To tell the whole story we have to go back to 2014...before we even started talking, and had only heard about each other through my brother-in-law, Casey. Case and Ty played Junior hockey together in Lloydminster, and as the lucky little sister I am, I got to attend a lot of his hockey games in Lloyd when Courtnie went to watch. Little did I know this one guy I passed at the rink countless times would eventually become my fiancé. But, in typical Ty and J fashion, we didn't start dating until Ty had moved to Castlegar, BC. where he was playing for the Selkirk College Saints hockey team.

I had moved to Calgary, and was attending Mount Royal University for nursing. Long distance be damned, we started talking, and soon enough Ty had convinced me to

'come down to Castlegar' for a weekend because it would work out perfectly as he had 2 home games! So, off I went to BC to go hang out for the weekend with

this guy I had been talking to but never even met in person- my parents were thrilled. Luckily, I did have Casey's background check on Ty to go off of, in

which he reassured both myself and my family that Ty was a stand-up guy and they had nothing to be worried about. During this trip I managed to lose my wallet on the way down... making it a nice cheap visit for one of us. Ty even had to give me $200 cash so I could get gas just to make it home. He must have had a good feeling he would be seeing me again, that or he didn't care that he

just given this chick $200!

From that point on, we continued to talk, and eventually started to date. Months down the road, distance and timing were not on our side and we decided to break up, unfortunately for us. It wasn't easy, but we re-assured each other we would remain 'friends' (as most people like to say).

With Ty being a man of his word, we became just that. Over the next 6 years, Ty and I continued to stay in touch here and there, always making sure to check in with one another. Ty would always make a point to reach out to me whenever he was in Calgary for work, just to see how I was doing and if I happened to have some free time to grab a bite to eat or catch a movie. Magically, I always seemed to have space in my schedule to make it work. During that time, we both went our separate ways but made sure to never stay out of touch for too long... you

know, because we were SUCH good friends… and not in love with one another deep down (Court's words-not mine).

Fast forward to 2021- I was freshly single and surprise, surprise, Ty just happened to be back in Calgary! Like old times, we made plans to meet up. This was in the heart of COVID, so we grabbed take-out and headed back to my place. We caught up on life, filling each other in on the things we had missed and like they say... the rest is history! We started dating after a few months, again finding ourselves doing long distance as Ty was now back in Taber, and I was still in Calgary. However, this go

around, timing appeared to be on our side; after dating for 4 short months, I found myself moving south to be closer to Ty. Soon enough we would have a house together, our pup (Millie Mae) and begin our lives together.

Then, on July 10th, 2023 we were on our annual trip to the Island to visit our friends and attend a wedding, when Ty finally took me to Tofino (a place I really wanted to go to if we were headed back to Nanaimo). We had been on this trip already for a week, so at this point I was 100% positive a proposal was out of the question. Little did I know Ty had always wanted to do it in Tofino and was waiting for the day when we would finally go! That morning, driving up to Tofino, me singing loudly and full of energy, as I was so excited to be going there at last. Ty meanwhile, I don't think cracked a smile, and barely took his eyes off the road… What a great start to the trip I always wanted (insert eye roll). When we finally got there, we had planned to start with beach walks and

find a spot to hang out for a while. Shortly after we set out, we found what is now one of my favourite spots on this earth. We set up in this little cove between two beaches where it was just the two of us. We sat there and took it all in- chatting about the fun-filled week we had had and what else we had left to look forward to. I , of course, requested taking a picture. I set up my phone, started a video, figuring it would be easier for me to just screenshot a photo from there, rather than waiting for a random person to eventually walk by and ask them to snap one. We were standing there posing for our picture, and once I figured we must have gotten one by now, I start to head back to the phone. Ty grabbed me and gave me a big hug and a kiss, and the next thing I know he is down on one knee... and the camera still recording. Not only did we get the 'perfect picture' I was hoping for, but I also caught the whole thing on video. The moment that my best friend became my fiancé.

So that's our story, a long one, but in my opinion, one of the best!