Gunn and I have often wondered how many times we were at the same stock show or event without knowing who each other were. It had to have been dozens - given both of our lives were largely surrounded around them for many years.

That was until we both showed up in Dallas in September of 2020 at the State Fair of Texas. I was there on a staff swap with the SFT crew, and Gunn was there for his job with the Texas Pork Producers Association.

Unplanned and last minute, I extended my trip a few days to help with the Collegiate Livestock Judging Contest - of which Gunn was a superintendent for.

I was sitting in a conference room working on the contest and in walks Brandon. We had seen each other from a distance throughout the week but were never officially introduced. Moriah Beyers, a life-long friend of Brandon's, was in the room as well and casually drops the question, "Gunn, when are you going to find yourself a nice girl in her thirties, who's got a good job and has her life together?" In his true witted nature, he responds with an answer that shall not be written on our wedding website - BUT it triggered a sharp, sassy response from me saying, "What's wrong with a girl who's 30 and has her life together?" To which he Q-U-I-C-K-L-Y stuck his hand out and said, "Well hello, my name is Brandon Gunn."

And that was that. I distinctly remember the moment of sitting in that conference room and saying inside my head, "Could this guy be the one?".

Our stubborn personalities left us without each others numbers as we both left Dallas - but luckily a dear mutual friend of ours MaKayla Cromwell, texted me soon after... "There's a small community of us who think you should give Brandon Gunn a chance."

And boy am I glad I did.

A year and a half of long-distance dating, paired with two huge career changes and a move to Colorado later - Brandon planned the surprise mountain engagement of a lifetime in November of 2023.

We certainly met a little later in life, but it was 100% worth the wait. (And let's be honest, it was going to take a SPECIAL one to settle Brandon down for the rest of his life.) In all seriousness, we are best friends, we laugh and dream together every day and our love story has been and will continue to be the adventure of a lifetime.