January 7th is a date that will always be in our lives. This is the day that we met on the online dating site, Bumble. Living in Southwest Minnesota, it seems like you know everyone in some way, shape, or form- surprisingly this was not the case, or at least we thought. Throughout the time that we started chatting, we learned we had more common connections than we had originally anticipated. On Bumble, it’s the girls’ decision to start the conversation, my clever opening line to Travis went something like this: “So… I see you went to MSU, as in MSU, Mankato?!” Yup, you guessed it- we went to the same college. But, I am sure you did not guess that we lived in the same dorm, McElroy, with neighboring halls (H & I). MSU, Mankato is big, but it is not BIG enough for us to have not possibly walked past each other, ate lunch at the same time, or even had the same large lectures together in the beginning years.

As many of you know, 4-H was a large part of both of our lives. Growing up we both were avid 4-Hers, but participating in different counties. When we met, I was working as the Nobles County 4-H Program Coordinator. I was thrilled to know that this guy I had recently started talking to even knew what Extension was, let alone a Nobles County 4-H alumni. I had always joked with 4-H families that I had hoped to find a Nobles County 4-H alum. But it doesn’t end there, we discovered we not only served as Camp Counselors (not together, but a year apart), AND even went to the MN State Fair on the same charter bus, for General Encampment. Geralda (Travis’s mom) was even one of the chaperones for the Nobles County crew that year. As if participating in 4-H, and attending MSU wasn’t enough, there were a few others such as: Geralda and I working in the same building, and I visited Travis’s street at least 3 times a day. Okay, you’re right… that last part seems a little creepy, let me explain. One of the gracious 4-H volunteers/great friends let me kennel Winnie at her house throughout the day, so I could let her out during my lunch break. It turns out that Lakehill Drive is a popular street. It took several weeks of chatting before we actually met in person for the first time. Finally, I suggested going skating at the Worthington Ice Arena. This was already a stressful day for him at work, and came straight from work to the rink. I beat him to the ice rink that day, and I am very thankful for that- as upon his arrival he tried to open the door that the door was broken, for sure, which made him even more nervous and made me giggle. We were both nervous at first, but then it felt very natural. Since our first date, I must’ve won him over, as we haven’t spent a weekend apart since then!

When you turn 30 and you have been in a relationship for more than 1 month EVERYONE asks you when are you going to get married. So after 1.5 years of that and moving in together during the start of quarantine in April it's fair to say we talked about getting married, agreed it should happen sooner than later, and Travis needs to be the one to ask. I remember walking to Johnson Jewelry to look at rings and getting so nervous that I walked right by the front door and walked around the block to calm my nerves. It was December 22nd thinking that it would take a few weeks to come in at the right size, but luckily they had the already in store, it felt like destiny. The thought of proposing on christmas seemed to cliche and frankly too soon for me to get ready, so next I needed to figure out a time and way to ask. A few days after Christmas Katie casually brought up that our 2 year first connection anniversary was coming up on January 7th. It seemed like the perfect date, it would give me time to set up, ask her parents, and would be a day that already had a special meaning to us. On new years eve Katie was having car problems and needed me to pick her up at her parents. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to sneakily ask her parents for their blessing in person, but I soon learned that my truck was having problems as well.

So we got our vehicles taken care of, but the January 7th deadline was fast approaching. I took the ring and put it under our christmas tree like we missed a gift. Right before I had to go to work I thought how cool it would be to have the proposal written on the backside of our letter board, but I didn’t have enough time to get it set up. I went to work with the plan of coming home for supper sneakily writing on the board and maybe if the moment was right, propose right then and there. Before going home for supper I called Katie’s mom, Sandy, hoping I could get both her and Steve’s blessing. Unfortunately Sandy was not with Steve at the time so I decided in the moment to tell her my intentions and ask for her blessing. Sandy graciously gave her and Steve’s blessing, and everything felt that much more real. I got home, awkwardly commented on the letter board and how I had a new idea of what to put on it. Katie had also noticed the gift under the tree and I quickly realized it wouldn’t be a good time to propose then. After work I took the letter board to a separate room and tried to talk to Katie about random stuff to keep her suspicions down (it didn’t work so well). I finally got the message written on the board and abruptly said well aren’t you going to open the present. I gave it to her and she started to open it, it was just the outer box that said Johnson Jewelry on it. While she was dealing with the confusion of the empty box I got behind one knee with the ring in hand. I asked her to marry me, and she said yes!

Our Lives Together: In July, 2020 Katie sold her house in Luverne to officially move in to Worthington with Travis. Katie was offered a job at the Worthington Middle School as the FACS (Family & Consumer Science) Teacher, man- what a year to start a new teaching job. Katie also still works with Nobles County 4-H a few hours a week, and in the summer at the Round Lake Vineyards & Winery. Travis works as a Lead-Lab Technician at Merck Animal Health in Worthington and has worked there for 6 years! Together, we are dog parents to our Beagle, Winnie. Who is the joy of our lives... well... most of the time! We usually spend any spare moments that we have trying new recipes, staying active & spending time with friends and family. We are also known to spend any extra moments binge watching YouTube & TV shows. We are so excited to see what our future brings, together!