Maria and Alex had went to the same high school and knew of each other, but were several years apart in age and had different friends. Years later, they reconnected when Maria was in college and Alex was back on the farm. They started to hang out and eventually Alex worked up the courage and took her on a date. It has been nothing but good times shared since then. They reside in a house on the farm 15 miles north of Bowdle. Maria was quite surprised when Alex proposed, as he told her every time she mentioned a ring, it added another week onto how long she had to wait. When he did, he had gotten the ring just in time with the help of a good friend, Luke. They were just about to leave for the Black Hills when Luke stopped by to "look at silage corn". I mentioned to Alex I wouldn't mind saying hi to Luke, but he informed me Luke was in a hurry and it was guy talk anyways. Long story short, he tucked the ring under the carpet in his pickup and they made the trip to the hills. Alex had asked Jerry for his permission prior and he was aware of the plan. That alone took several attempts since Carrie seemed to linger every time Alex stopped over at their house to ask. (Carrie = bad at keeping secrets.) They were on Pactola Lake in the hills on Jerry & Carrie's boat. Alex kept urging to Maria to go cliff jumping with him, which she thought was odd since he is like a cat when it comes to water. Alex then proceeded to "jump" very gracefully into the water with said ring in his pocket. He swam over to Maria and together they went over to a cliff. They climbed up and so did Carrie and Maria's siblings. Maria was admiring the view when Alex said he had a question to ask her. There he was on one knee, opening the ring box with water pouring out of it. Carrie & Lily shrieked in joy and the whole lake thought someone had fallen overboard. After a hug and a kiss, Maria jumped off the cliff and Alex carefully climbed down and swam back to the boat. Jerry had gotten the whole thing on video, and as they watched it, everyone laughed as Tyler was standing right in front of all the action scratching his head. Definitely a day we will not forget!