We met in January, 2010 through cheerleading. Derek was performing at a college showcase at my mom’s cheer gym. The power to the gym went out and Derek decided to test his luck and “put the moves on me”. He asked to borrow my phone since it “had a flashlight on it” (the old days when not every phone was an iPhone haha). I let him borrow my phone and he decided to tumble one-handed with it.


After that night, we reached out to each other and he convinced me to come down and tumble at some open gyms. We began dating in May, 2010 for a short time (you all know that story 😎)


After breaking up, we remained friends and would hang out every now and then with friends, and even cheered together for a couple years in 2014-2015.


Fast forward to 2020! Derek was newly single and hanging out with our friends, Brad and Ashley. Ashley convinced him to text me and “ask to hang out”. I responded to a “hey” text, which then turned into texting every few days. After SEVERAL attempts to ask me to hang out, I finally caved in around Christmas time and went out to lunch with him. I, then, made him wait again until March to hang out. (I’m a busy person 😋)


We became “official” in May, 2021.


A year and a half later, in November, 2022, we bought our first house together!


After deciding that Derek actually could stand living with me (🙃), he proposed on April 22!


And….the rest is history!!! ❤️