We met in elementary school. We were friends, but we never thought of each other as anything more. After all, boys still had massive cooties. However, years later, we would find out that maybe it wasn't the case. In one of Monica's yearbooks, she saw a heart around Ryan's face. Looks like she may have been crushing just a little bit. Through middle school and most of high school, we lost touch. Then, senior year of high school, we reconnected. Ryan really wanted to date Monica, but she had just gotten out of a bad relationship and wasn't thinking of anyone like that. After high school, Monica attended college in Reno, while Ryan stayed in Las Vegas. It wasn't until a few years later that Ryan saw Monica while they were both out with their families at dinner at Toto's Mexican Restaurant in Boulder City. Monica was home for the weekend visiting. Ryan messaged Monica and that is when the true friendship started. We tried to date throughout that summer, but long distance didn't work out. We kept in touch and stayed friends over the years. Through tough times and good times, we remained friends and spoke regularly. It wasn't until a trip to North Carolina that everything changed. In October of 2020, Ryan was on a work trip and Monica was visiting her sister. Monica sent a simple Snapchat to Ryan of herself on the plane. From there, they began discussing life and catching up on everything. Throughout the weekend, they continued texting. They were both flying home the same day. Ryan's plane left first, and he didn't have the ability to text or watch any shows. He instead read a book (weird, right?). This particular part of the book he was on spoke about how the author found his now wife and how she was always there for him, and whom he always thought of when something good came into his life. He could only think of Monica. When he got back home, he wrote Monica, asking if they could meet for dinner that week. Well, this was Covid times. He got exposed to Covid so they had to postpone their dinner. Ryan just couldn't hold in what he was thinking and feeling. He wrote Monica a NOVEL of a text message, expressing his feelings. We agreed to discuss further at dinner. When that dinner finally came, we talked about everything from our past to what that text meant. We decided to try to date and see what would happen. For the next 3 months, we talked every day, all day long. While there were some frustrating times in these 3 months with learning each other's habits and quirks, we only grew closer. On February 15, 2021, we made it official. Since then, we have only grown in love each day. From the first "I love you" to graduating from both nursing school and the police academy, to moving in together, Ryan becoming a furdad to Monica's cat, Oliver, and getting our fur babies- Hank and McKenzie- we are so lucky to have gotten to build a life together. While it took Ryan some time to get it together, he finally asked Monica to marry him on March 17, 2025. We couldn't be more excited to start this next chapter, and we're thrilled to do it with all of you there to celebrate with us.