how they asked: The first time we officially met was freshman year of high school in an English class. We had to introduce ourselves/others in the class in a creative way and Andrew introduced someone in a “shakespeare” accent, which really sounded like an irish shakespeare. I couldn’t help but laugh. Fast forward to the time we were in the same group for English class and had to create a Romeo and Juliet film. We still have this video too. Needless to say, neither one of us made a career into acting. A few years went by and our friend group became one, which meant the guys finally wanted to hang out with girls. My best friend and his best friend started dating during the summer of our senior year of high school. Which forced us all to hang out quite often. Soon, Andrew and I realized that hanging out everyday and having a blast might actually mean something more. Andrew manned up and asked me to be his girlfriend later on during our senior year of high school. The rest is history.
how they asked: I was woken up by an unexpected alarm at 8 AM. Then someone knocked on my door and to my surprise it was my best friend Jessi. This was a surprise because she lives in Detroit, MI and I didn’t expect her to be in Marquette, MI at the time. She thrusted the door open with a video camera in hand and said, “get up! Were going on an adventure today!” I looked at her and said “is this really happening today?!” I asked her question after question and she didn’t say anything. She did good. Our first stop was Deer Lake. When I arrived three of my friends were there in a boat. Our friend “Esky” handed me a card with a picture of Andrew and I on it and on the inside it said “This is challenge #1” My first challenge was to catch a fish. I had 30-45 minutes to do this people. If you have to ask, I did not catch a fish. Our friend Troy did and we counted that. Each challenge had a note which told me exactly what the challenge was and why. Each challenge related to memories we had or something that we do with our friends all of the time. Jessi also filmed everything, what a great video this will turn out to be!
Challenge #1
Challenge #2
Challenge #2 took us to the golf course and i was challenged to hit a 100 yard drive and make a 2 foot putt, 4 foot putt and a 7 foot putt. Let me tell you that I DO NOT GOLF. I had golfed maybe three times in my life before this. I wiffed my first two hits for the 100 yard drive. Luckily, by the grace of god, I hit a little over 100 yards on my fourth or fifth try. I than had to nail my putts. I did the 2 foot and 4 foot putt easily, the 7 foot putt took me a little while, but I did it!
Challenge #3
Challenge #3 was to play our favorite video games with some of our friends. The catch: I had to beat them in Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart. If you must know, I am not very good at Super Smash. With that being said, our friends are VERY good at it. I’ve been told that they calculated how much time they have spent playing Super Smash in college and the total came out to one whole week of playing Super Smash. Straight. No Breaks. They spent a lot of time on this game when they wanted to avoid studying for exams. Anyway, I beat them, or they let me win? Who knows. Challenge #3 was done!
Oh, I totally forgot to introduce Jessi, my proposal day sidekick.
Challenge #4
Challenge #4 is one of my favorites! For this challenge Jessi drove us out to his house and when we showed up our friends informed me that it was a COOKING challenge. I can’t tell you how many times I have made Andrew watch cooking shows. He enjoys some of them though, I promise. Cupcake wars, Restaurant Impossible, Top Chef and Chopped are amongst the shows we watched quite often. Anyway, Jessi and I were paired up as cooking partners and we were going against Elise and Calvin, who are by the way, great cooks. I.E. Calvin went to school to be a chef and Elise works in a popular bakery in our hometown, Marquette. Might I add that Jessi loves to cook – wink, wink- not really. Anyway, we had three courses to serve. Andrew put specific foods that we had to use in paper bags for each team, we were allowed to use our resources too. We also only had 30 minutes to make each meal. The first bag contained mushrooms, italian sausage and cheese. Jessi and I made stuffed mushrooms. Calvin and Elise made sausage patties with a vinegar sauce. I would say it was a tie. Oh, I forgot to mention that three of our friends were judges – Steve, Troy and Esky. They got to taste each of our meals and vote on which team made the best meal. Elise and Calvin won the first round. The second round contained a bag filled with chicken breasts and cheese, I think. Anyway, Jessi and I decided to make parmesan crusted chicken. I believe Calvin and Elise made a stuffed chicken breast. Both teams failed at this one because the judges ended up eating raw chicken. The judges did vote that our dish would have been good if it would have been cooked all the way. Jessi and I won! The last challenge was dessert. We were given a bag with oreos and cream cheese in it. Jessi had the grand idea of leaving it as is and feeding the judges oreos. They liked that. I think we won because of our creative thinking. Luckily, Jessi and I won 2/3 rounds. It was on to the next challenge.
(Our Judges)
Challenge #5
This challenge was probably the hardest of them all. Andrew had set up 10 balloons in his back yard. All at different ranges and the balloons were all different sizes and shapes. I had to shoot all 10 balloons in 20 minutes. I think we extended that time to 30 though. I was able to shoot 5 of them in 30 minutes. Luckily, Esky, Steve and Troy shot the last 5. In about 1 mintute. Just to show you how bad I was. haha.
Challenge #6
Challenge #6 brought us to the tennis courts. Three of our friends were there waiting with tennis rackets. I teamed up with who I thought was the best player and we had to beat the other team. Luckily I picked a good one because we ended up winning! There were actually two parts to this challenge. The second part was one of our favorite games. Bat Ball. It may or may not be a made up game. Anyway, we all stood in a circle, each of us had a bat – some were metal, some were short, some were wooden. The point of the game is for us to keep the ball in the air by hitting it 15 times. We had 30 minutes to complete this challenge. Luckily we did it with glory with the stopwatch at about 29 minutes.
Challenge #7
Challenge #7 was probably my favorite. Jessi drove us back to Andrew’s house and as we pulled up I saw one of our friends run to the back of the house. We get out of the car and I scan the area. In front of me and to the right was a bucket full of water balloons and squirt guns. On top of that bucket was another note. The first words I read on the note were “STAY ALIVE!” As I finished reading the challenge out loud, our friend Squeeks came out from behind a car with water balloons in hand. It was an all out WAR. Jessi and I were fending for ourselves against Squeeks and Roy. We grabbed as many water balloons and squirt guns as we could and charged them. I would say that Jessi and I won this challenge.
Final Challenge
As Jessi and I finished that challenge, I looked at her with wonder because I was soaking wet and I did not look all dolled up. I kept thinking about what was next. She then said, “alright we have to hurry! The next challenge is important!” My heart skipped a beat at this moment. She drove us to my house and told me to get ready and look cute. I tried my best to curl my hair with shaking hands and I went through my closet and finally decided on a little black dress. Can’t go wrong with that, right? Jessi than drove us to the top of Marquette Mountain. This mountain overlooks the city of Marquette. We got to the top and she tells me to get out. I asked her if she was coming and she said no. I than began to feel my heart race even more. I walk up a hill of rocks and peer over the top looking for Andrew. As I hit a level portion of ground, I see Andrew leaning against the rail wearing a light blue button up and black dress pants. I walk up to him and he gives me a big hug. He than grabbed both of my hands and made the most beautiful speech. Tears started to roll down my face and I THOUGHT I saw his eyes tear up a little. As he finished his speech, I could feel our hands get warmer. He began to crouch on one knee, reaching to his pocket at the same time to grab a small red velvet box. After his knee touched the ground, he opened the box and my eyes lit up to the most beautiful ring. He then asked those four magical words “Will You Marry Me?” I put my hands to my mouth with tears streaming down my face and nodded “YES!” Luckily Jessi was there to take a few pictures of the aftermath.
(Enjoying our first moment as an ENGAGED couple)
