Our story began 5 years back in July of 2019 when I moved to Bismarck to attend the University of Mary for Grad School. Not knowing very many people in Bismarck, I decided to go over to my cousins house to hang out. What I didn't know at the time was that Jacob was my cousin's roommate. Our relationship was just beginning as friends. I remember when I first started going over to their house, my cousin would say " You should go for Jacob" as we would discover we had a lot of things in common. We began chatting more and more as we would continue to hang out at their house. Come to find out we actually got along pretty well. We found we enjoyed a lot the same activities as well as had similar hobbies, views and beliefs in common. The adventure of our friendship was off to a good start and I definitely had butterflies being around him and wanted to continue to get to know him.. Unfortunately, that would take us quite some time to do.

Jump to July of 2020, the crew all went up to the lake in Riverdale for the 4th of July weekend. This was another opportunity where Jacob and I spend lots of time continuing to grow our friendship and/or making fun of each other from how I remember ( especially because I was from Minnesota.....) From what some of our family and friends say, they saw a connection between us way before either of us knew or were willing to admit it. However, our story still remained as friends as both Jacob and myself were in other relationships at this time. Fast forward quite some time where Jacob and I did not talk at all. Jacob was working in Dickinson, ND for the National Guard and I was working in Bismarck and was a full time Grad student so we went our separate ways in our busy lives.

It wasn't until April of 2021 that I next heard from Jacob who reached out to Congratulate me on Graduating from my Master's Program. Neither of us thought that this one message would have sparked the start too something we both knew and felt all the way back in 2019 when we first met. Neither of us expected this message would lead us down the road it did. Conversations continued which led to us starting to spend lots of time together, going on gym dates & shake dates, going to shoot bow, finding spots to star gaze, and many times cruising past the river when we didn't quite want the nights to end.

Over the 4th of July weekend of 2021, we were back in Riverdale for another fun weekend out on the lake with friends. I remember this day very well as Jacob and I were just hanging out in the water away from everyone for almost an hour just talking about everything from what we wanted for our lives, our futures and our relationships. It felt like we could have talked forever before our friends decided it was long enough by swimming over and dragging us back to the group :D This weekend really solidified a lot of the feelings we both had for each other and helped us move forward from friends into more than friends. Our long-awaited love story officially began on July 7th, 2021.

Five years of getting to know each other has been something we cherish, and the past two years together have been nothing shy of amazing. We can't wait to celebrate with everyone in October of 2024 and look forward to all the memories we will make and continue to make for years to come <3