We first met in our Chemistry 201 course at Carroll College in 2012. TJ was fresh out of football practice and I was tackling my fourth nursing class of the morning. Throughout the semester I did my best to chat with TJ at any opportunity, which proved difficult as TJ was more focused on the chemistry lessons. After our final, a group of us went out to celebrate and TJ finally changed his focus away from class and onto me. We spent that Christmas break texting and talking every day. The rest is history...or chemistry.

After getting to know each other over the phone throughout Christmas vacation, we were anxious to hang out in person. We had a great dinner of wood fired pizza from Bullman's and pints of our favorite local brews. Sweet Teej ended the date with a peck on my forehead.

We took a weekend trip back to Helena for TJ to take his OCS exam. After acing his test, we went to our favorite wine bar for some charcuterie and red wine to celebrate. I was telling TJ about a certain bet Kayla and I had made pertaining to the timing of when TJ would propose. I laughed it off, thinking "who would tackle two very stressful life events in one day?" Well apparently TJ!!! As I was saying "looks like Kayla won, guess she doesn't have to hold up her end of the bet", TJ got down on one knee and said "no, let's make it happen". In the palm of his hand was my great great grandmother's wedding ring. In true Steph fashion, I panicked a little. From an outsiders perspective it probably looked like the proposal wasn't going well as I was shaking my head and saying "oh no, oh no, oh no". It's a good thing TJ knows me so well, the brave guy stayed the course and pulled me back to reality and of course I said yes!