We had met before in passing, but this was probably the day that started an actual friendship, with a first date a few days later. Taylor was scheduled to go out to the Kennedy Farm to vaccinate some heifers. Prior to leaving for the appointment, someone had called the clinic to add a dog check-up to the appointment. The story that Taylor got was that Kelly's (Joseph's dad) grandson called and it was his dog that needed to be looked at and to bring vaccines for her as well. Taylor was confused because she had met Kelly on quite a few occasions prior to this and was pretty sure that he didn't have any grandchildren, let alone one old enough to call to make an appointment. Once arriving, Taylor looked at a silly, black lab (Lacey) and got to work vaccinating heifers (and to this day Joseph swears that Taylor tried to knock him out with the tattooer, but he was likely just in the way). After all the cattle had gone through the chute, they were all chatting and Taylor began questioning about the phone call and grandchild situation. This caused some laughs as Kelly was then curious just how old all of the girls at the clinic thought he was. So Taylor, loving some good competition, sparked a game of "who can correctly guess Kelly's age OR embarrass themselves in the process with their guess". Taylor then reported back through Joseph and the rest is history. Him and that silly, black lab haven't left her alone since.

Joseph had been telling Taylor for days that they needed to get some cows worked on this Thursday evening and asked if she would lend a hand after work. She agreed. After a long day at the clinic, Taylor showed up to the farm as promised and was confused when no one was around yet. Joseph found her and told her that there was a change of plans and they weren’t going to be able to get the cows worked tonight, but that they should go to dinner for their anniversary. He had brought a sweater and vest for her to change into, to which she replied in typical Taylor fashion, “if I would have known we were going to dinner and not working cows I would have changed out of my dirty, bloody jeans”. Joseph said he needed to go check something really quick before they left so to hop on the Ranger. They headed down through a field and parked by a barb wire fence. Joseph hopped out, grabbed a bucket out of the back, stepped over the fence and headed into the field. Taylor, confused, hollered “did you want me to follow you?!”. They walked through a wooded area down to the creek where a fire was going and it then hit Taylor that Joseph had set all of this up for their anniversary. He did a good job! They sat, had dinner, listened to some music, and just chatted about the day. There was also some rustling in the trees that Joseph just brushed off as deer (which later turned out to be a lie). After dinner, Joseph insisted they get up and dance. He was also very adamant that Taylor take her green vet coat off. She met him with some stubbornness, but eventually (after a weird story from Joseph asking about trying it on to see if it was warm) went along with it. Moments into dancing, Joseph dropped to a knee, totally shocked Taylor, and asked her to marry him. She said yes! Shortly after, the previously heard deer (Lance and Kelsey), emerged from the trees in camo gear, where they had been hiding for hours to capture the moment. I guess you could say all of our important life events revolve around working some cows…