Kingsley and I met in September 2016. I had been asked multiple times to join a bar league darts team (to which I said no many times because I had never shot darts in my life). I finally said yes and made sure my team knew I had no clue what I was doing. The first week of the league, Kingsley was not there. The second week, they had me be his shooting partner. I found out this guy went to Vegas to shoot at tournaments so to tell you I was nervous, was an understatement. I was awful and here he was having to carry my ass to try and win a match. (sorry babe). Well we got to talking on social media after that and started getting to know one another. On my birthday, there was a blind draw tournament that we went to along with some of my friends. They left after the tournament and since I hadn't driven to the bar, he offered to bring me home. We kissed for the first time that night and the rest is history. The real test was we met each other's families on Christmas Eve (my family) and Christmas Day (his family). I had no idea what to expect, and truthfully, the nerves came out. Ultimately, I found out that I had NOTHING to worry about. We all got along great!

For our first date, he bought us tickets to the Bandits game since I had never been to one. I had a great time and told him I would love to go to more. We went to almost every game and finally took the plunge into becoming season ticket holders! Kingsley and I have been on multiple vacations together and we plan to continue this even into married life. For his birthday in 2017, I surprised him with a trip to Nashville. We have been to St Augustine, Clearwater, Myrtle Beach, Pigeon Forge, NYC (many times to visit Susan), 1000 Islands, and the list will continue to grow. Everyone in Kingsley's family and also my own would consistently hound us as to when we were going to be getting married. There was a running joke that him and I weren't even dating since neither one of us actually asked the other to be their significant other. That is until Father's Day in 2020 when I grew the nerve to ask him to be my boyfriend 😉. So now the time was ticking for that engagement. In October of 2020, Kingsley and I bought a house. We had been looking for quite a while but when we toured this house, we knew. This was the one. We have been here ever since. Our cute little home gets quite spruced up for Christmas with all of our lawn inflatables. Because who doesn't love a nicely decorated house for Christmas!?

On Christmas morning of 2022, because there was such a significant snowstorm, we didn't think we were going to be able to celebrate Christmas with our families. While where we lived had barely any snow, our parents and other family members were buried in about 5 feet of snow. Kingsley and I exchanged gifts between one another. He had given me a small box and had mentioned that I wasn't going to be able to use it right away. Confused, I began opening it (not even realizing that he walked into the kitchen while I was opening it), and as I opened the gift and saw that it was an ornament with a picture of the two of us saying The Nephews - merry and bright, I looked up to see him on one knee with an engagement ring! I don't even think he got the whole question out before I jumped up and said absolutely! I know he had wanted to do it in front of my family, but truthfully, it was so much more to have it just be the two of us. Since I was a little girl, I've known that I wanted to get married in the 1000 Islands. I didn't care where, but since it's my absolute favorite place to be, I needed to get married there. For "shits and giggles," I searched how much it would be to get married at Boldt Castle. Never in a million years did I think it would be affordable. So here we are, going to be getting married at Boldt Castle in 1000 Islands surrounded by our immediate family and closest friends. It's like my grown up fairy tale. We cannot wait to celebrate with all of you at the casino! Thanks for taking the time to read our story! Hope you learned something you may not have known about our adventures!