Avery and I were paired together for a group date at Oklahoma State University during my freshman year of college. I was planning on skipping the event altogether because I thought these group dates were boring, but I decided last minute to go after a friend of mine told me,

"Kaylee, come on you have to go! What if you meet your future husband there?"

I thought she was crazy, but being the hopeless romantic that I am, I decided to give it a shot. I showed up to the gardens at OSU, and there he was. Avery Bates was standing in line waiting to be paired with a girl, but when we made eye contact, I knew I was in for something special. He immediately left the line and came up to me. We talked for the entire night, and by the end of the date, I. WAS. SMITTEN.

He got a hold of me the next day to see if I could go on a date to Fuzzy's with him. The rest is history. From that day on, we were absolutely inseparable. We have done everything from hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to dancing in the rain during a pandemic to him getting down on one knee beside the ocean. Saying yes to this man was saying yes to the man of my dreams, and I cannot wait to see where God takes our lives from here.