Ryan and I have really grown up together. We met in gym class freshman year at the awkward age of 14. We had our first date the next summer.

Over the next few years, Ryan would meet me at my locker or walk me to the car. We would see each other at parties or happen to sit near each other at assemblies. We officially got together senior year when we decided on September 15, 2001 to finally answer the nagging question "Are you together?!" I should've known then that things would take a while with us! :)

I spent my senior year attending soccer games and planning my homework around spending time together. When we graduated and Ryan went away to school, it was no surprise to anyone that we never missed a weekend together or went a day without talking on the phone. We've had the same rule for 10 years: never go a day without hearing each other's voice, no matter what life adventure keeps us apart.

We decided to buy our house in 2006 and together learned what it really meant to be adults! Our dogs, Sargent and Reesey, have taught us to work together as a team and care for something other than ourselves. I look forward to the day we can apply these lessons to our own little family!