On March 31, 2014, Mal and I ran into one another at Toads Bar & Grille in Cedar Falls Iowa. Mal was able to convince me to dance all night and was so impressed by my skills nearly 5 years later she agreed to marry me!
- Doug
In December 2014, Mal's job took her to Jonesboro, Arkansas. By this time we had only been together for 7 months, but we were both up for a new adventure. We packed our bags and left the frigid winters of Iowa behind and braved the oppressive heat and mosquitos of Arkansas.
We purchased our first house, and quickly realized that a house needed to be filled with furniture. With plenty of time on our hands, we took up building furniture to fill the new house.
The furniture we made is special to us, but the best thing we did in Arkansas was adopting our dog Cubbie. We adopted him from a trailer park in the middle of Missouri, where he was hiding under a chicken coop. Ever since he has been with us on our family's adventure.
- Doug
Moving from Arkansas to Denver was a bit tricky for both of us. Doug was the first to find a job and moved a few months before Mal. During this difficult time, we would find weekend trips to take with one another. Mal picked Austin for one of these trips, which turned out to be one of the best weekend vacation cities we've ever been to.
We ate great food, drank local beer, took a tour of the city including the capital and played soccer golf for the first time (Doug is pretty lucky that Mal stuck around after he nearly took off her head with an errant shot).
- Doug
In August 2017, our adventure together took us to Denver Colorado. We fell in love with the Stapleton neighborhood and found a great home next to a huge dog park. We love to run on the neighborhood trails, work on home improvement projects, eat at new restaurants and take weekend trips to the mountains.
-Mallory
In September 2018, we were lucky enough to be invited by Mal's dad, Jim, on a cruise through the Mediterranean. The three of us shared a small 1 bed, 1 bath cabin. I learned so much about the Monte's during the two weeks, including Jim's passion for Bingo! This was an incredible experience which took us through Spain, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy!
- Doug.
On March 3, 2019, Doug took his romance game to the next level. We went on a 5-day trip to Charleston and spent time with our friends, Dale and Sam. The first morning of our trip, Doug took me to the waterfront to "walk around' and proposed in front of the pineapple fountain! He said he wanted to spend the rest of his life having adventures with me, have babies with me, and other things I don't remember. I was so emotional that we can't remember if I actually said yes!
Dale and Sam were hiding under and umbrella and got the whole thing on video. Then we all went out to brunch afterward and walked around historic Charleston. What a perfect day!
- Mallory