Quinton & Makenzie Wedding

August 2014, both myself and Quinton just so happen to show up at a bonfire in the Paseos, probably located right around my dad’s current home. We both had attended so many bonfires in the past, but we got lucky this one night and both attended. Our first night together consisted of our first meeting (thank you Clayton Moyer for capturing our first moment together), Q serenading me with whatever country song was on the radio at the time, and finished with our first kiss.

The months following our initial encounter, we spent as much time as we could together. We both played varsity sports, but still made a point to see each other every day. 

Throughout the time we spent together, Q asked me about 3 times to be his girlfriend until about October 2014. I kept telling him no, because I knew it would be too difficult to let him go for college, especially when we were planning on moving to different states. Then, one afternoon we were hanging out at the park near our houses and I was singing to him, some popular song on the radio. It was the most comfortable I had ever felt with another person, as soon as the song ended, I asked him to be my boyfriend. He said yes <3

In late October we attended our first school dance together, Homecoming at my school, Palo Verde High School. Then in spring we attended Prom together (picture above) at his school, Faith Lutheran High School. 

At the end of summer before college, we did decide to separate for a little to experience college without doing a long distance relationship. That did not last long, we were officially back together by summer time. We did a long distance relationship for a little over a year until I decided California was not the place for me. I moved to Salt Lake City summer of 2017 to start our life together <3

Q flew to Las Vegas to pick me up and even drove my UHAUL to Salt Lake City, while my dad and brother drove my car (he was very nervous about driving that truck, but we made it! 

Q and his roommate at the time helped me move into my new apartment. I lived alone for about a month before him and his roommate, Chad moved in with me 

Just one month after moving to Salt Lake City, we expanded our family and brought our sweet Monte home with us in August of 2017. He was Q's dog, but lets be real, I took care of him :) 

We got Monte from the Humane Society. He was picked up off the streets in California and arrived in Salt Lake City just days before we brought him home. We were actually there with a friend who wanted to look at a dog, Q saw Monte and knew he needed to bring him home. He later revealed that he wanted to go with our friend to actually look at Monte. When we first showed up to the shelter, another family was meeting Monte, funny enough, it was a lacrosse friend's mom who was checking him out. As soon as they put him back in his kennel, Q needed to see him. We took Monte out to the yard to play with him and he was such a spunky little dude. There was a very large dog on the other side of the fence and Monte was having so much fun messing with him. Running back and forth along the fence, while the other dog was getting so frustrated that he couldn't get closer. Later Monte just came up to me and sat in my lap looking at me with his green eyes and I knew we were taking in home. 

It honestly shocked me that Q was a dog lover, because if you know his family pets, they were never a fan of Q. I didn't believe he was actually ours until the paperwork was finalized and we were walking out the door. Then, I would of never guessed we would be growing our family a little more just a year later. 

Grahm joined our family March of 2018. He was just 7 weeks old, we nicknamed him little boy, he is now our big boy. Grahm came from a puppy mill, then was rescued by a couple who could no longer take care of him. We found our little boy online and picked him up from an In-n-Out parking lot. Yes, we did eat In-n-Out for dinner that night. He was so tiny and absolutely terrified when we went home. I held him the whole way and instantly bonded with him. Too much so, that he was terrified of everyone else, including Q. He did not warm up to Q until about 3 years later, but now is Q's big boy. He was such a funky puppy, not knowing how to use his big paws.

Fun fact about Grahm, we have no idea what breed he is, all guesses are greatly appreciated. We were told he was a beagle mix and would only be about 20 pound. Well he met the 20 pounds and doubled it, Our current guess is Lab/Dachshund mix.  

Our little baby girl joined the family in August of 2019. We named her Fleury after one of our favorite hockey players and it also means flower in French. Q found this little girl online and thought she looked like a mini Monte. The family we got her from was moving and couldn't bring her with. We didn't have much time to decide, so Q actually sent me to meet her by myself and let me decide if we should take her home. So the third dog is all his fault, how could I not leave without her? 

I hung out with her for only 20 minutes and fell in love. She grew up with bigger dog so I knew we wouldn't have any issues with our boys. Within a week we thought we made a big mistake, going from two dogs to three turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. We even tried to give her up! We both loved her, but wanted to still see her, so we only asked a select few people; our roommate and then my mom, neither accepted, but that was the best call for us. We cannot picture our lives without her. 

Fleury is such a ball of energy and she loves her brothers. She also loves to annoy them as much as possible. Every more she takes it upon herself to attack Monte as he's trying to wake up and make his way downstairs. They quickly learned how to deal with her, with the help of momma. I used to have to carry Monte downstairs to avoid him getting attacked before fully waking up. 

In July of 2022, my dad took all of us kids and our significant other to Hawaii for the week. We had such an amazing time, but on July 29th will always be my favorite day. We were closing out our vacation and having just a relaxing day at the house, but in the evening, Q and I decided to take a walk on the beach. We walked down to the water and that's were it all happened. Q told me I was his best friend and how he wanted to be with me the rest of his life. He kneeled down on one knee and pulled out the ring. Of course I said yes. I turned to see my sister on face time with my mom not too far from us and the rest of my family sitting on the balcony of the house cheering us on. As we were walking back up to the house, my dad yelled out "what did she say?" and Q replied with "No, it was pretty awkward" and we all laughed.

When we walked into the house my family had Marry Me playing and my family greeted us with cheers and my dad put lays on both of us. We all cheered Champagne, my dad and Q had 1942 instead. Then we partied all night. Definitely one of my favorite days by far. 

A few hours later we were playing a game and Jonah asked where my fiancé was and it all sunk in, I turned to Q and said holy sh*t, your my fiancé haha it all felt like a dream <3