Bryce and I met during my interview for Skyline in May of 2021. It was a good thing Skyline didn't have HR at the time, because we flirted through the entire interview! It wasn't long after I left the interview Bryce called with the job offer. We decided to text from there, joking and flirting back and forth through his entire shift. We definitely hit it off! He always says I was his best hire, and he's so thankful I decided to show up.

Not even a week into working at Skyline, Bryce and I had made plans to spend time together. I invited him to my house to meet my friends during a D&D game night. He said he had never played, but he came over after his shift and stayed hours later than everyone else to help us girls clean up the house. What a sweetheart! I knew I was starting to fly when we hugged before he walked out to his car. The very next Tuesday after work we met at his house. We were up way past our bedtime, but it was so worth it. We cuddled on the couch with the cats, his arm wrapped around my shoulder, when he leaned down and kissed me! It was the best feeling a girl could ask for!

We were inseparable from there (it helped that we worked together). It wasn't a week later we decided we were officially dating and I told him I was falling in love with him. And this boy hugged me tighter and cried so many happy tears. We were both, from there on out, exactly what each other had needed most.

I'll start by saying how proud I am of every single person I know for not letting the secret out. Bryce had been planning and planning this day and was fit to bursting with the news. So he told... everyone... Not a soul slipped up to me, I was impressed.

On a cold October morning Bryce and I (sniffles and all) decided we would start our "Date Day" at Enger Tower to watch the sunrise and look at the beautiful fall colors. No one else was there, and apart from the wind, it was perfect. At the base of the tower he told me he had a present for me. Something small but meaningful because we hadn't been able to spend a ton of time recently. He told me to close my eyes, and he put a beautiful necklace around my neck. Which he thought was clever because it would've thrown out any suspicion had I thought I was getting a ring. And then he said he had something else and I couldn't open my eyes yet, which I thought was odd because why two gifts? I turned around and there he was on his knee with a ring box in his hands! Neither of us said anything at first, I guess we both thought it so surreal! And then in a small voice he asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes.

Our friend Rebecca spent the morning with us at Enger Tower to take our engagement photos, she was a trooper in the wind! And then Bryce took us to breakfast with flowers and champagne (he really is a romantic!). He was pretty adamant about me not telling any of my friends and family about the engagement until later in the evening, which meant he had something up his sleeve. And he did. For dinner, we went to Blackwoods in my hometown because it was a day of sentiment. To my surprise, our immediate families, grandparents, and close family friends were there to join us for dinner. It was an amazing day that led to an amazing weekend, and will lead to an amazing life.

Bryce put a lot of thought into the jewelry he had made for our engagement. The necklace is a simple style, one he had crafted using my mother's diamond from her first marriage. That alone heartens me. I love things with sentimental value; this boy knows me so well!

The ring is truly a special piece. Bryce designed this 100% by himself! There are seven stones - one diamond, two rubies, and four sapphires. The sapphires were a gift from my mother as well, and they are featured in two pieces he had made (he had a star sapphire ring set for himself too). He incorporated very simple yet elegant scroll work on the side of the band, which will also appear in my wedding band. When he received the ring, he said it was almost as if the jeweler had plucked the ring out of his mind. It was exactly what he had imagined on my hand.