We met for the first time in May of 2020 on social media, or so we thought. The more we got to know each other, we realized we attended the same elementary school at the same time, when Brandon was in 5th grade and Nicole was in 4th grade. Brandon was the popular sports kid and Nicole was shy and awkward (not much has changed about either of us), so we had never interacted. Fast forward over 20 years later, we finally crossed paths. We wanted to meet in person after talking and texting for about a week, but because it was around the beginning of the Covid situation, we couldn’t go out to eat at a restaurant or do most of the normal first date things. We decided, after talking about how much we both love the outdoors, that it would be fun to take a drive out to Greenwater, an area along the river on the way to Mount Rainier National Park and Crystal Mountain Ski Area. Looking back on this, Nicole realizes it probably wasn’t the brightest idea to go to a secluded area in the woods that has no cell phone service, with a nearly complete stranger, but the story ends in marriage not mur—, well, you know what we mean. We sang “Low Places” by Garth Brooks at the top of our lungs on the drive, then skipped rocks on the river, and sat on a big fallen tree and talked for hours - actually, Brandon talked for hours (if you know him, that’s funny). The day ended with realizing we had the same middle name, with different spelling, and the rest is pretty much history. We moved in together in 2021, along with Nicole’s dog, Callie Bear, and started renovating our home in Buckley, WA. We’ve been on dozens of camping (glamping?) trips in our travel trailer; fell in love with Scottsdale, AZ; started many traditions, including “Pizza Sundays”; played hundreds of games of backyard baseball with Brandon’s son, Hudson; and, most recently, had our beautiful daughter, Aribella (aka Bella), in February. We lived a lot of life before we officially met at 32 and 33 years old, which lead us down many different paths, yet somehow that series of thousands (millions?) of events lead us back to each other all these years later. We love the life we have, the one we’re building, and the one we imagine for the future. We are so excited to take this next step and we are grateful for all of the love and support we’ve had along the way. Cheers to an amazing wedding weekend!