We're Getting Married!

There were many times where Ben and I's paths could've crossed (and maybe they did!), but we did not officially meet until July 2016. We grew up in cities that were 20 minutes apart, and went to college in cities that were 45 minutes apart. However, it's not until we both decided to study abroad in Australia that we actually met. We were walking home from our new campus at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and my group of friends and I were walking behind Ben and his friend. They overheard us say "Fargo, North Dakota" and immediately their heads turned- the friendship was instant. It may be a midwest thing, but when you find someone from your neck of the woods on a different continent- it's easy to connect. Our newfound friend group grew as we studied (and partied) and went on countless adventures in our new temporary home. For Ben and I, there was always a little something more than friendship between us. Whenever we went out dancing, we always found our way to each other. We even had our first kiss in Australia, about 2 weeks after we met! I had a crush on him right away. If you ask him he'll say, "I was being a stupid boy." It took him a little longer to figure out that I was his soulmate. Fast forward to August 2018, all of the friends we met in Australia decided to have a big reunion in Minnesota. Ben was living in Arizona at the time, and would be flying home to join us. I thought I was "over him" at that point. Sure enough, when we were together again- sparks flew! As I was driving him back to the airport after our reunion, I told him I liked him, and he said "I like you, too." FINALLY! Of course we had to be living in different states at the time, but we decided to give long distance a shot. He officially asked me to be his girlfriend in January 2019, and within 6 months, I convinced him to move back home to Minnesota.

Our first date was the night Tab came to visit me while I was living in Phoenix, AZ. She came to visit me for a few days to cheer me up because I was having a rough time in Phoenix and was missing home. She was so brave to fly across the country all by herself to visit me! For our first date, I decided we should go go-karting. All was well until the middle of the race when I tried to show off and drift around a corner. Unfortunately, I braked too early and hit the wall coming to a dead stop in the middle of the track. Moments later, Tab came crashing into me full-speed! Both of us were a little sore, but we laughed about it the rest of the night. That weekend we had several adventures. We went up to Sedona and did several hikes and a pink jeep tour through the mountains where we carved our initials into a rock. On our drive back to Phoenix, we stopped at many places to sightsee and take pictures and found a really beautiful place to watch the sunset. It was a fantastic little weekend and she also got to meet two of my groomsmen for the first time: Sam and Zach.

The first part of our relationship was long distance, but that didn't keep us from having date nights! We still found ways to have fun even while we were apart. One of our favorite go-to dates was to watch movies at the same time and text each other our commentary and theories about what was going to happen next. We always hit "pause" at the same time if one us had to go to the bathroom, and then texted each other a countdown on when to hit "play" again. After I moved back home, we were together almost every single day! One of our favorite dates back then was to go to Monday night yoga at Lifetime (often joined by one of Tab's bridesmaids, Abby) and watch the Bachelor afterwards with takeout sushi and a donut for dessert! When COVID hit in 2020, we had to spend our first long period of time apart since I had moved back home. But hey, we had already done long distance, surely we could manage a little bit of time apart. Two weeks to slow the spread, remember that? Well, we hated that and vowed to never go that long without being together again, and started to look for a place of our own. We moved into our first apartment together around November 2020. We loved our little apartment, and had some great memories there. There was a walking path across the street that we would visit every day the weather allowed. After living in the apartment for a little over two years, we finally saved enough money for a down payment on our first home! Now we have a new walking path, and live very close to several great friends! Our favorite date lately has been taking my parents electric bikes for a long ride to one of our favorite wineries, followed by a scoop of ice cream!

Ben and I looked at rings for almost two years before he asked me to marry him. I thought he would propose on our 4-year dating anniversary in January 2023, but he surprised me and asked me to marry him 2 weeks before we moved into our first home together, in October 2022! The proposal took place near my family cabin, on a hike in Scenic State Park that we frequented. To everyone's surprise- I did not suspect a thing. We were hiking with my family dog, Buddy, and Ben asked that we stop to take a picture. We set up the phone and got Buddy in the shot with us, he was actually looking towards the camera- it was perfect! I thought, great- we got our picture, now we can continue our hike. When Ben started tying Buddy up to a tree, I got confused and a bit annoyed. "Why are you tying him up?" I asked. He said he wanted to get a picture of just the two of us without Buddy. I grumbled, but told him to hurry up and set up the camera again to get the shot. Little did I know, Ben had set the camera to "video" and recorded the entire proposal. Buddy was our only witness! It was romantic and perfect.