While Abby and I have known each other for years it seems like we truly “met” the summer of 2020 at the Yaunt-2 ranch rodeo my dad holds every summer. For a few years prior, Abby had been also riding in the rodeo with her dad and sister. Although we were in the same small high school together, we were never super close until we both had graduated from college. It was a shared love for the shady side of the arena and a few drinks that brought us together that summer making July 18th, 2020 our dating anniversary! At the time, Abby was still living and working for Kwik Trip in La Crosse, WI where she went to college. After a year and a half of doing long distance and only seeing each other on weekends - her coming back to visit her family or me driving out to stay with her - she finally decided to move home. Another half year went by, while I was living with three of my groomsmen, until we rented our first place together in Waseca. We had a wonderful first couple of years living together and decided we would start house hunting together. On Thursday, September 19th we finalized all of the paperwork for our home in Ellendale. Two days later, Abby had a planned trip with her family and family friends for a weekend of boating on the river in La Crosse. I knew they were planning on doing one of her favorite hikes overlooking the city and figured it would be the perfect place to surprise her with a ring. On Saturday, September 21st, she was completely shocked to see me on the bluff, and through a lot of happy tears, mostly from me, she said yes! Through the past few months of reflecting on our lives together we are constantly reminded how blessed we are to have so many wonderful people around us. With two large families and even larger groups of friends around us, we are so thankful for all of the support everyone has given us. It will be five years and one day that we have been together on our wedding day. We are so excited for everyone to come celebrate what will become our two-day anniversary!