We met through an online dating app in Spring 2018. Who's not surprised by this?! Ha! In this day and age, that's become the norm. Our first date was at 10 Barrel Brewing downtown Boise. It started with drinks while we waited for a table. We finally sat down and ate. Erica got up to go to the bathroom (and text a couple friends that the date was going great!) and realized what time it was. Her watch had stopped working so it said it was only 8:30pm but when she checked her phone, it was actually after 10pm. They were both caught by surprise. Chris walked Erica to her car, and on the way he asked if she would want to go to a Metallica concert he had tickets for in November (2018). Now mind you, this was spring 2018 and if anyone knows Erica, she used to be VERY anti-committal, especially with relationships. Yikes! Erica said, "Um...how about we start with a 2nd date first." But low and behold, they ended up going to that concert together. Fast forward almost 4 years, they're getting married!

Chris and Erica had talked about life together for quite awhile before getting engaged. Being that Chris has 2 little boys, he did not want to waste any time getting to know someone that wasn't willing to take on the role of a partner AND a parent. Gaige, who was 8 at the time, was his dad's partner in crime when it came time to buy a ring. Gaige was able to keep it a secret that Chris had a ring for 2 months! That is quite impressive of an 8 year old! He also had to run interference to keep Coltin (who was 4 then) distracted from what Chris was doing in the store. Jump to Labor Day Weekend 2021, the Turnbull-Donelson Clan went to visit Chris's cousins in Oregon. It was the day before we were planning to head back to Boise and Chris, Erica, and Gaige went for a walk down by the McKenzie River. Chris asked Erica to take pictures of him and Gaige by the water. In turn, Gaige took pictures of Chris and Erica. It was then that Chris dropped to one knee on the rocky banks of the river to pop the question with a beautiful sapphire! Erica was so caught off guard. Her response was, "Are you for real? Are you for real for real?" in a very high pitched voice.