure it was right and that I did it very memorably.

So around September of 2009, I finally decided it was time to get at it. I began to toss around ideas of ways to pop the question. I was in-between finagling a way to get on stage at a Styx concert to ask her, to renting out a local restaurant and having a couple of my guitar buddies with acoustics coming in playing "Dance The Night Away" while I dropped to one knee. Obviously I had some big ambitions.

As early as Kaylin's 21'st birthday I was talking to people bouncing off ideas. A main source of my ideas came from the anchors on the weekend shift. At the time I worked the studio camera for the weekend newscasts, and I was discussing with our anchor, weather forcaster, and the other studio camera operator on ways I could ask. I came to the realization that the best way would be to suprise Kaylin with a trip to Tennesse. This was something we both did in 2009, but the fun was ended short as I learned I had been laid off. So I wanted to "right" the wrongs of the year before by staying at the same cabin and have the same amount of time off. The main problem was that I knew as soon as I surprised her with the trip, the jig would be up. Enter Kevin Orpurt......

One night during the weekday newscast I was discussing with Patrece my plan to ask Kaylin. I was once again just trying to figure out how to pass it off as nothing big. Kevin then interjected "Why don't you do a 'Hey Kevin?'" Brilliance. I had not thought about it before, but it was perfect. It was big like I wanted. And the cheese factor was pretty cool too.

So after a few months of trying hard not to give up my secret, the night came on March 4th. We had actually pre-recorded my proposal. It was needed so that we could have the timing right for the newscast. A bunch of my friends from the early shows and who had the day off came in to watch, as well as all the other reporters were more excited about my proposal than their own stories for that day. That is when I did this......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKXM8ayBTP4&feature=related

After we went to commercial, I received my answer from Kaylin. Though she didn't want to tell me because I was a "jerk."

After the show I went to her house to do the proposal again in person. I didn't want to wuss out. Once the ring was on the finger and she believed that was it was when I then pulled out the paperwork to surprise her with the trip to Tennessee. Fully surprised and upset that I gave her a days notice, my plan had worked out. She loved the ring, loved the trip, and most of all, loved me.

Its a bit long, but honestly that was the amended version. I could go on and on about this, because the whole planning was such a task between getting people to not talk, to get the ring, and to get Kaylin to watch the news. The fact that it went off without Kaylin knowing how or when I was going to ask was pretty damn surprising.

Caving to the Trend

When Gary and I first got engaged, I was adamantly against making a blog to document our goings-on. For one, our wedding date is still pretty far off (and by that, I mean we haven't set anything into stone yet, but we are shooting for a fall wedding in the next couple of years.). What's the sense in starting a blog this far in advance? It was Gary who pointed out that we don't really have to write about the wedding itself; we can write about our oh-so-exciting lives.

I figure, why not?

At this point in our relationship, finishing school and moving in together are higher on the priority list than the wedding. I have a year and a half left of undergrad at ISU. I'm not quite sold on grad school yet, but I've been thinking pretty seriously about it. We'll see. I have no idea how long Gary has left for school. He refuses to tell me his graduation date (which makes it awfully hard to decide on a wedding date, dear. :D). Either way, we've both decided that being done with undergrad before the wedding is a must.

For those of you wondering, we have discussed a few things pertaining to the wedding itself. We know what colors we want, and I'm pretty sure we have the ceremony music nailed down. Next month, we are making our way out to a possible venue in order to ask about pricing and how far in advance we need to book. That's about as far as we are at this point.

But there are other exciting things happening. Gary has decided to pursue his interest in meteorology, and the folks at WTHI have been very helpful to him. I'm proud of him, and I hope something great comes of it--rake in the big bucks, honey. How else am I supposed to become a stay at home, famous author? ;) As for me, I am working my way through an English major that everyone tells me is useless. Useless or not, I'm excited for a few opportunities that have been thrown my way lately. I can't discuss them as of right now, but look for an update in the near future.

Hopefully, our oh-so-exciting lives don't bore you all too much. :D Because we'd love for you to keep reading.

-K