J & K

It all started when Kellie started her first day as a para at Shadow Lake when this quiet (or maybe grumpy) man walked by in a sounders beanie, grey sweatshirt, and his "winter mocs." She took note of his beard first obviously, but he was just your typical sports guy. Jonathan saw Kellie as just the new girl providing some relief with a particularly hard student. Days of just passing by one another, working with students, some assuming the other was already spoken for... Until one day he came to school with no beanie on and then she saw it, the HAIR! Which then changed everything for her. The crush hit hard! The staff Christmas party rolled around, and an after party trip to the bar which then revealed that they both had an attraction for one another. Which turned into secret meetings at the church across the street from school, flirty texts during the school day, a first date to the movies, and then another. New Years 2020 they started dating quietly, but apparently it was really easy to see that they had a thing going on and coworkers started to slowly figure things out and now the rest is history.

Suspicions were running high ( just your typical type A, anxiety ridden, crime show watching teacher), but so was the denial. February 20th, 2024 we started our day cashing out our Daytona 500 winnings at the casino. It was on the way home that I learned we were also adding downtown Seattle to our day, to "make a day of it". We went to lunch at our favorite spot, Cactus in Bellevue, shopped around the mall and I happily dragged him into Sephora like every good girlfriend does. During lunch it was thrown around that we should hit the Space Needle as "something to do". I also threw in Pikes Place or the wheel as an idea and next thing I know tickets had been bought for the Space Needle. For someone who doesn't love heights, he sure was determined to face his fears. We wandered through an empty Pikes Place (apparently it closes earlier than I thought) and then drove to a small parking garage near climate pledge. We sat down for a drink at a nearby bar, choosing some prosecco as my drink trying to keep my energy high and nerves low, which apparently was a little "premature" of a choice. Then it was time to head to the needle. He was ready for that glass floor, he had been working himself up for it all day. We went upstairs, walked around the top floor and then it was time to head down. By this time it was dark out and the lights of one of our favorite places were all around and below us. I offered to find one of the carpeted spots, but we walked right out onto the glass. While I was stuck on some building lights I had never seen before, he switched to my right side, telling me some cute things, and next thing I know the words "will you marry me" were coming out of his mouth with a ring box in his hands Well duh, of course I said yes! We embraced, but was hit with another surprise as I turned around to see that my parents were behind us, had taken photos, and got to watch the whole thing. We hung around for a bit after and then got into the elevator to go down. As the doors opened at the bottom, we walked out to the right and next thing I know was his parents were there! Not only were both our parents there, but his brother Justin had flown in to surprise us both too!