Welcome to our best day ever

Rachel was known to be "one of the guys." Not exactly looking for her forever, but open to possibilities, her friend Sean made her a Tinder profile and encouraged her to explore. Turns out it was a great way to meet locals and snag a free meal, even if the date didn't pan out. Meanwhile, Eric was minding his own business as the new guy in town. A recent transplant to western Washington from California, he too dreamed of meeting "the one" but wasn't holding his breath. After all, Tinder is just a good way to get to know the locals. Well, fate had it's own intentions. Just happening to be at the right place at the right time, Eric and Rachel matched and arranged for a pizza date on Rachel's journey home from eastern Washington. Dressed in the only clean clothes in her bag (a charming ensemble of rainboots, a stained white t shirt and jeans), Eric couldn't help but fall for Rachel. Rachel too was taken by his choice of corn as a pizza topping. Needless to say, the first date turned into a second, which turned into becoming "official" which turned into history. We have navigated a lot in our 3 years of dating: losing a job, sickness, broken bones, deployment, a career change, cross country moves, scraping together rent and unknown next steps . . . Life has put us through it and love has endured. Putting our faith in the powers above, we've only grown deeper in love together and are soaking in life as an engaged couple preparing for the rest of our lives. We couldn't be more elated to welcome you all to celebrate where we have come from, how each of you have shaped us and our lives and sharing in this next step into our future together not just as individuals, but two families, blood and otherwise bonded, uniting.

Having just graduated from power lineman school in Tennessee, Eric made his way home. I arranged to come fly out to South Dakota to join him on the journey. My grandpa, who we call Opa, born in 1920, has lots of stories to share, many about the family homestead. His parents, my great grandparents, established their homestead out on the prairie in South Dakota where Opa spent his childhood years and fortunate for us, my family maintained record of the exact location of the homestead. Naturally, this was my first priority on a trip through the state and little did I know, it was Eric's too. We still don't quite understand how we made it there. What Google maps considered to be a "road" wasn't even a dirt road, but nothing more than some shallow tire ruts running through open pastures taking us through cattle and horse ranches, opening people's gates and hoping for the best. Low and behold we arrived. The homestead house still stands true to it's original form, unoccupied with no neighbors for miles. Pictures were in order, so Eric propped up his phone in front of the house and sneakily started a video. He hands me a gift. It was . . . a TV remote? Unsure how to react, Eric tells me to press the fast forward button. Of course, nothing happened. Or so I thought. Inside the battery compartment there was a note: "You have fast forwarded 16 years, 8 months and 16 days into the future. The date is now January 13, 2038, 20 years since we started dating." Since the beginning, Eric has always joked "Oh in 20 years when I propose . . ." never showing his cards and keeping me guessing and frustrated! Having "fast forwarded" into the future to 20 years and reading the note, Eric got down on one knee and popped the question. Our next chapter began right where my family's had began over 100 years ago. Eric held onto that sparkly ring for over 6 months waiting for the perfect opportunity. It was well worth the wait, but let's just say I'm very happy I got to fast forward!