A mutual friend introduced us when I (Katie) had just turned 16 and was showing my horse at the county fair, and Clayton was 21 working for the 4-H club farm with other horses at the fair. We became Facebook friends and had never really talked since our initial meeting in 2008. Fast forward to the crazy Covid pandemic in 2020 - I was just coming out of a long-term relationship when Clayton shot his shot by starting a conversation with me on social media regarding the best way to my heart - a suggested meet up of our senior dogs, Ruger and Tinkerbell. We talked day in and day out for months. A deep friendship started, turning into an abundance of love and respect when we began officially dating June 2, 2020 - the first time in 12 years we had been face to face with eachother. The rest is history!

Clayton wanted to take us to the Upper Peninsula for our now annual trip (fourth year in a row), for my birthday weekend, so I did my part of finding a handful of waterfalls to see while up for the short weekend trip away. The main falls I was interested in were the Douglass Houghton Falls near Calumet, as I read that they were easy to hike to and were Michigan's tallest falls, and we had not been yet. We took our two youngest dogs on this trip (Opossum - 1 year old, and Rooster - 3 year old, both ACD Blue Heeler brothers) and let the twins (Jack & Jill - 8 year old Golden Border Retrievers) stay home due to their age, physical exertion hiking, and road trip anxiety. Saturday the 3rd, we started with Eagle River Falls, then to Haven Falls, followed by Montreal Falls (the MOST intense we've ever hiked, 10/10 do not recommend), ending with Douglass Houghton Falls. Douglass Houghton has a viewing point on either side of the falls atop a huge cliff either side. 110ft sheer drop off the edges. Clayton wanted to get a photo of the four of us (us and the two dogs) with the falls behind us in the distance. He set his phone in the tree and had me wrangle the pups to sit still for a photo. When Clayton turned around, he got down on one knee with a box in his hand and held my hand, asking if I would marry him. After the initial shock, I of course said "yes!" He had actually videoed the proposal, that sneaky darling. Years of talking about it and he finally did it! So here we are and excited for what 2025 has to offer our little family!