We met in a place I don't think either of us thought we would ever find love in, an elementary school gym, Caden's elementary school! Caden was starting 5th grade at Bryan Elementary and I remember walking in the first day and seeing Ryan standing there smiling, welcoming all the kids back to school and introducing himself to all the parents. It was his first day at the new school as the Site Director for Kids Network, the before and after school program that Caden attended. We would chat briefly when I would pick up or drop off Caden. But then one day Ryan mentioned to me that Caden had told him to come check out one of his baseball games. I emailed him Caden's baseball schedule later that day and gave him my phone number to let me know when he would be out so I could watch for him (wink wink). He texted me later that day and the rest is history. Ryan still jokes to this day that he knew Caden before he knew me. And had it not been for Caden, we never would have met. Even though no one knew it at the time, Caden had brought us together.

Ryan and I had planned a weekend getaway to visit some friends in St. Louis. He wanted to set aside some private time for us to just hang out and thought a brewery tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery sounded like fun. We toured the brewery in the early afternoon which turned out to be a blast. We did some day-drinking, laughed a lot, got to see them bathe the Clydesdales, took some really cool photos and chugged way too many mini brews throughout the tour. After the tour, Ryan wanted to go take a look around Busch Stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play. We walked around about half the stadium, Ryan was moving sooo slow looking at every statue, reading every inscription on them, which I thought was really weird . Now looking back I think he was a little nervous! At one point, he grabbed my hand and I commented on how sweaty his hands were. Oops... He walked me over to the third base line at the stadium and we stood in the center of a giant baseball that was imbedded in the cement. In the middle of the baseball, is where he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I started crying and starting walking away because I had no idea what to do. But when I turned around, there he was, still on his knee waiting for my answer.