I (Katelyn) wasn’t supposed to be on that spring break trip, and Quinn wasn’t supposed to be in the Black Hills.

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My college spring break had already passed, but I took a few extra days off to join my friends for a trip to Deadwood, SD. The plan was simple: sightseeing, a cozy Airbnb cabin, and making core memories - possibly aided by a little liquid courage.

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At the same time, Quinn was driving home from a snowmobiling trip in Wyoming with his friends from Luverne, MN. Thanks to Snap Maps and our official matchmaker, Maren Schaap, the guys realized Maren was staying in Deadwood, SD. Since they were already passing through, they decided to stop by - even though passing through was actually an hour out of the way.

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I went to bed early that night… and accidentally fell asleep in my swimsuit. The next morning, desperate for water and thinking everyone was still asleep, I walked out of the bedroom straight into a living room full of three guys I had never seen before. As I stood at the sink chugging water like it was my last chance at survival, I heard behind me, “So, what’s your name?”

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That was Quinn.

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Despite the messy hair, swimsuit, and very unglamorous first impression, we talked briefly before they hit the road. About ten minutes later, Quinn asked Maren for my number.

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A couple of drive-around-for-hours and end-up-at-Perkins-because-it-was-the-only-place-open dates later, we knew we had found something special - all because we both ended up exactly where we weren’t supposed to be.

It was a random Saturday night in January, and Quinn asked me if I had school off for President's Day. To this question I responded, "yes," but in my head I thought, why is he worried about President's Day when I have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off too, and it is before President's Day? While I am questioning where he is going with this, I hear him say a phrase that I never thought would come out of his mouth in this context. Quinn said to me, "We should do something." After hearing this comment, I could not help myself but burst out laughing and ask him to clarify if he really just told me that we should celebrate President's Day. Apparently, he wanted to start a new tradition this year by showing appreciation to our founding fathers. God Bless America!

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After composing myself, I finally asked Quinn what he thought we should do to celebrate. To this he responded, "We should go to the Black Hills." I then responded to him, saying, "Okay, what do you want to do in the Black Hills?" His response to this question immediately sent alarm bells in my head, for he said, "I don't know, what do you want to do?" For the just shy of three years that I had known him at this point, Quinn always had a plan for what he wanted to do. He would want to go to a location to do an activity. Never before had he planned to go to a location without a reason to complete an activity when there, and this location just so happens to be the place where we first met. Hmmm...

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There had to have been about a full minute and a half of silence while I was putting this all together in my head, as girls tend to do. Of course, I play dumb and respond by saying, "Sure, that sounds like fun!"

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Fast forward to President's Day weekend, which also happens to be Valentine's Day weekend. In this case, Valentine's Day would have been a more comprehensible reason to celebrate in the first place lol. Again, God Bless America! Quinn and I planned to drive around and go to Spearfish Canyon. He told me to dress nice on this day, which wasn't suspicious at all, and so I did. We drove around looking at the beautiful scenery and houses in the Hills, as we often like to do no matter our location. After some time, Quinn suggested that we stop by the cabin where we first met. I wasn't sure if this meant that he was going to propose at this location, but I went along with it. I just hoped that no one was staying in the cabin at this time.

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We ended up just looking at the cabin from inside Quinn's pickup and reminiscing about the day we met. We also made sure to take a picture of the cabin. That way we would have a picture to show our kids one day when telling them this same story. This was such a sweet moment to look back on.

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After looking at the cabin, we started our drive through Spearfish Canyon. It was beautiful scenery surrounding such a special moment in time. As I am enjoying looking out the window, I notice a sign that says, "Bridal Veil Falls," and all of a sudden I hear cracking knuckles coming from the seat next to me. Omg, is this it!?

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Before I knew it, Quinn pulled the truck off to the side of the road and said, "Should we go check it out?" To this question, I of course responded, "yes," but then, to my surprise, no one moved. We both knew what was happening at this point, but we didn't want to spoil it for each other. After about two minutes of sitting in the silent car, Quinn made the first move to open the truck door. We walked to the Bridal Veil Falls lookout, and I said yes to forever with Quinn Alan Buss. Turns out, President's Day is one of my favorite holidays.