Well, we can all thank Morgan Vanwinkle for playing Mr. Match Maker. It all started when Ashby went to Sheridan to visit in early December, 2020. Morgan, friend of Ashby and a childhood friend of James invited each of them over for a get together at his house. As the night went on, James and Ashby ended up talking about the military, and their forever began there. James decided to friend request Ashby on Facebook the next day, but Ashby took the initiative to message James later that night to thank him for buying pizza the night before. Everything then followed shortly after.

After texting for a few weeks, Ashby was going to return to Sheridan to visit. The first night in town they drove around town and got dairy queen. James sure fooled Ashby that he was a good driver... Not anymore! Come the next day, they took a trip with Ashby's family to the Thermopolis hot springs. To say the least, Ashby began to like this guy a whole lot more. Even though they returned to Sheridan late in the evening due to a snow storm, they still planned on going ice fishing together the next day. The non early birds met late in the morning to go out to Tounge River which was their actual first date. As we were driving to the lake, it was funny how all of Ashby's favorite songs got played in James's truck. When we got to the lake, James threw his keys at Ashby and said "here's these incase I fall through, you can still go home." Those are words that Ashby will laugh about until the end of time. Although Ashby didn't catch anything more than feelings for James, he was able to pull a pike through the ice. After a cold day of James acting like a kid sliding on the ice, dusk was approaching and Ashby was freezing. They both checked the jaw jackers for bait, and they were still okay. James then went back to check one shortly after to only hook a water bottle to one. In the water bottle was a piece of paper that read "I have found a perfect catch, thought I would set the hook. Will you be my girlfriend?" James almost chickened out and didn't put the water bottle down the hole. With Ashby saying "there is a water bottle on the hook" in an annoyed tone and giving it to James so that she could get the minnow off of the hook, James almost shoved it back in his pocket. Needless to say, Ashby said yes. They then packed up and headed to town for a celebratory dinner of sushi.

Nothing but a magical night. Back in March, when the Cheyenne Frontier Days line up was released, Ashby was set on going to see Kane Brown. However, due to the website crashing, Ashby gave up on the possibility of going. James had other plans. He already asked Jess, Ashby's best friend, if she could come. Being Jess's first concert, she asked Ashby if it was okay to tag along. James was able to get his hands on three tickets and of course Jess was welcome to join, but little did Ashby know, there was a much bigger plan behind attending the concert. Fast forward to July 30th, 2021 James and Ashby were on the road to Cheyenne. They decided to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner followed by going to Frontier Park to wait for Jess. The three of them pushed their way into the crowd when the concert started. Just a few short songs into the concert, Ashby and James’s song "Worship You" was sang to "slow it down and make it sexy" in the words of Kane Brown. He told all of the couples to dance together, in which Ashby and James did. It was nothing but perfect when the song ended and James got down on one knee. The ring almost got snatched out of James's hand, but his shaky death grip prevailed. With tear filled eyes from both of them, there was cheering from all around. Reminiscing on the moment, two gals informed the security guard what had happened. He then got the General Committee Chairman of CFD to give us VIP tickets. Ashby, James, and Jess hopped over the fence and got to stand right under the stage. The rest of the concert was a blur as the newly engaged couple were soaking in the most precious moment yet.