Stephen and Elizabeth have known each other for a very long time. Both families attended Brookdale Baptist Church in Moorhead, MN. Elizabeth had Stephen’s parents (Mark and Debbie Hulbert) as Sunday school teachers. Stephen’s younger brother (Timothy Hulbert) was in the same Sunday school class as Elizabeth. Stephen had Elizabeth’s dad (Tom Salmen) as a Sunday school teacher as well. Both families have been close friends. However, about six years ago, the Salmen Family moved to a small town called Tulare, SD. It’s about one hour straight south of Aberdeen, SD. Conveniently enough, Aberdeen is an hour straight south of Fort Ransom, ND where Stephen lives on the Family Farm but also works for Green Iron equipment. Stephen would make many trips by and through Aberdeen for his job. Elizabeth had many visits to Aberdeen for groceries, sporting events, and dentist visits. The chances of Elizabeth and Stephen being in the same town, at the same time, without any knowledge of each other, are very high. Also, Elizabeth’s Aunt and Uncle who live in Tulare, are customers from the same Green Iron Equipment that Stephen works for. He didn’t find that out till after the two started dating. Through some crazy circumstances, Elizabeth moved back to the Moorhead area to attend Concordia College. There she re-attended Brookdale where Mark and Debbie were her College and Career Sunday school teachers. Mark and Debbie would have the Sunday school class over at their house once a month, where Elizabeth and Stephen would attend. Conveniently enough, Stephen would sit next to Elizabeth during lunch but nothing really came of it. This went on for a year and a half. One night on instagram, Stephen posted a story to his page. It included the song “Dear Rodeo” by Cody Johnson. Elizabeth replied to it on February 7th, 2022 by saying that Cody Johnson has some good music. Then over time they switched to communicating over Snapchat. Where on February 13, 2022 he asked Elizabeth out on Snapchat. Elizabeth was going to be gone that day to an event and told Stephen, “I would love to go but I will not be in town. You can ask me in person on the following Sunday when I get back.” So, Stephen asked Elizabeth out “in-person” on the following Sunday. Stephen and Elizabeth were not an official couple till March 12, 2022 on the ride back from a rodeo in Valley City. Finally, when Stephen asked Elizabeth’s dad for permission to marry his daughter, Tom made Stephen ask again because he didn’t hear him. Stephen said, “It runs in the family!” The rest of the story is history!