Our story begins the way most good things do in a small town, over a home cooked meal. In the winter of 2023, my boss, Christy, invited me over to meet two of our neighbors who share a couple irrigation ditches with us. Those two neighbors were Marcos and his brother Martin. That spring Marcos invited me to a branding and put me on his best horse, Cowboy. He joked that the horse he was riding was a good horse too, but if he went to bucking, he wouldn't quit. Marcos' horse was perfectly calm at the branding and I thought Marcos was exaggerating a little bit. Sure enough, about a week later he called to let me know that he'd been bucked off and broken his collarbone while gathering cattle on that same horse. With a broken collarbone and irrigation season well under way, I had the perfect excuse to spend part of my evenings helping him out with irrigation. The rest, as they say, is history. From brandings and gathering cattle to fishing, cooking together, and spending long evenings outside with the dogs and horses — we found in each other a partner who understands and loves this life. One of our favorite things is that we are both ranching, always learning from each other and finding ways to make both operations better. In the spring of 2026, Marcos took me up to his grazing allotment where he runs his pairs every summer, a place that is very special to him. As we climbed this one hill, two herds of elk crossed our path. And when we reached the top, the entire Sangre de Cristo mountain range stretched out before us and Gardner was nestled quietly to the south. As the sun set over the mountains, Marcos proposed. We can't wait to celebrate this next chapter with all of you, right here in the place where it all began. Fiona