Grant and Haley had two very different upbringings. Grant was born in Hampton, VA (over a container of Texas soil, of course) while his father was stationed at Langley Air Force Base. He then lived in Del Rio, TX, Sumpter, SC, and finally settled in San Antonio. Haley was born in Corpus Christi, TX, and her family moved to Baytown shortly after. She lived there for her entire childhood.

Haley decided to continue her education at Texas A&M University and headed up to College Station. Grant opted to head west, attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock. When Haley went through sorority recruitment, she met MacKenzie, who quickly became her best friend. As fate would have it, MacKenzie grew up with Grant. Her mother and aunt were long-time friends with Grant's mother. Additionally, MacKenzie's cousin Madison and Grant's sister Ainslie are also very close friends. MacKenzie, Madison, and Grant's fathers were all Fighter Pilots in the Air Force.

Not everything is easy, though. Haley and Grant moved through college life in passing, constantly hearing about one another but never meeting. Grant graduated from Texas Tech in 2021 and moved back to San Antonio. That same year on New Year's Eve, Haley drove into town to attend MacKenzie's family NYE party.

That evening before Haley met Grant, she spoke to Grant's parents. They quickly found out that she was single and started to mastermind an operation. Later that night, Grant and Haley introduced themselves to one another and had a brief conversation. Like any modern-day romance, Grant followed Haley on Instagram a week later.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck in January of 2022 when MacKenzie's Aunt Valerie, her cousin Madison's mother, passed away. Since these families are very interconnected, it was an immensely difficult loss for all of them. Haley went to Spring Branch to be with MacKenzie for the funeral, and of course, Grant and the Ellis Family were there too.

After the funeral and wake, a small group of Valerie's family and close friends headed to Bourbon and Branch, a local bar. Haley and Grant got to talking, and they ended up having a long conversation. When Grant walked over to the table where his and MacKenzie's parents were sitting, he vowed, "I'm going to marry that girl."

He and Haley started "talking," as the kids say, and went on their first date at Down on Grayson at the Pearl. They officially became a couple on February 5, 2022. Grant was pursuing a career in the military but wasn't 100% sure where he would end up. He taught Haley everything he could about a military lifestyle, all the different (and confusing) acronyms, and what a life together could look like. Haley, having lived in the same town her entire life, had always sworn she wouldn't marry a military man. But there was something different about her relationship with Grant.

Grant headed to Basic Training and Officer Candidate School at the end of 2023 and commissioned to the US Army in April of 2024. He and Haley communicated through letters and 30-minute weekly phone calls. Following his graduation, he was assigned to Camp Bullis in San Antonio.

Haley and Grant knew that they were each other's person. After nearly three years together, they decided to move into a house together in Bulverde, just north of San Antonio. On December 21, 2024, Grant proposed to Haley at the Pearl, the same place they had their very first date.

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