This is Maddy W, and she is my best good frand. Although we’ve only know each other a short 7 years, I feel like our friendship has lasted a life time. Maddy is the solid rock I can always rely on for anything. Whether it be baking cupcakes at 2 am, talking about the latest Stephenson gossip, or bringing Indy over so her and Buford can have a play date she always there and down for an adventure. Even after moving 415 miles away she still fills all the roles, maid of honor, Craig’s bonus daughter, therapist, and most importantly my best friend.

This lovely lady is Jess, and we go WAY back, so far back that I honestly couldn’t tell ya when we first met. But I can tell you that we met at Lake Ellen, and boy did we have some crazy times there. Like spending many late night out hauling hay, caring for all kinds of animals, burying one calf (RIP Maverick), and sitting outside getting eaten alive by mosquitoes with a sheep and a goat waiting for campers to come to our game station….and then no one ever showed up. Earlier this summer I had the honor of getting to standby Jess as she got married and I feel so blessed to now have her by my side as I get married.

This is Lauren but if you look her up in my phone contacts you will find her under Lorn. Lorn has a free spirit with the biggest heart around and a level of self confidence that I aspire to have. When the world was shut down due to Covid we spent many of our days going on walks. We always planned to go on 6am sunrise walks but by the time everyone woke up and got to the walking location it was more like a 11 am pre-lunch walk. No matter the time of our walks we’d always notice the amount of cans in the ditches and we always said we were going to pick them up to return. Well we never picked up a single can, but it’s the thought that counts…right?

This cute gal here is Nora. They say the Lord uses people in your life to make his plans happen, we’ll for me that was Nora. When I caught feelings for Matthew and couldn’t seem to shake them I went to Nora to discuss it. I figured maybe if I said “I don’t want to be with him out loud”, then I’d be able to continue with my life like I never even felt like that. Well Nora interpreted “I don’t want to like Matthew” as “I should definitely tell Matthew that Grace likes him”. Well today I can say that I’m 100% thankful she did what she did because if she didn’t I don’t know when if ever Matthew and I would have found each other.

This beautiful soul is Erin. I met Erin in the summer of 2018 at Lake Ellen. From afar it would have seemed that Erin and I would have never buddied up with each, just because of our differences in personalities. And it was left up to me that’s exactly what would have happened, but Erin had the kindest most outgoing heart and without a second thought opened her friendship to me. Erin taught me to how carpe diem the day, whether we were going on adventures across the U.P. on our 22 hours off between weeks of camp or shooting my shot even when the odds weren’t entirely in my favor. I’m almost 100% certain that Erin is an inspiration to anyone she comes into contact with.