Andy & Jessica

It is so hard to believe that in 87 days I’ll be Andy’s wife and he’ll be my husband. I had a strong feeling that our 5-month engagement period would fly by and I was right. In addition to counting the days until our wedding, I have also started counting the weekends until our wedding day. Twelve. We only have 12 weekends left! That really freaks me and I sort of wish I hadn’t thought of that. Not that I’m scared to marry Andy. It’s just that there is so much that we have to get done between now and then. And none of the main players in the event live nearby me. My parents live an hour and a half away, my sister (matron of honor) lives 3.5 hours away and Andy lives an hour away. So, really, the wedding plans only progress over the weekends. I’m sure that everything will work out just fine. Deep down, I know it’s silly to worry/stress/freak out about the wedding. I should instead be focusing on preparing myself for marriage.

Our wedding plans are coming along nicely. We met with the DJ this weekend and got our invitations ordered. We hope to get them in two weeks or so and get them out in the mail shortly afterwards.

Here are the people who are involved in our wedding so far:

• Jessica Forbes – Bride
• Andy Olson – Groom
• Our parents: John & Dee Forbes and Kim & Robyn Olson
• Katie Reindl (Jessica’s sister) – Matron of Honor
• Heather Fortuine (Jessica’s cousin) – Bridesmaid
• Leanna Proper (Jessica’s cousin) – Bridesmaid
• Sarah Proper (Jessica’s cousin) – Bridesmaid
• Adam Olson (Andy’s brother) – Best Man
• Dale De Steno (Andy’s friend) – Groomsman
• Phil Reindl (Andy’s friend/Jessica’s brother-in-law) – Groomsman
• Mike Forbes (Jessica’s brother) – Groomsman
• Andrew Fortuine (Jessica’s cousin’s husband) – Pastor
• Josh Kampaugh (Andy’s friend) – verse reader
• Jenn Wagner (Jessica’s friend) – Jessica’s personal attendant
• Tammy Schultz (Andy’s cousin’s wife) – Florist
• Dean & Jackie Proper (Jessica’s uncle and aunt) – Host & Hostess
• Donna & Emily Mackey (Jessica’s aunt and cousin) – guest book attendants
• Katy Brooks and Rebecca Schlicter (Jessica’s cousins) – program attendants

My full name is “Andrew Mark Olson.” But, I have a strong preferrence to being called Andy rather than Andrew. Jessica’s full name is “Jessica Jeanne Forbes.” If in doubt, call her “Jessica.” However, you can call her something other than “Jessica” in the following circumstances:

1. If you are one of her good friends or her close family members, she likes it when you call her “Jess.”
2. She doesn’t like the name “Jessi,” but all of her mom’s side of the family, especially her Grandma Proper can call her “Jessi.”
3. If you are her sister Katie, you are free to call Jessica “Sisterbrain,” “SB,” “Scooter,” “Dude,” or “Dudette.”
4. If you are her mom, you can call her “Jelly.”
5. If you are her friend Jennbo, you can call her “Jessbo.”
6. I’m allowed to call her Darling, Babe, Sweetheart, Gorgeous, or (situation permitting) Dorker

I was planning to do a detailed post about my experience flying with Andy last weekend, but then I was reading his blog (echozoe.com) and I realized that he had already done the work for me. Here is what Andy had to say about flying together:

I had another flight lesson this week, something I’ve written nothing about since I mentioned that I was getting back into flying. My fianc�e came up with us for the second time. My instructor encourages me to bring passengers during lessons, as long as they don’t distract me/us from the business at hand.

When asked, she expressed her disappointment at not being with last week when I had to practice stalls. I’ve told her that they can be stomach-turning, exactly what she loves. (I don’t like amusement park rides much, while she loves them all, the scarier the better – stalls can be a lot like a roller coaster). You know what that meant, we had to practice a couple stalls. She liked it, but was disappointed that it wasn’t as wild as she was hoping.

The majority of the lesson was spent practicing what to do with an engine failure. Establish the best glide speed, find a field or road to land on, check the cockpit controls to see that there is no way to restart the engine, declare an emergency, and prepare to evacuate.

We headed up north to a smaller airport. In the past, when I’ve practiced this, we take the plane down to about 500 feet above the ground and then apply full power and climb out. With the airport available, and no other traffic, we practiced bringing the plane down and to a stop without the benefit of an engine. It was great practice.

Another thing we practiced was what to do with an engine fire. In that case, you want to get on the ground as quickly as possible. The quickest way to lose altitude safely is by transferring lift from vertical to horizontal – steep turns. This is where she had fun. descending quickly and making steep turns can be a wild ride. Near the ground you need to straighten out and slow to about 70 knots (we peaked at about 140 during our decent).

I was glad she came along. She had fun, and since she will likely be flying with me a lot in the future, I have the peace of mind of knowing that she knows that if the engine quits on us, I know what to do. I can land the plane without anyone getting hurt.

This is a real-world potential emergency too. Just a few week before, My instructor and I were flying and he said we should look for an airplane in a grass field near the area we practice in. One of his students was flying solo and the engine threw a rod. She had to put the plane down in a sod field.

My lessons are progressing quickly. Next weekend I will be practicing touch-and-go’s (landings and take-offs). Once my instructor and I are comfortable with my ability to safely land a plane, I will fly my first solo in over three years (third ever). That’s when the real fun begins. Once I solo, we will be starting cross-country flights.

I can’t wait!

We’ve got a DJ booked, and have started a song list for the reception. They allow guests to request songs. If you’d like to request a song, you can do so at this website.

Today was a good day as far as our wedding planning goes. We put in a down payment on our wedding location, Jessica ordered a wedding dress, and we started our first gift registry.

After much debate as to where to have the wedding, we finally decided on the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center. We still have to work out the rehearsal. We want very much to have it the day before the wedding, but we plan to have the wedding on New Year’s Day, so getting into the place on the day of New Year’s Eve may be difficult.

Jessica, her mom and sister, and my mom went shopping for a wedding dress last weekend. They went to three different places and found one dress that really stuck out as a good dress to them all. They didn’t buy it though. Jess wanted to contiune looking and exhaust more possibilities before committing. She went out on Thursday night with her friend Jen to look some more, and found one that she liked considerably more than what she had previously looked at. She had her mom come in tonight to look at it too, and decided to go with it.

It’s strange to me to have the woman I love so much looking for a wedding dress. I never imagined this day would actually come for me. Jessica feels the same way.

We finished the day by starting our first registry. While Target is standard on just about every couple’s gift registry list, we started with The Home Depot. It was not the easiest place to register at. Most of the things we’d like there cost more than we’re comfortable with having on a registry. The uncomfortable part of doing registries is that we don’t want to come across as greedy. We understand that the purpose of a registry is to list suggested items in case our family and friends wish to get us a gift.

Andy is such a sweet darling. He wrote the list below of lies he had told me to keep the proposal a secret. He gave me the list of lies right after he proposed to me.

A list of lies and deceptions I told you in order to preserve the surprise of an engagement and I ask you to forgive me for:

1. Thursday, July 15th: I did not go measure a job site with Tim all afternoon, I took the afternoon off to look at diamonds with my Dad at his wholesaler’s
2. Wednesday, July 21st: I didn’t run errands like I told you I was going to. Well, I did run one errand, but I still deceived you (or attempted to) about what I was doing. You were supposed to be busy with Dean and Sarah, but they didn’t show up until far too late. I was actually meeting Tom in Alexandria to pick up the ring. I also didn’t go biking, like I said I did. The reason I said that was your mom told me you were convinced that I was down there talking to your dad. I needed to throw you off.
3. Thursday, July 22nd: Since I didn’t really go biking, I didn’t blow a tire tube, so I wasn’t looking for a bike shop to get a new tube. I only said I did to add believability to the biking story I told about Wednesday. Also, my dad DID come to visit, but not because he needed to look at my cousin’s water softener. He wanted to look at the diamond I bought for you before I gave it to you, and was kind enough to drive up after work so I could go straight to your place after work on Friday

Anyway, I hated the idea of lying at all. I had to choose between surprising you and lying, or blowing it and being honest. I hope you forgive me for lying to you and hope that I rarely, if ever, need to do it again.

I love you!!

We’re engaged! Here’s the story: I sort of was expecting a proposal in the next few weeks, but I didn’t think it would be today. So, I took the bus home from work. Andy had beaten me to my house and met me at my bus stop with flowers. (We hadn’t seen each other since last Sunday, since we only see each other Friday nights and Saturdays and Sundays). We walked hand-in-hand from my bus stop to my house. When we got into my house, I suggested that we pray together. Andy said, “Yeah, in awhile.” He said he first wanted to play his guitar while reading me a poem he had written. He got out his guitar. He said something like, “I think I dropped a [guitar] pick in there.” He shook the guitar. At some point, I thought it was possible that the ring was in there, but I wasn’t sure that he would shake the ring up so vigorously in the guitar. I said, “I have little fingers, I can get it out.” Guess that was part of his plan, so when I looked inside, I saw the big honking ring. I took it out and held it. He started reading the poem while playing guitar. Here’s the poem:

I wanted to say I love you
from the bottom of my heart
I knew you were the one for me
from the very start

Six months since our first date
it’s all gone by so fast
my love for you grows stronger
I want it forever to last

You’re always so fun to be with
I love to make you laugh
I’m so amazed you cuddle with me
even when I pass gas

you give me all your free time
and even fall behind at work
I cherish every minute with you
I adore all of your quirks

For every minute I spend with you
I wish for two or three
There’s just one thing I want to know
Will you marry me?

As he was reading the last night, he fought the ottoman he was sitting on to get down on one knee. He asked me to marry him and I said “YES!” His hands were shaking so I helped him slide on the beautiful ring he had chosen for me.

Phase 3, Baby!

Before meeting Andy, people would tell me stuff like:

“You’ve got to get out more!”
“You need to get a life!”
“You’ll never get married if you don’t date!”
“Husbands don’t just drop out of the sky!”

You see I was sort of planning on waiting until I found the guy I was supposed to marry (the guy God had chosen for me) and then marrying him. I figured it would be fairly obvious who “the one” was.

When my sister’s husband (then boyfriend) was trying to see if Andy would be interested in dating me, Phil informed/warned Andy that I was “looking for husband, not a boyfriend.” Andy said something like, “That’s okay. I’m looking for a wife, not a girlfriend.”

I don’t doubt that Andy is the one God chose for me. Right now, I’m still his girlfriend, but I look forward to one day being his wife.