We’re getting married...again!!

Owen is in the US Army and was on a deployment to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. I [Abigail] was living in La Crosse, Wisconsin at the time. We got connected through a friend of a friend. We started talking then two days later we planned to meet up for our first date. We spent all night talking on the phone the night before. I was swept away by his southern accent - he had me smitten. This poor guy had just finished a 12-hour shift, and I was too scared to go through the gate all by myself, for the first time. So I asked him if he could walk to the front gate. Little did I know that little walk was 4 miles long. It was 06:30 in the morning and he walked past the gate and straight to my car. On the phone the previous night I remember telling him I wanted a hug right when we met, to my surprise he actually hugged me. He opened my car door and gave me the best hug I’ve ever gotten from someone l just met. We took the 47-minute drive back to La Crosse and he finally slept. I had to stop by my parents' house to get a package I had ordered and Owen ended up meeting my parents on our first date like we were in high school XD. After we chatted with them, we headed to The Pearl to get ice cream then we walked around Riverside Park at sunset. It was at Riverside Park when he asked me to be his girlfriend… and the rest is history.

Owen and I spent our whole day outside doing yard work. We went to Lowes and we got lots of cute decorations for our deck! We hung lights and put rugs down it was so rewarding! Once night fell we celebrated with food and drinks out on our newly renovated deck. I had gone inside for a little while. Owen called me back outside. He lit candles in the shape of a heart. I remember hearing Tyler Childers on the radio. We stood and swayed for a while. He got down on one knee and I promise I blacked out for a split second. I could hardly see him through the tears of joy in my eyes. For my whole life, I’ve wondered how I’d get engaged and this was absolutely perfect. He held a ring box, and asked me to marry him, there was no question in my mind. SHE SAID YES!