The Ruder the Better: Love Story

What's Your Love Story?

I got this idea from my good friend, Lea, who is participating in a link-up with Becky...

Here's our love story...

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

We met during the fall of of freshman year of college. We started dating the following year, October 2003. So we've been together a little over 8 years!! We got married on October 27th 2006.

2. How did you meet?

We met in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Tim lived in Drake Hall next to some guys I went to high school with. Tim and I started to get to know each other more seriously during the spring of our freshman year. We were both serving as RA's in Wentz Hall during our sophomore year when we started dating.

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We got married on October 27, 2006 and celebrated our five year anniversary this past fall. We will really be celebrating our anniversary starting tomorrow while we vacation in St. Lucia kid free for a week!! A big thank you goes out to Tim's parents and brother Christopher who will be taking care of our kids and my friend Connie and her family who will be taking care of our dog, Frodo.

4. If married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We got married at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. We had about 250 guests and it was a very low-key Wisconsin wedding with lots of friends, family, beer and dancing. We were able to put the whole thing together pretty inexpensively. We have since been lucky enough to go to some fancier weddings of other friends of ours.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another?

Sometimes I call Tim babe, sweetie, baby etc.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

One: Tim is so easy going and brings great balance to my intense personality. He is always game for any adventure we think of, I LOVE him so much for this. I can't imagine being with someone who wasn't willing to take risks and have adventures on a daily basis.

Two: Tim is an incredible father. This doesn't surprise me at all. When I started dating him I always knew he would make an incredible father, I love watching him with our children. I think a lot of guys would be a little intimidated by our current situation of three babies under the age of 2 but Tim doesn't back away. He rushes home from work every day and jumps right in to help.

Three: Tim is one of the most genuine, caring guys I know. He always goes out of his way for other people. Sometimes he is a little too nice and people take advantage of him or take him for granted, but I'm impressed that Tim is always willing to see the good in people.

7. How did he propose?

My Mom had been visiting us in La Crosse on a Friday so we went horseback riding and hiking that day. The next morning we took her out to breakfast before she had to leave. After breakfast I told Tim I needed to study and get some homework done. I had just started studying when I heard a knock on my apartment door. I opened the door to find a dozen roses and a folded origami crane (which was something he did for one of our first real dates). The crane had a funny little poem/clue that led me to my next spot on a scavenger hunt. It sounds awful but I can't remember all of the locations but Tim had about ten locations on the hunt that covered memorable places for us and our relationship. The locations varied from campus, coffee shops, etc. Eventually it led to Tim's apartment. He said "Happy Anniversary, I fixed your mountain bike (someone had stole my seat), let's go for a ride". So I really had no idea he was going to propose since this was a dating anniversary. We biked up the TNT trail in the bluffs of La Crosse up to the to. The top of the bluffs has a spectacular view of our college and the entire city of La Crosse, on a clear day you can see the Mississippi river and Minnesota. We biked out to a lookout point that was surrounded in birch trees where Tim had a picnic set up with all sorts of goodies and wine. We had a wonderful picnic and shortly after Tim asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I was overjoyed.

Yes, I was proposed to wearing bike spandex, I wouldn't have it any other way.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for Valentine's Day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Ha! Tim thinks Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark holiday", I have to admit that I kind of agree with him. Tim is really good about bringing me dark chocolate and flowers various times throughout the year. Sometimes he will even do this for Valentine's Day.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or a pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Sunset dinner on the beach, rather a sunset hike on the beach with a picnic. But since we have three kids under the age of two we have learned to love a bottle of wine and a movie.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day.

We have big dreams for retirement. We love to travel and want to continue taking trips together every year and start taking the kids when they are old enough. We also have a "'dream house" that we'd like to build some day. However, it may be quite a few years before we get the chance to do that. We have definitely made our family and kids a priority over being able to afford a bigger home.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day.

Tim and I plan to go horse back riding on the beach of St. Lucia for Valentine's Day. We'll probably follow that up with some snorkeling and a nice dinner.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day?
Already got it, I wanted a new necklace from "The Vintage Pearl" with all three of my kids names.

13. Give one piece of advice for keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Understand that men and women are wired a little differently and guys just don't always think the same way women do. I try to look at things through Tim's perspective. We also keep our relationship strong by playing together. By playing, I mean we genuinely enjoy each other's company and the same hobbies. We both love to bike, hike, play cards, play board games, drink wine, brew beer, the list goes on. It's awesome being married to my best friend who also happens to love almost all of the same activities as me.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.