Although Blayne & I went to the same high-school and had a lot of mutual friends, we never spoke. We knew who the other was & saw each other from time to time, but that was it. I graduated from Newman Smith in 2015 & Blayne in 2016.

Fast forward to May of 2023, our paths crossed in the most unexpected way! My brother, Joseph, talked me into running up to the casino one night and it turns out Blayne's family had the same idea. While walking through the casino, we ended up walking straight for one another & made "do I know you?" faces, before saying each other's names to confirm. We stopped for a brief moment to say hi, but then we just went on our way.

After walking away I turned to my brother and said "man I used to have a crush on him in high school, we should've seen if he wanted to hang with us". And come to find out later, Blayne was kicking himself that he didn't ask for my number. Sure enough we didn't see each other again that night, granted, Choctaw is a huge place and it's hard enough keeping up with the people you came with.

A few weeks passed and Blayne saw my name pop up on snapchat under "people you may know," and I got so excited seeing that friend request come in. He wasted no time in asking to take me on a date and had the perfect evening planned.

On July 25th, 2023 we went on our first date to bowl & play pool. We quickly learned our competitivenss was compatible and had such a blast. Our second date was shortly after and filled with just as much fun riding roller coasters at Six Flags. By our third date playing putt-putt, it was pretty clear we had something special, and we've basically been inseparable ever since.

Upon meeting my daughter Ember for the first time, they became fast friends. He even let her put makeup on him their second time meeting and I knew right then that he was a team player. She gave him the nickname Mr. Bacooney, which was a made-up name she came up with years prior, but hadn't assigned it to anyone before. So, if you hear us referring to a "Mr. Bacooney," now you know, that we're talking about Blayne. The relationship those two have truly melts this mama's heart, and has been a blessing I never knew we'd find.

We moved in together February of this year and quickly learned how great of a team we make. We love our little family and still feel so lucky to get to do life with our best friend.

This past summer, all three of us took our first trip out of the country to the beautiful Turks & Caicos for a friends wedding. The dates happened to fall on our one year anniversary, so we got to celebrate in paradise. On the last day of our trip, July 28th 2024, Blayne popped the question on a pier at the beach. We were overwhelmed with excitement, however, the day before, Blayne started getting severly sick and although he powered through to still propse, he wasn't in the best shape.

Shortly after getting engaged, we had to rush him to the doctor before catching our flight back home. He was quite miserable and after landing in Dallas, we celebrated our engagement by heading straight to the emergency room. We got to test out that "in sickness and in health" vow real quick. Thankfully they got him feeling better and he was back to normal within the next few days.

It's still so crazy to think that we wouldn't be where we are today if we hadn't seen each other at the casino. Taking into consideration how big and crowded Choctaw is, and the fact that it's an hour and a half away from where we live, it sure feels like fate brought us together. We may have gone home empty handed that night, but if you ask me, we hit the jackpot!