5/8/14: I had just finished a grueling final in my second semester of graduate school. A friend and I were out celebrating. From across the way I spotted Matt, or it was his ugly shoes🤪. We left and went to another bar and I spotted him again! We started conversation over a magic hat #9 and I tried everything to deter him.. I’m old, I have a 4 year old, but he persisted. We had our first date at Trotter’s where we ran into his parents and had shots! Not a day has gone by that we haven’t talked since.. even through multiple deployments. That will be 2655 days on 8/13/21! We have had ups and downs since and always stuck by each other. We have three amazing boys that have made us love one another even more! Matt proposed 7/29/2020. The highlight of that year 🙄... A scavenger hunt involving all of our significant locations around town and the boys ended up at the location of our first date. I couldn’t have been more excited to say yes to spending the rest of my life with him!!