Welcome family and friends!

It begins in April of 2018. Carson is finishing up his senior year of high school, while Makenna is finishing her sophomore year. Makenna was with one of her friends, Lexie, when she got a notification that Carson added her on snapchat. She got excited and asked Lexie why he would have added her. Lexie convinced her to add him back. Over the next few weeks they started to get to know each other a little bit. Carson would be fishing on the river behind Hotel Shoreham while Makenna was working in the pizza shack. She would look out the window and watch him and his friends. During this time, he would bring her holiday iced coffees before a long closing shift or just as a pick me up. In reality, it was just an excuse to see each other. It wasn’t until late May when they officially hung out for the first time. They went to Dairy Queen to get her favorite, a s’mores blizzard. A lot of the summer was spend together, going on Long Bridge dates, surfing, and car rides. Their first official date was to Fargo to get Texas Roadhouse. On June 16th, Carson asked Makenna to be his girlfriend and the rest is history!

Carson and Makenna spent almost everyday the rest of the summer together. When August rolled around, Carson started college at NDSU and Makenna began her Junior year at DLHS. They did long distance, AKA a 45 minute drive between Fargo and Detroit Lakes, for two years. During this time, they took may trips visiting Arizona, Montana, Banff, and Cabo. May of 2020 rolled around and Makenna graduated high school. She committed to NDSU and they were both very excited to be in the same town, going to the same school. During their college experience, they met life long friends, spent a lot of time disc golfing, celebrated new internships/jobs, moved in to their first apartment together, and obtained their first fur baby, Kona, from Makenna’s mom, who generously watched him while they were in school.

It was Spring of 2023 when the beginning of the proposal really started. Makenna and Carson had been talking about their future a lot. They decided the next step would be to get her ring size and look at rings. They pointed out things they liked and didn’t like. Carson went to pick out the ring while Makenna was at a work event. She had no idea he went or what he picked out until her birthday. Makenna had an appointment to get her drivers license and was searching for her passport when she found the ring receipt. Luckily, there was no picture! This made her very suspicious and she began to dig into every detail to figure out when she may get engaged. Many weekends passed, including holiday weekends, their five year anniversary, and still there was no ring. July 8th of 2023 did not begin as a normal day, but not for the reasons you may think. Makenna was hungover from a fun night at Hotel Shoreham. It was a lay low morning with plans to send off Carson’s grandpa, Mike, to his new home in Nevada that afternoon/evening. Makenna slowly started to feel better but her suspicions of what may happen that night grew. She got all ready for the night and the party by putting on a romper, curling her hair, and doing her makeup. After a cocktail hour, they decided to go on a boat ride. While walking a few houses over to Carson’s uncles place, Makenna saw Carson standing in the lawn waiting to greet her. Makenna handed all of her stuff to her best friend, Faith, and continued to walk towards him. Together they walked to the dock, where a backdrop, pictures, a "Marry Me" sign, and Makenna’s first flowers from Carson were. He got down on one knee (the wrong one) while Makenna bawled. He then tried to recite his pre-written speech. Makenna said yes to spending the rest of her life with Carson and looked up to see family and friends in the yard to celebrate them! Dinner, drinks, pictures and celebrations followed as they enjoyed their first night at fiancés. The night ended with karaoke at Hotel Shoreham where Makenna, her sister in laws, and Carson put on a show with their rendition of “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.