MO Youth Convention 2022, a friend of mine had casually mentioned to me that he had a friend who thought I was pretty and that I should meet him at the afterburner. On the 20-minute drive to the event, I did some social media digging as I had never even heard of him. We passed each other at the afterburner but he was too shy to say anything. I learned later that Austin had no idea that my friend told me about his interest in me, which is the reason why he claims he did not come up and meet me. Later that week, Austin responded to an Instagram story I posted, and this is where it all began!

We were total strangers when he reached out to me. I almost ghosted him, something we joke about often! After much encouragement from my mom and best friend, I answered him back. We started texting every day and just a week later, he asked for my number! We finally got to meet in person at a youth rally in my hometown after talking over the phone for a month. From here, we really hit it off, and began planning our first date. Austin and I went on dates for another month when he finally had the courage to make it official!

After 14 wonderful months together, Austin proposed at the Botanical Gardens with the help of our sweet friends. It took me by complete surprise and is still the happiest day of my life. We are both counting down the days until we say, "I do" and officially get to start our forever! We feel honored and blessed to get to share this chapter of our lives with our family and friends!