Danielle
Jacoline Wilson
&
Nicholas
Glenn
Flanders
Our 10 Year Love Story
April 1st, 2013
After hanging out for hours at a time at the Glenkirk youth group events, including but not limited to a "Blind Date" and Dodge Ball, Nick finally asked Danielle to be his girlfriend, but on April Fool's day - nervous she would say no and having the backup plan of saying "April Fool's!" if she rejected him. Thankfully, she didn't, but the whole day the two of them were unsure if each were joking with each other until April 2nd, the next day. To this day, they don't pull pranks on each other since it is a special day to them that means so much.
August 2014
After Nick graduated high school, he chose to go to Principia College near St. Louis with a full scholarship. Both Danielle and Nick did not want their relationship to impact their future or major decisions, so 4 years of long distance began while Danielle finished up 2 more years of high school.
2015
Danielle and Nick navigated long distance well. They saw each other in person about 1 to 2 times a year since they couldn't afford flights often. Thankfully, technology was helpful! Every day, they made an effort to text "good morning," "good night" and their "high and low" of the day so they felt included in each others' days, even when they both were busy.
March 26, 2016
Danielle surprised Nick at Principia while she was on Spring Break and touring the colleges she was considering. She had the help of some of Nick's friends at school, including two of his groomsmen - Robert McAloney and Lee Tarnow. Nick was SHOCKED! Danielle loved seeing the beautiful campus of Principia for the first time!
June 2016
To celebrate Danielle's graduation from high school, Nick and Danielle went on their first solo road trip up the Pacific coast and went to Hearst Castle and Point Reyes. They met up with Nick's parents and brother to continue the trip through Yosemite, Sequoia and the Redwoods.
December 25th, 2016
Nick bought Danielle a promise ring, promising one day he would marry her. She wore it on her left hand wedding ring finger until the day he proposed. She now wears her promise ring on her right hand with her engagement ring on her left.
July 6th 2017
Danielle went down to Austin, TX to support Nick during his race on the Formula 1 track for the Circuit of the Americas: Solar Car edition! Nick and Jackson (one of the groomsmen) got to drive the solar car on this multi-day track race. Also, as a surprise, one of Nick's other groomsmen, Lee, flew down from Principia to cheer Nick and the team on!
August 2016
Danielle started college at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas which limited Nick and Danielle's long distance from a 28 hour drive to a 10 hour drive! Nick immediately bought his first car on his own and drove the 10 hours down to see Danielle at her new school.
July 30th 2017
For Danielle's short time back from college in-between summer school, she and Nick decided to camp at Mammoth Lakes and visit Devil's Postpile National Park. On the way home, they went white water rafting in the Kern River. During the rapids, Danielle was thrown out of the raft, and another strong man tried to pull Danielle in but when he couldn't, Nick pushed him out of the way and saved her! Nick was and still is definitely her hero!
April 2018
Danielle visited Nick at Principia where they celebrated their 5 year anniversary. After a few days there, they drove to Chicago so Danielle could attend an Industrial and Organizational Psychology conference. Nick and Danielle explored the city in the evenings.
May 2018
Nick graduated at the top of his class from Principia with a degree in Computer Science while participating, building, racing, and leading the Solar Car team. Danielle had to watch virtually since she was still in the final days of her school year and, as their Resident Assistant had to finish checking students out of their dorms.
July 2018
After Danielle finished 2 months studying abroad in London and finishing up an internship, Nick and Danielle met up in Rome, Italy to go on their first international trip together! They traveled from Rome to Florence to Pisa to Venice and enjoyed every moment. Unfortunately Nick’s luggage was lost and he had to purchase all new clothes since he was stuck in the work clothes he had flown in. Traveling to many airports and back, his suitcase arrived back in Dallas where he was living a month after he returned from Italy.
August 2018
Nick and Danielle rented an apartment together in Dallas while Danielle finished up her last year of undergraduate school at Southern Methodist University and Nick started his first software development job!
April 2019
Nick and Danielle visited their friend, Jake Moon (their officiant), in New York City. They went on numerous adventures such as getting the best walking tour of the city they could ever imagine, guided by Jake.
May 4, 2019
Nick and Danielle visited Fossil Rim drive-through Safari in Glen Rose, TX where they were able to feed many different animals from their safari car - including, but not limited to rams, giraffes and zebras. Danielle's face hurt from smiling so much that day.
May 19, 2019
Danielle graduated from Southern Methodist University in three years with majors in Psychology, Management, and a minor in Mathematics. Many family members came out to celebrate. Dallas blessed everyone with its unpredictable weather and down-poured the most rain Danielle had ever seen in Dallas. Danielle and family were soaked treading through water up to their knees as they walked the campus to all the celebrations.
June 2019
The Flanders Family (including Danielle and Peter's girlfriend Jessie) traveled to Yellowstone National Park for a family vacation where they got to see geysers and bison!
July 1, 2019
Danielle started her 1st job after college (that she is still with 3.5 years later) in management for McMaster-Carr. This job is in Los Angeles, which is where Nick and Danielle wanted to settle down long term, but it meant Danielle had to leave Nick in Dallas since he had only been with his 1st job for a short amount of time and needed time to look for another job in LA. Back to long distance! Good thing the two knew how to communicate well!
November 4, 2019
Nick and Danielle moved all their things from Dallas to Los Angeles since Nick got a job with Amazon Prime Video (which he still works for today). They moved into an apartment in West LA.
December 7, 2019
The biggest milestone in Nick and Danielle's relationship. They adopted the cutest 4 month old kittens and became cat parents! They named the tuxedo cat Piper and the tabby cat Harper - both musical names since Nick and Danielle met in marching band. The kitties were quickly spoiled with love.
March 13, 2020
Both Danielle and Nick's last day of regular work in person. Nick and Danielle made bets for how long they would be at home from work. Danielle predicted 3.5 months. Nick only predicted 1 month. They both didn't return back (in a minimally hybrid setting) until summer of 2022.
June 23, 2020
Danielle's Nana (Dad's mom) passed away. Danielle was so thankful to have Nick supporting her in the grieving process especially during the quarantine and isolation periods of the pandemic.
November 2020
Danielle and Nick celebrated over Zoom for Thanksgiving with Nick's mom's side of the family from all over the country and world - including all the way to Sweden! It was so fun to meet and get to know those cousins (who they later met in person!)
December 2020
2020 Christmas celebrations including the annual sing-a-long Danielle's mom always hosts with Christmas cookies and Christmas day present opening was all hosted on zoom to stay safe. It was nice since it even got recorded to be cherished forever as a memento of that strange year!
February 2021
Danielle and Nick move to Glendale into a 2 bedroom apartment since sharing a one bedroom apartment as a home office was very difficult when they were both working from home.
May 1st, 2021
Danielle, Nick, and all of their family members get the 2nd dose of the vaccine and they FINALLY get together without masks for dinner and HUGGED!!! They first start with the Flanders family and played board games and then went to dinner at Danielle's Aunt Care's home where they saw Danielle's parents, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandparents!
July 11, 2021
Danielle was the maid of honor at her 1st cousin's wedding (Maddie Ekstrom who married Teo Ekstrom). Maddie is now returning the favor and is her matron of honor! This included Danielle and Nick traveling up to Seattle to attend the pre-wedding events and the wedding.
July 13, 2021
Danielle and Nick flew to Boston, Massachusetts where they spent one full day exploring and met up with Nick's mom. They then spent the next 3 days in Connecticut and eventually were able to see Nick's Great Aunt Betty. They visited Little Compton, Rhode Island to learn about the history of Nick's side of the family. They also visited Nick's mom's family's gravesites which included her parents and many other close relatives (Becraft).
July 16, 2021
Danielle and Nick went to New York City to visit their friend Jake (their officiant). They got in late in the evening, so they initially went to a Tiki bar. They walked around the city that never sleeps in the late hours of the evening continuing their incredible walking tour from Jake. The next day they went to the top of Rockefeller Center. After, Nick and Danielle went to the Museum of Modern Art and finished up the day with a great slice of NY pizza.
September 2021
Danielle and Nick visited Dallas while working remotely during the day and seeing friends in the evening. They took a bus to Austin to see one of Danielle's friends, Nick Wittsche, where they met up and all went to a music festival (ACL / Austin City Limits). This was also when SB8 was first enacted in Texas (the first start to abortion bans) so Nick and Danielle went to a protest at the Texas capital during their trip.
November 2021
Danielle and Nick went with Danielle's family to Gardnerville, Nevada to celebrate Thanksgiving with Danielle's extended family on her mom's side. Many of Danielle's family members kept pestering Nick when he would propose since Nick and Danielle had been together for over 8 years at that moment and little did they know that Nick was planning something, and even debated doing it at Thanksgiving, but the ring wasn't ready yet.
December 7, 2021
Danielle and Nick got engaged! It was a Tuesday night so Danielle was not expecting anything at all. Nick let her know they were going to a botanical garden (Descanso Gardens in La Cañada, CA) and that it was somewhat fancy, so to dress up. Danielle didn't question - she always loves an opportunity to dress up. They walked through about 3 art exhibits since there was a special light exhibit going on at the time. Nick even pulled her aside to a pond area where there was a bench, and started saying "isn't this romantic" and then Danielle started thinking.... "maybe this is... the moment?!" When a man started walking towards them from the shadows, Danielle thought maybe it was someone with a camera - but then Nick said "let's go" and Danielle then thought "oh if that wasn't the moment then it isn't happening tonight" and lost all expectations! They then moved on through a sparkly tunnel of lights and went to a more secluded area with a fountain. Nick then started to say "Do you remember when we had our first kiss..." and listed various different memories from their many years of dating. They were looking at each other and then Danielle knew. Nick then asked Danielle to say her favorite memories from all the years they dated, and she did. Nick then got down on one knee and said "Danielle Jacoline Wilson, will you marry me?" and Danielle said "of course!" and kissed him profoundly. Danielle then heard a familiar voice in the background yell "get a room!" and to her surprise both their immediate families were there (Danielle's father being the one who yelled of course)! They had recorded the moment and took many pictures to document this special occasion. Everyone later got champagne and walked the rest of the exhibit to celebrate! It was the perfect evening!
January 2022
The Flanders family + Danielle + Jessie (Peter's girlfriend) went to Palm Springs, staying in Nick's Uncle's Airbnb and going on a Jeep Tour of the San Andreas Fault and the oasis of Palm Springs.
March 2, 2022
Danielle and Nick received their keys to their first home. Now in Glendora where they grew up and met so many years ago! They are grateful to be living close to both of their parents, Nick's grandparents, and Danielle's Aunt and Uncle who all still live in Glendora.
April 30, 2022
Danielle and Nick visited Maddie & Teo (Danielle's 1st cousins) in Stockholm, Sweden where they lived for a year! After visiting them, they bussed to Uppsala where Nick and Danielle had the opportunity to meet Nick's Swedish cousins in person for the first time! Danielle and Nick had a wonderful time visiting Sweden for a week.
May 26, 2022
Danielle and Nick traveled with Nick's family to Maui, Hawaii to celebrate his parent's 30th wedding anniversary! They crammed in as much as they could with 4 days including travel!
July 23, 2022
Nick and Danielle went back to Long Lake! They were able to stay a full week with Danielle's extended family at the log cabin and enjoyed board games, hiking, disc golf, and unplugging from electronics. It was nice as this was Nick's first full week back since July of 2013 due to college, the pandemic, and wildfires.
August 6, 2022
Nick and Danielle went to visit Nick's brother, Peter, and Peter's girlfriend, Jessie, in Boulder, Colorado. Peter moved out there in the early summer for his new job with Northrup Grumman. Nick and Danielle stayed for a full week to play board games and hang out with Peter!
July 2013
After just a couple months of dating, Nick was invited to Danielle's family cabin (a log cabin with no electricity or cell service and a wood burning stove and outhouse). He had to pass the test with her grandpa (Pompa) before being able to go. He luckily passed! Danielle and Nick had fun hiking, challenging each other to swim across the mile long lake and helping out with wood chopping and various projects.
February 2019
Nick and Danielle enjoyed a long weekend trip to Austin, TX to celebrate Danielle's 21st birthday. Earlier in Dallas, they also celebrated by going to Jettison at midnight, an incredibly hip bar that the Henry's own (the junior bridesmaid & groomsman's parents').
April 1, 2023
Nick and Danielle are getting married and hope to see you there! They will live happily ever after in the subsequent generations to come!