I was good friends with Luke’s sister, Paige, who was having people over to their childhood home in Sauk Centre during their summer town festival, Sinclair Lewis days. I had actually been to the Baum’s house the previous summer but never recalled Luke until we met Sinclair Lewis Days 2022. I thought he was cute and that we had been mildly flirting throughout the day. When I had left Sauk at the end of the weekend, I just kept thinking of Luke and feeling like he was meant to be something special. Later in the week, I worked up the courage to ask Paige if she would be willing to give her brother my number. Honestly, much harder than just giving him my number myself but man… am I glad I did. I waited a few days and he finally messaged me! The rest was history ❤️ We spent the better part of 2022 and early 2023 driving back and forth from Rochester to Alexandria. We knew that we wanted to be closer and began the process of house hunting in the St. Cloud area. In July 2023 we moved into our first home together in Albany, MN. In September we added our wiener dog Penny into our little family and on New Year’s Day 2024 Luke asked me to marry him!