Austin and I met at a little run down bar in Ft. Myers in 2017. I had been at the beach all day with my friends and we spontaneously decided to stop by the bar on the way home. Just so happens, Austin and his friends were there as well! I was having fun dancing with my friends and he was off to the side of the dance floor but both groups of friends ended up exchanging Snapchats, never really knowing who was who! He messaged me on Snapchat later that night and asked if we wanted to go to Perkins. I opened the message and didn’t respond because I didn’t know who it was. I remember telling my friend that night that the one guy was SO CUTE (I was talking about Austin, just didn’t know his name at the time). A couple weeks later he posted something on his story and I realized it was “the cute guy” so I was bold and swiped up on his story. We started flirting here and there, months go by, and we finally decide to meet again! This is when I met Champ (had to have his approval) and Austin was about to move to Jupiter, FL. for a job and I was still in college. We dated for a little while, I helped him move to Jupiter and we would drive to see each other but decided to just stay friend since we lived so far apart. We kept in touch while he was over there but life went on and I always told my friends, Austin was the one. I just knew it and always had a feeling about him. Finally towards the end of 2018 he was moving back to Ft. Myers to help start a landscaping business! What’s even crazier is he was doing the landscaping at my apartment complex. So, every time I went to get my mail or go to the gym, I saw him. I’ll admit now, I sometimes just walked to the office just to say hi to him. I always noticed Champ in his truck while he was working so I started offering to watch Champ while he worked and when I didn’t have class or work. This of course led to Austin and I hanging out more and more. We made it “official” in the beginning of 2019 and have been inseparable ever since. He’s my best friend and I wouldn’t want any other person to walk through life with. I love him, his family, his love for my family, and everything we have together.

At the beginning of 2020, we started looking for land. It started out looking for 5 acres, then 10, then 20, and we landed on a piece that was 40 acres and everything worked out the way it was supposed to. We immediately started clearing paths by ourselves and moved our camper out here. When we first moved out here, we used water from a hand pump, flashlights, and a generator. We definitely roughed it for almost 3 years in the camper but we finally have a home that Austin built for us.

In the Spring of 2022, Austin’s sister was having a destination wedding in Alaska. We were so excited to go and the trip was absolutely amazing.

When we got back from our trip I had a really hard time adjusting back from the time change (or so I thought). I was sooooo tired and would sleep all day and all night - that’s not usual for me. Turns out, we had so much fun in Alaska we brought a surprise back with us - I was pregnant. We were in shock, scared, nervous, excited, giddy, all the feelings!

So, with our little girl on the way we worked endlessly to get our house done. Weekends, after work, early mornings, holidays, and so on. We didn’t quite finish the house by the time Amelia arrived in February of 2023 and we had to stay with our parents for the first 3-6 months of her life. Eventually we moved in to our house and settled in as a family.

Amelia is the most precious and beautiful little girl and we are in awe of her every day. We are so lucky to call her ours. We love watching her grow and learn new things. We love her belly laughs and her serious faces. She is the biggest blessing and the best surprise!