What started as a quick trip home turned into something a little more permanent. I came back home to Iowa for the 4th of July to celebrate my sister’s birthday and spend a weekend camping and boating with the family. The plan was simple: enjoy the holiday and then head back to Texas. But plans changed when I decided to stay one more weekend for the Balloon Festival. And that’s when Brock got to meet my most authentic self — the one fueled by sarcasm, quick comebacks, and absolutely no filter. Surprisingly, he stuck around. After that weekend, the conversations didn’t stop. Even once I went back to Texas, the two of us kept talking and decided Brock should come visit to see if the connection was just a fun weekend… or something more. Turns out, it was definitely something more. By the end of that visit, the both of us knew we had found our forever. What started with a spontaneous extra weekend and a little sarcasm quickly turned into the beginning of the rest of our story. And the rest, as they say, is history.