It was the fall of 2014 when we "met" at a football game in La Grande. Darian was there to watch his brother play football and I was there just watching my college team play. Neither of us were looking for our special someone when Darian saw me in the stands, but I think that all changed. Darian said he saw me in the stands and couldn't stop looking back at me. He thinks that I looked over at him a few times too, but sadly I don't remember seeing him; I just remember how cold and boring that game was. I was working at subway during that time and one night I got a visit from his brother and brother girlfriend (at the time). I had no idea who they were, just thought I was making another random persons sandwich. As I was finishing up their order, Alex blurted out "his brother thinks you're a babe". I had seen a few pictures of Darian and honestly thought he was a catfish; how can one man be that handsome? I got up the courage to tell Alex to give my phone number to Darian, hoping that he would contact me. Forever went by (he said he was playing hard to get) before I got that text. We had our first date about a month after we started talking, on New Years Eve with Zander and Alex, playing card games, and (well really only me) trying not to be too shy. I guess we couldn't get enough of each other after that because we quickly (in February) made our relationship official. Although Darian lived in Meridian and I lived in La Grande, we managed to make a long distance relationship work for almost 3 years. Now here we are, living in our first apartment with our two pups, 4 years later and engaged.

Both of us had always known that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, we were just waiting for the perfect moment to solidify that; Darian chose the 29th of October. It was a monday and I had been at my nursing clinical rotation in Ontario all day. I had a pretty good day and was really excited to tell Darian all about how the ICU was. When I pulled into our parking lot around eight that night, I saw all of the lights off in the apartment and thought to myself "oh my gosh he's asleep already". I had no idea what was waiting for me inside. I opened the door, made my way in, and started to notice what he had done. All I could see from the entry way was about 100 tea-light candles lit. When I walked into the kitchen area, I saw even more candles, the dining room table set for two with a bottle of champagne, our favorite band playing in the background, and Darian standing there in suit and tie. I honestly can't remember if I said anything or just stared at him now because I was in such shock. I had a feeling that I knew what he was up to, but I also couldn't believe it. Darian walked over to me, (was saying very sweet things, but I also can't remember this because I was trying to convince myself that I wasn't in a dream) and got down on his knee. He pulled the ring box out and asked me to be his wife right there in our kitchen, all while I was still holding all of my school bags with my jaw dropped. I said yes, of course, and we ended the night sharing a bottle of champagne and giggling at each other, so in love.