Matt and I met in 2017. I was in STL for a concert with our mutual friend, Lauren. We went to the casino after the concert to meet a group of her friends from high school, none of which I knew. I remember standing to the side watching a Wendy’s Baconator commercial when Matt Land stepped out of the group to talk to me. I told him I was fine watching paint dry and he didn't have to feel like he had to entertain me, but Matt is the kind who brings people into the fold and can talk to anyone. One topic led to another, and we started talking about aliens. Now Matt will tell you I touched his arm in that flirty "im into you" kind of way, but if you ask me, I was just laughing with animation because I do not know how to flirt. Our connection was instant, but the timing was wrong. We remained friends and hung out when we could, timing was against us until March 2019. Matt was in Chicago with Lauren for her birthday over St Patrick’s Day when I got a Snapchat of him dressed in a full on green 4-leaf clover suit and I responded with how gorgeous he was. This was the spark it took to reignite the chemistry. We talked endlessly and finally went on our first alleged “date” on 5/18/19, a hike through Rock Bridge State Park. Matt failed to mention this was a date and used the excuse of “testing out his hiking gear.”

We loaded Leo up and drove to Rock bridge state park, taking a RIGHT into the state park to go to Deer Run Trailhead (this tid bit will come in handy later). I started out by asking Matt, "How's your sense of direction? Are you going to be able to get us back to the car?" He told me his sense of direction was excellent so I said "good, because I'm going to stop paying attention." Leo and I share the same poor sense of direction. We hiked for roughly 4 hours and there was never a dull moment or lag in conversation. The aliens made a return amongst a million other topics while I picked a gazzilion ticks off of Matt . We went back to my house where my mom (Marianne) and my dad (Colin) were outside in their garden- we were neighbors at the time. Yes, Matt met my parents on our first date. We then ate lunch with them after giving Leo a bath (he makes a very good dog dad). Leo and my parents both approved of Matt, the rest is history— Leo and Matt lived happily ever after.

It was the morning on October 22, 2022. We planned to go hike at our first date spot prior to tailgating for the Mizzou homecoming game. Which I know, I know. Any time the guy does this in the movie it's only because he is about to propose. However, Matt made me feel like it was MY idea and it completely went over my head. A few weeks prior to this however, Matt had asked me if I knew what the name of the trailhead we had our first hike at. I couldn't remember the name but I told him I could still probably drive to it, and I told him we should try to go there the next time we were in Columbia because I really want to know what the name of the trail was. I'm sure he felt some relief that I fell into his trap. Fast forward to homecoming day, we set off to go hiking and Matt makes me drive. As we got closer to Rockbridge State Park he told me to go left, and I told him that the place was on the right, we had originally taken a RIGHT off the main road. He told me that wasn't the case and GPS was telling him to take a left...we went back a couple of times because I am sure Matt is now sweating since I am in control of the car and want to take a right but what I didn't know was that he had a photographer set up at the place up ahead after taking a left. So we take a left, and I proceed to remind him that this is the wrong trailhead (because in my mind we are looking for the original hike trailhead). I cannot reason with him so I decided to just get my shoes on and go hiking. We cross over the bridge and start heading for the woods when he grabs me and spins me around while simultaneously dropping to one knee and says "Have I told you how much I love you?" while holding up a ring. He didn't actually ask me to marry him but I still said yes to an implied question. lol We then showed up to the Mizzou tailgate which Matt orchestrated as a surprise engagement party and we celebrated with family and friends. M-I-Z

Originally, I had only planned to take Madelyn back(ish) to where we had our first date, then we would go out with some friends later that day and celebrate our engagement. Fortunately though, a couple of months prior we met up with Peter and Galynn, and after a few drinks at Dog master we came up with a plan to have a surprise celebration at a Mizzou tailgate! On the day of the proposal, we were at Emily’s house getting ready to go on a hike prior to the tailgate. At this point Madelyn thinks we are just going to a normal Peter and Galynn tailgate, but we’ve been planning for a few months to have family, and friends from all of the state show up to celebrate. I’ve also set up a plan to have our photographer waiting out of sight in a creek bed so the proposal can be photographed. Madelyn and I start driving to what I believe is the trailhead of our first date, but as we are driving Madelyn claims the trailhead is essentially across the road from where we are going. We would have been fine to call this audible, but our photographer was currently sitting in a dry creek bed waiting for us to walk by! I knew Madelyn was probably right (lol), but we had to hike the other trail so I basically had to stubbornly advocate for the original trail until we turned into the parking lot. I started to feel a lot better once we were on the trail, but the nerves started to set in as we approach the creek bed. As we stepped down, I saw our photographer and Madelyn began to spin towards her so I grabbed Madelyn got down on one knee and asked her to "marry me". I had a speech planned, but in the moment I kind of blacked out and instead, I asked her if she knew how much I loved her. After posing the question, I pulled out the ring and slipped it on her finger. After taking many photos and shedding some tears we headed out to the tailgate. The tailgate was an absolute blast. Lots of food, drinks, shotskis, and so many people showed up from all over Missouri. Everyone really made us feel like we were on top of the world. Thanks to everyone that helped make that day happen! Z-O-U

Our happy ever after <3