The beginning

Kirby and I have had a great relationship over the years. We began dating our senior year of high school in October of 2004. We met at McDonald's, where we both worked at the time. (And where we continued to work on and off for the next 6 years.) We graduated high school in 2005 and both agreed to stay in town and go to college locally at what was then called Okaloosa Walton College. Kirby majored in accounting and I in early childhood. After about a year, I decided to change my major to education and become an elementary teacher. Dating had been great, but we both felt that we were ready to take the next step in our relationship. In 2007, on our 3 year anniversary, we got engaged. This didn't come as a shock to anyone, as everyone assumed we would get married. We set the date for June 2008. In May of 2008 Kirby recieved his associate's degree. From there, he had plans to go to a university to finish his degree. The closest university was the University of West Florida in Pensacola, an hour away. That summer we said our vows and packed our things and moved to Pensacola. I had planned on transferring to UWF as well, but it didn't work out that way. I ended up driving back to OWC every Tuesday and Thursday to go to school. Somewhere along the way, Kirby decided accounting wasn't for him. He changed his major to elementary education as well. After the semester ended, we packed up our things and moved back to Niceville. In Fall of 2009 Kirby and I were accepted into the education program at what was now called Northwest Florida State College. This put us on track to graduate in May of 2011.