Sarah and I first crossed paths at the Hyperion pool during the summer before 3rd grade. I was rocking my swimming jammers, and my third grade body was sporting a nice tan. I caught her eye right away. Little did she know, fate had a plan when she walked into Ms. Hoovers 3rd grade classroom at Holy Trinity, and saw me in my polo and khaki shorts, covered in dog hair.

Sarah wore the typical polo shirt and khakis like the other girls, but accessorized this with the smallest pair of glasses you’ll ever see. I was immediately impressed.

From then on, we admired each other from a distance, until our paths crossed at the drinking fountain in 5th grade, alone. I panicked, ran away without saying a word, and even forgot to get my drink of water. Two years later at a school dance, I worked up the nerve to ask her out. She said no. I danced away back to my pack of laughing friends thinking if she saw my sweet moves she might reconsider. She did not.

Years passed and we became closer friends in high school hanging out as a group. My admiration for her through the years never faded. We started talking more and attending school dances together. I again worked up the courage to ask her out, and this time she said yes. Hell yeah. We dated through the rest of high school and into college. She attended Iowa State (loser) and I was at Iowa (winner). After only one semester, she couldn’t stand the smell of Ames any longer and transferred to Iowa.

We graduated from Iowa together and started nursing school the following fall. We worked, gained experience, and traveled the world in our spare time. Sarah began dropping hints with pictures of rings she liked and giving me evil glares, so I bought a ring soon after. We planned a trip to Barcelona and Italy, and she was certain I’d propose there. I did not. I popped the question right before our trip at Greenwood Park knowing she’d want to celebrate with our friends and family, which is exactly what we did.

Sarah and I went through elementary and high school together. Continued into college together and then nursing school. We’ve traveled the world and have been together for every big moment of our lives. I can’t wait to marry this incredible girl and continue our lives together.

Sarah makes me laugh like no one else can and pushes me to be better everyday. While her initial beauty and styling glasses drew me in, her personality won me over. I fell harder for Sarah than she fell running into fire hydrants. A decade with her is not enough and I’d be the luckiest man alive to get to call her my wife.

As many of you know, Alex and I met each other at a very young age. Some may say that it was fate that brought us together. Alex will say it was love at first sight. And for me, my intuition knew Alex would serve some purpose in my life when I first saw him standing across the pool at Hyperion. I thought he was the cutest blonde, tan boy I had ever seen. As I walked into my third grade classroom on the first day of my new school, he was one of the first people I saw and I recognized him right away. I spent the day observing the people in my class, and couldn’t help but glance Alex’s way to admire his cuteness. My mom and Lauren agreed with my observation, and it actually caused a fight between Lauren and I in elementary as to who would get Alex. I won.

I always knew Alex had a crush on me, per some of my classmates, but I didn’t entertain the idea of truly getting to know him until high school. After spending time with him in a group setting, I realized how special this person was and I finally gave him a chance. We began dating our junior year of high school and the rest is pretty much history. Alex is the most patient, loving and kind person I know. We truly have so much fun together, even when we are doing absolutely nothing. After 10 years of being together, we are lucky enough that the admiration and excitement for eachother has only gotten stronger over the years. He brings out the most confident and optimistic side of myself and I feel so happy just being around him. I can’t wait to marry Alex and spend our life together. I love that we had the opportunity to grow up together, and I am even more excited to grow old with one another.