5.28.22

We met in northern Minnesota just a few miles south of the US/Canadian border. We were working at Northern Tier High Adventure Base in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Everyone that we worked with thought we were a couple but we were actually just best friends! We bonded over our mutual love for cheap beer, bucky burgers from the Ely Steakhouse, and canoe flips. It wasn’t until the end of 2017 when we discovered we both wanted more than just friendship with each other.

Derek proposed in the very place we met just over two years prior. He tricked me into thinking we were just taking photos at the canoe landing on Moose Lake during a visit to Northern Tier. I turned around at one point during a picture and he was down on one knee with a sparkly little ring in his hand. He said he picked the Fourth of July so that we would have free fireworks to celebrate our engagement!