Photography by: Leah Marie Photography

Hey guys! First order of business.. for some of you that do not know, I coach volleyball. This past weekend we were in Kansas City for a National Qualifier. Which means, if you win, you receive a bid to the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships! And guess what?! Those little ladies won!! They worked and battled SO hard all season and weekend to get to this point. I am definitely one proud coach and might be watching our games over and over! ha!

As for today’s chat.. something that has been a long time coming.. the story of Jackson and I! Ready.. 1,2,3.. Awwww! Okay okay, since we got our engagement pictures back from Leah and since he is a huge part of my life, I thought it was important I shared him with you. Alright, let’s start..

..from the beginning..

Our story actually starts during my sophomore year of high school and Jack’s freshman year. He was playing summer baseball and somehow got my phone number from one of the guys on the team. Me, a sophomore who thinks she is cool, was totally against a freshman texting her. So I blew him off. However, I kept his number.

Please note: He completely denies all of the above. lol 

Even though we went to school together, we never really saw each other again until the summer of 2010 at a local lake. My mom was pushing me in a wheelchair {I was recovering from a torn acl} to go fishing. As we crossed the bridge, I noticed Jackson and his dad. He was wearing a Gross {the name of our high school} shirt or something because my mom asked me if I knew him. I just told her yes, he goes to my school but keep going {insert me thinking he was still the weird little freshman}.

October 21, 2010. My senior year, his junior. It was an away game at Papio South High School and he was sitting all by himself in the student section during the freshman game, watching his sister. And then there was me, sitting across the gym, I saw him. Something overcame me, and I texted him and said “looonnner!” Yes. That is the first thing I texted him! I know.. you can laugh, it is pretty funny. He obviously didn’t keep my number 😉 because he asked me who it was. I responded and explained why I called him a loner. We texted for the rest of the game until I had to get ready for the Varsity match.

Unfortunately the game didn’t go as my team would have liked, and I totallllllly blew him off after the game and at the football game the next day. But then I got my head out of my b-u-t-t and over the next week, we texted and hung out at his house. The first time we hung out, he came to pick me up at MY HOUSE to go to HIS HOUSE. I was shocked, but my mom reassured me that it was normal for a guy to do that for me.

The first time he met my family was on Halloween. His mom made him bring cookies, but he left them in his car and never brought them in. I am not sure why, but I always thought that was funny!

On November 2, 2010.. after my district volleyball game, Jackson asked me if I “wanted to date” in the sonic parking lot with the song Animal by Neon Trees playing. This was the start of our beginning.

Over the next 7 years, we created a little life together. And friends, it was not easy. We battled, fought, and loved hard to get where we are today. If you would ask me if I would change anything, I wouldn’t. Maybe in the moment, I would have. But now, no.

I am not going to sit here and tell you how wonderful our relationship was in the beginning and it was all sunshines and rainbows.

Because y’all, that isn’t real life. But I can promise you, all of the tears and frustration was worth it because we found a love for each other that is strong and unique. & maturing helps too! 🙂

..how he asked..

When you get to a point in your relationship, you pretty much know that you will be together forever. Going into 2017, we knew we were ready to take the next step of our relationship. Therefore, every single trip, date, birthday, anniversary, ANYTHING, we did.. I thought it was going to happen. All.Year.Long.. and it never did.

Until December 16th.. It was a Saturday, and we were supposed to go to a house warming party. I was running late, like usual, and he was trying to push me along. As we started driving, I noticed that he was going the wrong direction. This is how to conservation pretty much went from there..

Niki: “Jack, we are going the wrong way. They live the other way.”

Jackson: “No, they moved to Bellevue.”

Niki: “Uh, no they didn’t. {insert me looking up their address}”

Jackson: “Oh yeah, I have to put coolant in my engine. It over heated today.”

Niki: “WHAT? What is that!? Why are we driving your car??”

Jackson: “It is fine, and won’t take long” {insert him pulling into the Papio South parking lot, aka the first place we first started talking to each other}

While we are in the Papio South parking lot, he says, “Hey, get out of the car. I want to show you how to put it in.”

Niki: “Ha! No. I am not getting out. I do not care how you put coolant in an engine.”

Jackson: “Nicole. Get out of the car.”

Then it clicked. We were at Papio South. The place that started it all. I obviously got out of the car!

It was the most perfect moment, with the perfect guy, and the perfect ring that he picked out all by himself. He even had his best friend, Arlo, there to take pictures!

..our engagement photo session..

Since hockey is a huge part of our life, it was only right for us to take our engagement photos at Baxter Arena. Home of our Omaha Hockey team! When choosing our photographer, I wanted someone that was going to be unique, different, easy to get along with, and someone that could take our pictures for every milestone in our life. We had three different meetings set-up, but then I met Leah. Oh, how wonderful Leah is! She made our session so comfortable and did a FANTASTIC job. We are so excited for her to capture the best day ever next year.

Her business, Leah Marie Photography, is ran by her and her husband. They will be doing the video for our big day too!

You can find their website, here.. and their Facebook page, here.

I know I haven’t shared a ton about the wedding planning, but don’t worry, I have been taking notes. I feel as it is best if I just do all of our wedding posts, after the wedding so I know exactly what I want to share and can let you know our experience with each vendor.

If you made it to the end, thanks! It was a super long post, but I really wanted to share our story with you.

xxoo,

nicole

ps.. he still has the coolant in his car! 🙂