Even though we went to high school together and grew up in the next town over from each other, our story did not really begin until the summer of 2012. Somehow Brent was roped into helping my dad out with his 4th of July fireworks show that year. After working all day in the heat, my dad asked if I could get him something from the country club's kitchen. I knew exactly where the kitchen was, but in an effort to learn a little more about Brent Croasdale, I asked: "hey I know you are tired, but would you mind walking with me to get something for my dad?" To my amazement, Brent said sure without a hesitation. We shared a lovely conversation about how my dad is a little nuts with his shows and how maps are made. Now the story goes my parents watched us walk away and my mom said to my dad, "that is the one for her"... little did they know it would take 8 months of commuting to college together, countless "can I join you?" with anything he was doing from going to his grandparents house to setting up tree stands; 1 college transfer, endless conversation attempts to just get quiet Brent to talk, and a trip to get waffles and ice cream for our relationship to start. Even though Brent likes to think he kissed me first, it was definitely the other way around...

After a few busy workweeks and some whining from me, Brent planned a good day hike for us to do over the weekend. Originally the plan was for me to run with his sister Shannon on Saturday, but as fate would have it, she already ran the day before. So I let Brent know we could hike Saturday instead of Sunday. I should have known something was up from his excitement level. As usual he did not give me any hints as to where we were going only that I needed to be awake at 5 am... on a Saturday morning. Once we got to the parking lot of the trail, nothing was going Brent's way. Oakley ran off to go visit some boy scouts, 2 miles into the hike I got stung by a bee (however it felt like a very LARGE bee), the first overlook spot that was absolutely beautiful had too many people, and the final spot reeked of garbage and I was not having any of that. After Brent set up the GoPro to take our picture at the second spot, I said "it smells, can we please keep walking?" Brent said no let's stay another minute. So naturally I counted to 60 in my head and said: "okay that was a minute! Time to go." As I turned to get Oakley from the tree, Brent grabbed my arm, got down on one knee, and in all about 10 seconds spit out "Melissa will you marry me?". We celebrated with shopping at Cabela's and came home to all of our family and some dear friends. I have never been so happy in my life and looking in his eyes I knew he felt the same.