One month after meeting at Missouri State University's Bear Bash, Collin asked me to be his girlfriend - of course I said yes!

In October 2017, we went to our first of many weddings as a couple....little did we know then that we would be planning our own 6 years later!

Fall of 2017 was full of friends, dates, and tailgates for us. BEAR UP!

As the semester came to an end, Collin made the decision to move back to KC to start his career while I stayed in Springfield to finish college. 4 months into dating, we decided to give long distance a try.

Although the long distance was tough, we never let it get in between the love we had for each other. Several drives were made to KC....

....and several drives were made to Springfield. I think we could both do that 3 hour drive with our eyes closed at this point!

Over the next 2 years, we continued to drive back and forth from KC to Springfield to see each other. Whether it was for weekend trips to Omaha Zoo...

...concerts...

...formals...

...pumpkin patches...

...or homecoming games - We always made the drive to be by each others side for what mattered most.

When COVID hit in March 2020, my classes went online for the remainder of the semester and I was laid off from my job as a waitress. Not wanting to be apart during the uncertain times, I decided to move in with Collin in KC.

In September 2020, we adopted our COVID pup - Koda! In December, Collin and Koda made the final drive down to Springfield for my college graduation.

At the end of 2020, Collin was offered an opportunity with his job to move up to Massachusetts. After lots of consideration, Collin decided to take the offer and we moved halfway across the country in May.

Our move to the northeast started out a little tough - it wasn't easy trying to find our place in a city so different than what we were used to in the midwest. There were definitely ups and downs, but we always had each other.

On our 4 year anniversary, Collin proposed to me. I said yes before he finished asking the question!