We're getting married!

Martin and I met in 2017 and he said when he first saw me at the sink doing the dishes the sun was shining on me and I just looked so beautiful. He won’t admit that if you ask him now. We knew each other for a couple years until I needed help moving. Martin offered and when he grabbed a chest of drawers (my favorite piece of furniture and it took me hours to put together) it fell apart into a million pieces. He felt horrible so I said, “Oh no it’s fine! I don’t have room for it in my new apartment anyways!” I definitely had room for it. He moved to Halstead and would reach out anytime he was coming through Hays. I played hard to get, but he did come visit for Homecoming and brought me Chick-Fil-A. Finally, in May of 2020 he asked me out to breakfast at OTR on a Sunday morning and I said yes! So he woke up early, came all the way to Hays, dropped Aspen back off at her car at the Q (lol), and went to breakfast. We got a bottle of champagne for mimosas. When the waitress came back to our table & asked if we wanted another I said no and Martin said yes at the same time. We got the 2nd bottle. After that, we took Teddy to the lake, hung out, and talked about everything under the sun. Our hopes, dreams, fears, wishes. As Martin says, “We started kickin it and never stopped.”

My 26th birthday was on a Monday and we didn’t do much to celebrate. I will admit I was a little bummed. Then, that Saturday, Caleigh came to our house and “surprised” me with a “Mom’s Day Out” that she and Martin had been planning for the last month or so for my birthday. We got ready, went to Garden City, got coffee, shopped at Target, got our nails done & went shopping at TJ Maxx. Caleigh said we had dinner reservations at a nice restaurant, so we changed in the bathroom of a truck stop. When we got to the Garden City Steakhouse, they took us to the back room. All my closest friends and family were there! The room was decorated with balloons and a birthday cake. I went around the room giving everyone hugs and telling them how surprised I was and Martin kinda followed me while I made my rounds. After the last person, I sat my stuff down and Martin said, “I just want to thank everyone for coming really quick!” So we went to the front of the room and he started a little speech and everyone took their phones out to start recording. At that moment I knew! I literally said, “uhhh... what is happening!?” and then I blacked out his whole speech until he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!