In August of 2019, as a new school year was starting, teachers at SGP were back on campus for PD days. Laura was with her friend Jamie (who was one of the coaches wife's), leaving for lunch one day and out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw some football coaches coming out of the Freshman Field house, two she recognized and one she had never seen, but she thought he looked her age so naturally she wanted to know more. Jamie and Laura immediately called Jamie's husband to get this guys name and find out more. We learned his name was Hunter and made it clear to Ronnie, he had to get to the bottom of it (which he seemed less than enthused to do). Later that day at a staff meeting, Coach Booker asked Laura if she was interested in Coach Childress, and let her know he was single. Operation hook them up was a go! We met at the end of the meeting and within 3 days, Hunter found a way to get Laura's number, called and set up a date. Laura couldn't believe he actually CALLED me! They went on our first date on 8/24/2019 at Lazy Dog and the rest is history. Laura knew she loved Hunter about a month later when she missed a football game and Hunter sent her a video of her team performing at halftime and let her know they looked great (Hunter likes to remind her he had no idea what he was looking for but figured it was what she wanted to hear). To know that this football coach cared enough to take time out of his work night to think of her in, meant the world to her and told her everything she needed to know about him. Over the last four years, they have traveled, survived hard times and experienced wonderful ones as well. Together they have their two pups, Lucy and Lilly who are their world and they love the life they are creating. They can't wait to celebrate this new chapter of their lives with all of the people they love!

This is the story of where I was on April 29th! But first let's go back to the week before. The last two weeks of April are typically two of the most stressful weeks of my season, between officer tryouts and spring show, I am a mess. After officer tryouts, Hunter nonchalantly mentioned that I could use a good date night after spring show... and he was right! I didn't think much of it other than "no kidding!" After our show on the 28th, my brother and the family were there and my brother mentioned to me that he and his wife and kids were going to dinner tomorrow to see a fraternity brother of his and Hunter told me he was taking me to our favorite restaurant and we had a 5:00 reservation. I was so scatterbrained I just said yes to it all and kept it moving. Saturday rolls around and it is a normal day. Hunter got up, went to the gym, kissed me goodbye and left. When he got back, we ran errands and hung out with everyone, then got ready and left for the Stockyards. We went to dinner at Paloma Suerte, had a great night and nothing really seemed any different. As we wrapped up dinner, Hunter led us out of the restaurant and instead of walking to the left down the alley to leave, he went to the right (which was odd). He turned me around to face him and hugged and kissed me and told me he loved me. At that point he said "I'm not very good with words" and I knew exactly what was about to happen. Then he pulled the ring out of his pocket and asked "is this where I get down on one knee?" I was in total shock and just yelled I guess! He got down one one knee and asked me to marry him and put a BEAUTIFUL pear shaped ring on my finger, as I screamed YES! At that point our friend Amy jumped out while taking pictures and our families swarmed us with hugs and love! It was such a surprise and one of the happiest days of my life!