My roommate and close friend in graduate school, Brooke, is from Iowa and we needed a getaway during Spring Break of our first year. Given our lack of funds and my excitement to meet all of her friends and family, we decided to make a trip back to The Cornfields. It is important to note that prior to meeting Justis, Brooke had mentioned that we might hit it off. It wasn't anything either of us gave much conscious thought to, but the seeds had been planted. We met on a Monday, and spent the night at a local music venue chatting about music. During the remainder of my trip that week, we spent hours immersed in conversation during a guy's night (that I was so generously invited to), went to another show, Justis made me a grilled cheese sandwich when I didn't feel well, played an intense game of Cards Against Humanity with friends, and attended a hockey game. Looking back, that was perhaps a lot of time for two strangers to spend with one another, but being together felt effortless. When I left Iowa, there were no conceptions of what the future would look like, but we talked after a got back. And then we talked the next day....and the next day...and the next day. After returning to Iowa a few weeks later (to be Justis' date to the most awesome adult prom EVER), we had no doubts we owed it to ourselves to see if our puppy love could turn into something even more beautiful. Nearly four years later, and here we are. What an awesome journey it has been: over a year of living half way across the country from and getting to know one another; continuing our adventure in Richmond, Virginia; and now ending in Des Moines, IA. Of course, we know our adventure is just beginning, and we are so excited to see where it takes us!

I love Christmas. I love decorating for Christmas. I want our home to look like Christmas threw up on it eight hundred time. So you can only imagine how much I was looking forward to Christmas our first year of living together. For some reason that 2015 Christmas season, Justis wasn't quite as into it all as I wanted him to be. He blamed it on all those years of bachelorhood - his buddies and him never decorated for Christmas in their bachelor pad! Come Xmas 2016, Justis was being suspiciously excited about the prospect of decorating. I thought he was putting extra effort in to make up for the previous year. He suggested going to brunch, doing some shopping for some decorations, and then spending the day making it look like Christmas threw up on our apartment. It was wonderful. As we wrapped up our decorating party, Justis took my hand and started dancing with me. A song come on our Christmas playlist - I Don't Wanna Spend Another Christmas Without You by the Ready Set. As the chorus rang out "I Don't Wanna Spend Another Christmas Without You", Justis turned to me and said, "this is song is super fitting". Of course I didn't understand his reference, and asked why. He said, "because I don't want to spend another Christmas without you". He got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. I said, "YES!!!!", we cried, and probably jumped up and down and made other gestures that read "AHHHH, THAT JUST HAPPENED!". Upon sharing the news with our families, Justis' mom told us that his dad, Henry, had proposed to her in nearly the same way - while they decorated for Christmas by their tree many years ago. This was unknown to both of us, and made the moment even more special to know that Henry and Justis proposed in similar ways. We are so excited to embark on the next chapter of our lives with you. See you in Iowa, June 2018!