It was the fall of 2010. Michaella was a newbie transfer into a big suburb high school. It was where she got her first "real" homecoming experience, her first "real" prom experience, and her first sighting of real love, Dalton.

Michaella and her girlfriend, Christina layered up in gameday sweatshirts and Uggs on a cold October evening. They were off to St. Thomas to watch the homecoming football game together.

About halftime into the brisk eve game, this boy, covered in gameday face paint, with the biggest smile one has ever seen comes up behind Michaella on the bleachers to deliver an invite to an afterparty. Knowing they weren't going to attend, Dalton reaches into his pocket to acquire some digits.

He pulls out a flip phone, to which got Michaellas attention (flip phones were so 2006). Phone numbers were exchanged, and from there on out, there has always been a butterfly emoji attached to Daltons contact, to harmonize with the way he made her feel.

The History Museum was where they shared their first date. It was interactive, playful, relaxed, and perfect (until Dalton joked he was in the ditch during a snowstorm on the way home). Little did they know, they were making history themselves.

Their love continued to flourish in Eagan, where they spent all of their after-school afternoons together. Their favorite memories involve purchasing a pet hamster together and naming him Cole, after their favorite shared artist, J Cole. It was almost Christmas, and Dalton was still wrapping his present. Turns out he rapped his present for Michaella, and it's still a banger to this day.

One morning while Michaella was begrudgingly finishing a math assignment in the high school lunchroom study hall, Dalton had been orchestrating his prom-posal. If you were to look up from your studies, you'd find a custodian pulling a train of trash bins, which was a normal occurrence. The abnormal part of this was seeing the individual letters spelling prom with Dalton jumping out of the last bin with his "?". That's love.

If you knew Dalton as a teenager, you knew his car. How many subwoofers could one fit in the trunk of a Corolla? Anything for more bass during jam sessions. Anyways, this is the car Michaella would pass her drivers test in, at age 16.

Dalton, being a year ahead in school, went on to BYU Idaho, to thereafter continue his studies and dreams in Brazil.

In 2012, Michaella moved to Iowa to study, later finding the cornfields of Iowa couldn't harvest her dreams. Upon moving back to the cities, her and Dalton would become pen pals whilst he was in Brazil.

Fast forward to summer of 2020, Dalton by now has upgraded his flip phone. His dreams prompt his fingers and he hits send to Michaella.

Find them today enjoying time on their tandem kayak on a local lake or river, crushing some Hamm's on a patio, and spending time with their kitties in their loft.

Registry

Please know that your presence is the best gift you could provide. Please do not feel obligated to give anything else. But should you feel inclined, we are working hard to save for our first home. Any contribution to this will always be sincerely appreciated! <3