We're getting married!

Sometimes, love arrives when you least expect it—and in our case, it began with a golden retriever and a near tragedy that turned into something beautiful. Just five days before Christmas, I set out on a fly fishing trip to northern New Mexico with a friend and his dog, Ellie. Within minutes of hiking into the Rio Grande Gorge, Ellie vanished. Thinking she had raced ahead to the river, we kept going, but when we got there, she was gone. What followed was a four-day search through freezing temperatures, endless worry, and fading hope. We turned to Facebook, asking for help from strangers, clinging to the possibility of a miracle. And against all odds, we got one—Ellie was spotted stranded on a cliff, cold, hungry, and barely hanging on. But she was alive. Her rescue captured hearts and quickly spread, becoming known as the story of the “Christmas Miracle Dog.” Madison happened to see that story—one of her colleagues covered it for KRQE—and something about it caught her eye. She thought I was cute and decided to send me a message a few weeks later. That message changed everything. What started as a simple conversation grew into something undeniable. Somewhere between that first laugh, that first date, and all the little moments after, we both knew—we had found something rare. Something real. The miracle of finding Ellie became the path to finding each other. And from the edge of a cliff to the heart of a love story, life surprised us in the best way possible. The rest is history—and our forever is just beginning.