Another New Year

Snap. Where did 2011 go?

Yup, last year was a bit busy. I've barely mentioned this on here, but I now work at DealerFire in Oshkosh. We mostly create custom websites for automotive dealerships, but there's a good mix of digital marketing, social media, and app development mixed up in there too. I'm the director of the production department, so I'm in charge of the majority of new products that go out the door. Last year that was about 200 websites. That's four sites launching every week. So yeah, 2011 was pretty dog gone busy.

There's been a lot going on outside of my job as well. I finally proposed to Katie Reynolds after five years of dating - we're going to get married in August! We also attended two big family weddings this year, one from each side, and got to make a lot of new introductions. Not everything has been good - there was far too many funerals and sad happenings for that. Overall 2011 has made me thankful for my friends and family as well as the time we have together.

So, what's the plan for 2012? What ...

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Jake and Katie are Engaged!

Katie and I met over five years ago at Houghton. We working together for one of Michigan Tech's summer youth programs. After a few months of spending 18+ hours a day with each other we fell in love and started dating in early August (or late July, the dates/definitions were a bit fuzzy back then). There was never really any question about where our relationship would end up as the years passed but it was still a big moment when I asked her to marry me this June.

One of our first dates involved driving out near Skanee and looking for the Mouth of Huron. While we failed to find the beach that afternoon we had a great time at Lower Silver Falls. We spent over an hour climbing around the rocks, enjoying the cool water, and taking lots of cool pictures. Since then Katie and I try to stop by this waterfall every time we drive past; whether we have a picnic or just splash around the lower drop, Lower Silver Falls is one of our favorite spots in the Upper Peninsula.

Jake and Katie at Lower Silver Falls

Jake and Katie at Lower Silver Falls

I had purchased the ring ...

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