The short and easy of it would be to say The Bar but that simple answer couldn’t adequately express the emotion, times both happy and sad, and now kids, plural, that our relationship has endeared and become.

The not so short of it all started ten years ago when Country Line dancing was still all the rage. Back then you would have found both Ryan and Alecia following the same circuit of local watering holes. Chances would have it that he would eventually step on her toes which would set off a course of events that has led to the current 9-year relationship filled with both happy and sad tears.

Much like any other life event, there are interactions throughout the course of your life that you are unaware will have an affect on you in 1, 5, or even 10 years. While the chance encounter of Ryan stepping on Alecia’s toes (or so she claims), seems arbitrary or lucky, neither of us would have met, if it weren’t for each and every interaction leading up until that point. The bartender or $2 bud lights at Joe’s before 9, past relationships, States Grill, and every chance or unconscious decision leading to that moment.

Fast forward to today and we have had a whirlwind couple of years. Self-claimed as the back-to-back kid having champs with two beautiful children. One beautiful daughter that looks like Alecia’s younger twin (Riley) and one ginormous boy that some say looks exactly like Ryan, but cuter (Murphy). Both are happy, healthy, a pain in the butt but at the end of the day, the light in their parent’s lives. Ryan is busy day to day with probably too many different businesses, and Alecia has been killing the parent game staying on top of everything with little to no complaints.

Some would say “It’s about time,” actually most people would say that. They’re right. Ryan finally got it together and mustered up the courage to walk into a store and order the damn thing. The sad, or romantic part of it, depending on your viewpoint, is that he was so gosh darn excited to show Alecia, he barely made it through the door before popping down on one knee in front of a crying kid in the kitchen to ask Alecia. It’s been said that initially she called him a jerk and thought it was a joke, but once she realized he was serious, it was somehow an easy yes.

Now, that about catches y’all up. Read through the rest of the site for more information on the wedding, where to stay, the wedding party, etc. See you in September.