How I become Mrs. Olsen (sorry it's a long one!)

Me and Mark both went to Mountain View High School. He was a year ahead of me and we hardly spoke. I remember thinking he was the obnoxious kid that was always getting in trouble and always had a shaved head and facial hair (not much has changed). And all he remembers me as is the cheerleader so that automatically was off limits for "The Wildman". Literally the only thing he ever said to me was when I broke my ankle and had to wear a boot and he came up to me in the hallway and said, "Hey you have two different shoes on.." And I just rolled my eyes at him and walked away.

A couple years later after graduating high school I got a pretty serious boyfriend. He was a really good guy and I thought for sure I'd marry him. The only thing stopping me was he was preparing to serve a mission. We were dating for a couple months when he got his call and I promised I'd wait for him. The weeks after he'd left I was so depressed. Two years felt so long. I told myself I wouldn't date at all while he was gone, just focus on my job and school.

One night I was hanging out with my best friend at the time, Haley. We hung out at Sportsman's for a while and I knew Haley had been hanging out with Mark a little so I said we should call him and see what he's up to tonight. I decided to call him on Haley's phone and he didn't answer so I left a voicemail saying he needed to call us back if he wanted to hang out. He called back on my phone and I remember wondering why he had my number (he said he got it on facebook because he thought I was hot but I don't believe it). So we met him at his house and decided to go four wheeling. My first thoughts were Oooh nice truck and He's a big boy! As we were driving up Haley mentioned that I was waiting on a missionary and guess what he said back?! "You won't wait." That was it! I was so offended. I told Haley we are never hanging out with him again! Well I guess he knew something that I didn't.

Somehow I ended up on a camping trip with him and a friend from work, Anjie, and her boyfriend. It was actually really fun and he kept making me laugh. Anjie and Ben went to bed and Me and Mark talked around the campfire for hours. I thought he was so easy to talk to! We texted all day every day after that. He'd ask about my missionary all the time. I remember us talking about watching John Wayne movies together and then I saw on facebook that his phone broke. So I wrote on his wall that his phone being broken is not a good excuse to bail. So he says that was the reason he bought a phone right after he saw that. We watched John Wayne and hunting together all the time at his house.

One day I looked down at my phone and Mark had sent me a picture message of a bow. And then he said it was for me. I was super excited to learn to shoot a bow. He spent way more money than he should've when we hung out before we were dating. I knew he was falling for me but I had so much fun with him that I didn't want to stop hanging out with him. I always told him "Don't get your hopes up!" because I still loved the missionary and I definitely didn't want to be one of the girls that Dear Johned. I would go home crying every night going home from his house just feeling so confused and feeling guilty that I was hurting both of them. Then to make things worse Mark said the L word. We were just sitting there at my house and he said, "Nicole I really need to tell you something, it's been on my mind lately.. and I just need to get it off my chest." This whole time I'm saying, "Don't say it, don't, nope, don't do it." But he never was a good listener. After he dropped the L bomb there was just silence. I didn't say it back. I just cried. Then as we were saying goodbye I asked why we couldn't just stay friends because things would be way less complicated that way and he said probably the cutest, sappiest things ever, "But then I'll never get to call you mine." I told him I loved him back a few months later by saying, "Man, I love my dog....and my boyfriend." Real classy huh?

Then I finally met his family which made things worse, because I LOVED them! They had a barbecue one day that Aunt Judy said was "just for me". Grandma Cluff just watched me and Mark with a confused look on her face like, "Mark hangs out with girls??" And Grandpa Cluff would not stop taking pictures of us. I felt like part of the family the first time I met them which was so nice! All the other guys I dated it was so hard for me to be myself in front of their family. But not Marks.


Mark never gave up. He chased me around for 4 months just waiting for me to make up my mind. It was torture for us both. I had two amazing guys I needed to choose from. It really was a difficult time for me. I didn't want to hurt anyone and they both meant so much to me. But I just needed to decide who would make me more happy and put away all the feelings of guilt. On June 8th, 2012 I made a huge decision. I told Mark I wanted to date him and only him. I didn't plan on telling him yet but I just couldn't wait any longer. From that moment on I never looked back.

I literally am the most stubborn girl on the planet. I tell myself everyday I don't deserve him. He would drop anything if I asked him to. I'm pretty dang lucky!