We met on the first day of our freshman year of high school. We didn’t like each other at first but became friends during chemistry class sophomore year. We were two of four sophomores in the class and gravitated toward each other. Our friendship grew as we spent the summer before senior year going on drives, getting ice cream, watching the sunset, and taking a quick trip to Europe together. We began dating on August 3rd of 2018, just before the start of senior year. Alex was convinced that it would only last about three months, but our relationship persisted through what was left of high school. Homecoming came, prom went, two graduations later and we were both headed to Montana to live happily ever after.

Just KIDDING!!!!!

The next three years were full of weekend trips and nightly FaceTime calls. Most of our time together during this stage was spent in Bozeman hiking, making new dinner recipes, going to football games, talking about teaching Logan to swing dance, laughing, a little bit of crying, and ultimately strengthening our relationship.

Before Logan’s senior year, we made the annual summer trip back to Bozeman before school started to have one last summer hoorah. On the first full day there, a hike to the top of Sacagawea Peak, the tallest mountain in the Bridger Mountain Range, was planned. Alex thought it was especially weird that Logan wanted to bring his own backpack and was so eager to see a “view” that wasn’t going anywhere. After fighting off some mountain goats, the Montana sky opened into a beautiful 360-degree view at 9,597 feet above sea level. As we were getting ready to take our traditional mountain top photo, Logan dropped to one knee holding the most beautiful ring Alex had ever seen. In a state of disbelief, Alex promptly said, “Yes!”. The “yes” was followed by asking approximately 43, “Are you sure!?”’s. Clearly, he was because we are still here, over THREE months later.