You never realize how small this world is until you start dating someone and find out your families grew up together when they were kids. Our paths crossed after Brandon noticed me on my best friend Logan’s social media. Little did Brandon know, Logan had already told me about him and said he would be perfect for me. When we finally connected and got our first date jitters out, we went our own ways. I thought that was it, however I had no idea how much our lives would change after. We ended up reconnecting and before I knew it, we made it official. Unbeknownst to the both of us, once I told my parents I was seeing an amazing guy, my mother began to quiz me on Brandons family tree and naming everyone! Not only did Brandon and I reconnect, we ended up reconnecting our families. The rest of our love story was history. I love you came easy and we have spent the next five years together with our fur babies. We have experienced great memories, great losses and great successes together. Always being side by side with one another through it all, we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our days together.

Everyone’s timing is different and to some even late, but Brandon’s timing was perfect. The Dawson Bunch went on a family vacation to the Carolinas, and I had a feeling this was going to be a trip to remember. Vacation mornings became nights quickly and our trip was coming to end. Before our time was over on the beautiful, hot beach, we planned to do family photos. My sister Carlie who was taking the photos (Wild Oak Photography), she decided taking our photos first would be best since we did not have children. The day comes to take our photos and we made our way down the beach. I felt in my gut “oh my gosh, this is it, he’s going to ask!”. We started taking photos by the ocean, and my sister told us to turn to sit in the sand. As the stubborn little sister I am, I told her I did not want to sit but I turned anyways. My eyes caught Brandon’s, and my hands covered my mouth instantly. He was on one knee and asked me to be his wife! As sure as I was this was going to happen, I was completely shocked. Before I knew it, I had a ring on my finger and a fiancé! My sisters and brother in law that were on the beach began running towards us. As I panned over to the house, the rest of the family was cheering and twirling their shirts around their heads. All the nieces and nephews ran from the house to us, smiling and laughing and greeted us with the warmest, biggest hugs. My nephew Ethan even said “finally!” As a family, we cried, laughed and Brandon quickly received the Dad talk from Barry about grandkids. We reached out to the rest of the family by calls and relayed the exciting news! We did a face time to Grandma Mickey, and her first words were “Glory to God! Thank you Jesus!”. Our family’s love and happiness took over the beach that day and will be a memory we cherish forever!