Amanda and Matt Gottlob Engagement Announcement
Amanda Horn, daughter of Kerry & Peggy Horn of Tripp, SD, has become engaged to Matt Gottlob, son of Jim & Lynn Gottlob of Salem, SD.
Saturday, September 29th 2018
Proposal
Matt did an amazing job with the proposal! It was in May and we were gearing up for a very, very busy weekend. We were meeting up with friends from Brookings for a birthday celebration on Friday, Saturday we were going to a wedding near Sioux Falls, then Sunday we were going to Tripp for my best friend’s daughter’s birthday, and making stops along the way to see Matt’s grandma’s and parents. Very busy. All week Matt had been talking about taking a quick hike on a path he found near our house in Sturgis. The weather had been less than ideal all week, and we also work at different times of the day, so the only day we could do it was Friday, right before we left for the east side of the state. Friday morning was cold and rainy, but somehow he talked me into it. All of the rocks were slippery, the mud was getting on my nice jeans, and the shoes I was wearing were too big for me. Needless to say, I was hating every second of our (very short) hike. Matt noticed and tried to keep my spirits up by saying that there was a really cool view of Sturgis and Bear Butte in the next clearing. We got to the spot and Matt pointed out a sign that was hanging from a tree. He said it might be a geo caching spot, and told me to go check it out while he tied his shoe. All I was thinking was that I was totally going to prove him wrong because that was NOT a geo caching spot. As I got closer, I recognized the wood of the sign. It was some from my parent’s farm that we had gotten a couple of weeks earlier so we could do some woodworking projects together. I turned it over and the words “Will you marry me” were carved into the wood. I turned around and Matt was on one knee! All I could say is “Are you kidding me?!” and “Is that for me!?!” I eventually took the ring, put it on, and hugged this wonderful man. He told me to say cheese, and a photographer came out of a ground blind that Matt had built out of fallen branches. I had no idea and was completely surprised!! We took some pictures there, then set out for an awesome weekend being the bearer of good news to everyone we saw!
How They Met
Matt and I grew up less than an hour apart, but it took him going to graduate school at South Dakota State University for us to finally meet. I was in my junior year of college when we first met at the most romantic location: Skinner’s Pub. I was out with my roommate Chelsy and needed another drink. There was a perfect open spot at the bar (a rare thing on a Friday night in Brookings!), so I took it. I noticed a person standing next to me, but I was too focused on my mission to be bothered. Matt was out with his new friends since he had just started grad school 3 weeks earlier. Dave, a future roommate of Matt’s, elbowed him pretty hard when I showed up. Playing it cool (Matt will deny this to his grave), he opened with “Pretty cold out, huh?” It was January in Brookings, so yeah, it was cold. I just smiled a little to myself and said “Yup” with a bored tone and didn’t even throw him a glance. He then introduced himself, and that’s when I saw him for the first time. I turned and looked and saw this tall, great-looking guy. He had an awesome smile and a jaw line you could sharpen a knife on. I was in disbelief that a guy like that was talking to me!! Then I thought that maybe I had too much to drink and was looking through some alcohol haze. We talked for a little while, then I had to leave to save Chelsy from some really obnoxious guy that was very interested in her. That being the normal excuse for girls to leave guys at the bar, Matt took a bold chance and asked if he could tag along. To his surprise, I said sure! He did find that I was not lying. I ran to the bathroom quick and came back to Matt with his arm around Chelsy! Hey now! This one was for me! I did find out that Matt was being a buffer between the obnoxious guy and Chelsy, and it made me even more interested. Chelsy was always my guiding light in basically everything (we are the same person in two bodies, minus our taste in guys, thank God!) so I asked her a serious question: “Is this guy actually good looking, or have I had that much?” “Amanda, you’ve had one drink, and yes, he is good looking!” Needless to say, after gaining my best friend’s permission, Matt and I exchanged phone numbers, went on our first date four days later, and the rest is history!
