The start of it all! Cheyanne had plans to spend the summer of 2020 in New York at Cornell University doing research, but the pandemic canceled those plans weeks before she was supposed to leave. In a hurry, she made different plans to work on finishing her undergraduate thesis at Central for the summer. It just so happened that Cameron was working in the same lab that summer. We spent the entire summer together, working, doing research, ID'ing hundreds of bees, and becoming close friends. By the end of the summer we were sad to say goodbye to each other (for only two weeks before the fall semester began). We talked nonstop during that two-week break, and started dating right after on move-in day.

The first few months of us dating flew by as we both attended Central College. Cameron was a junior and Cheyanne was finishing her final semester of her undergraduate degree. Many hours were spent studying together, binging shows on Netflix, and hanging out with friends. December was very bittersweet as Cheyanne was finished with her time at Central and would be moving to Des Moines to start working, starting the next year and a half of "medium distance" dating.

"Medium distance" turned into long distance a few months later. Cameron spent the summer of 2021 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin working on research at the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse. The one hour drive turned into four, and we spent countless hours on facetime and driving back and forth to see each other.

One of the best trips we have ever gone on. We road tripped to New York to visit NYC and our future home, Ithaca. We had so much fun (even on the 16 hour drive). It was amazing to visit NYC. We ate amazing food, acted like total tourists, and walked 20+ miles everyday we were there. Visiting Ithaca afterwards was also amazing. Getting to preview the town that we would be living in eight months later was so wonderful. We fell in love with the people, scenery, and life we knew we would soon have. We couldn't wait to come back in August.

Cameron (finally!) graduated from Central College and we officially moved in together. It was an amazing summer getting to be with each other full-time for the first time in a year and a half. The summer was spent working, seeing friends, and preparing to make the big move!

Our biggest adventure to date. The car was packed and we headed out for New York after many tear-filled goodbyes. We were so excited to see our new home and start of life in New York.

The big day! Cheyanne had been pestering Cameron for months and knew he had the ring in the apartment (she even tried to find it when he was gone for a week in January but came up empty-handed, it was in a monopoly box!). Cameron woke Cheyanne up that morning with breakfast in bed and told her she should get ready for the day because they had lunch reservations. Cheyanne immediately knew something was up, and texted her best friends and her mom and sister panicking about what to wear. We had an amazing lunch, and as we got up to leave a little black box fell out of Camerons pocket onto the ground. His face was SO red. We acted like nothing happened, and went to the walking trails by the lake where Cameron popped the question. Cheyanne knew it was coming but still cried (who's surprised?). There was a photographer hiding to take pictures, and we got the most beautiful pictures. It was a wonderful day and we couldn't wait to share the news with everyone and start planning for the big day.