These days, most great love stories begin with a really good "meet cute," but for us, our love story began before "meet cute" was even a thing. To really start our love story, we have to go all the way back to 4th grade. Fourth grade is when Kate met Kyle. That year, the 4th-grade class was unique to North Lakeland Elementary School because it had only five boys who were stuck with eighteen girls. Even though numbers were on Kyle’s side, luckily for Kate, the new girl in town caught his eye. When Kyle was at his mom’s house, Kate and Kyle rode the same bus, which is where feelings began to develop. Kate was one of the last stops on the route, but every day after she would get on, Kate, Kyle, Max Wohlleber, and some other kids would all play games together on their Nintendo DSs. As the year went on, Kate and Kyle continued to get to know each other. One day, Kate got onto the bus as normal, but this time, Kyle told her to join PictoChat D (PictoChat was a messenger program on the Nintendo DS). When Kate joined the chat, Kyle had written the question, “Do you like me?” He told her that they would write “yes” or “no” and then send their message at the same time. Even though Kate had a crush on Kyle, she didn’t want to reveal the truth if he didn’t like her back, so she peeked over the seat to see what Kyle had written before writing her response. On the count of three, the responses were sent, and that day Kate and Kyle became an official couple. Since both were only ten years old, the relationship was over by the end of the day, as Kyle didn’t sit by Kate at lunch. (He claims there wasn’t room on the bench, but Kate remembers otherwise). Of course, Kate and Kyle remained friends throughout middle school. It was hard to avoid each other with only 23 kids in the entire class. Their friendship continued throughout high school and college, as well. Both had the same friend groups, and their paths often crossed. During those years, Kate and Kyle were always close. Sometimes friends, sometimes more than friends, but they never tried to make it official again because they didn’t want it to ruin their friendship. It wasn’t until they were both at the Pagels’ shop party over Christmas break in 2023 that they reconnected and realized they were ready to give dating a try again. Kate had actually just gotten out of a relationship and was telling Kyle how she was so over men and was going to go on a dating hiatus when Kyle declared that he was ready to settle down. Kate looked Kyle in the eye and said, “Seriously.” And they have been together ever since! During the past few years, Kate, Kyle, and Archie (Kyle’s dog) have enjoyed going fishing, horseback riding, doing puzzles, playing ping pong or dominoes, hanging out with friends, and just enjoying the beautiful Northern Wisconsin outdoors together. Kate has enjoyed getting to know more about the Grassy Creek Ranch operation and looks forward to calling Boulder Junction her new home. Look out, Kyle and Sonny, here she comes!