My best friend and I had planned a night out together for some much needed girl time. We went to a local concert venue in Springfield, IL. Out of pure grace, Evan and my paths crossed that evening. Before we parted ways that night, we exchanged numbers. I thought never in a million years would I ever talk to him again. The next morning, he was heavily on my mind so I felt bold and reached out to him. He replied! I was so excited but didn’t want to seem like “that girl”, so I tried to not seem so obvious. We continued to talk here and there as time went on. He eventually asked me to meet him with some of his friends and go to a winery. After that date, I just knew I needed to keep him around. Time goes on, and feelings continue to grow. We then begin a routine of meeting half-way between our homes every Wednesday night for dinner dates. This went on for a few months and we began to see each other more often, adding weekends to our usual Wednesday nights. We dated for 2 years and decided to make the next big step. I moved out of my apartment and into his house. It has bloomed our relationship in so many ways, and we look forward to what the rest of forever will bring!

It began as a normal Sunday morning for us. We woke up, and stayed in bed for a little while just lounging around like we usually do on the our weekend mornings. Typically we just hangout in our pajamas for a while, but this particular morning Evan got out of bed and immediately put his jeans on. I assumed he was going somewhere, so I asked him. he said he was "just getting ready for the day." So I just stayed in bed for a little while longer. My best friend and her fiancé at the time [now husband] were in town. We had dinner with them the night before. Unknowingly to me, he made plans to actually propose that evening, until I crashed them and made dinner plans! Now, we are into the next morning and Katie & Adam are still in town. Katie sent me a text asking if we wanted company for a little bit. So I got up and started straightening up our house. Evan asks me what I'm doing, so I fill him in - crashing his plans once again! He gets off the couch and helps me clean up. Katie & Adam then decide they aren't going to make it out to our house, but I still continue cleaning. I'm cleaning the bathroom, and Evan disappears for a few minutes. I then hear him call for me from the living room. As I came out of the bathroom [my hair is a mess, pj's still on, and morning breath] I make eye contact with him and he immediately starts crying. I am now concerned something had happened. He wasn't talking, and I couldn't get it out of him what was wrong. Well...nothing was wrong. He dropped to his knee, and I then of course knew what was happening. This turned out the be the luckiest St. Patrick's Day of my life! We got ready, and spent the rest of our day traveling around to our families to share our super exciting news!!!