Summer Smith & Ryan Ehmann
How we met and our engagement

How we met:
In 1998, Ryan was riding at the Northern Rodeo Association (NRA) Circuit Finals in Billings, MT. I was there with my parents to watch my boyfriend at the time ride. We were sitting pretty high up in the grand stands when the bareback riding started. This cowboy came out on a wild horse and had a great ride. But what got my attentions was he started running around the arena waving and then jumped up in the air and landed doing the splits! Then got up and did the splits again with the opposite leg! I was in shock! And I leaned over to my mom and said, "I wish I had a boyfriend like that! He is so cool!" I just had to remember his name..."Ryan Ehmann". About 2 months later I was at a rodeo street dance in Bozeman when I saw this cowboy wearing a NRA jacket. I went up to him and saw his name on the jacket, R. Ehmann. "Oh my gosh!" I said to him "Are you the cowboy who did the splits at the finals?" and he gave a big grin and said "Why yes I am". I just told him how cool I thought he was and asked if he knew my boyfriend. He didn't and we split ways. As the years went by I would see him occasionally at rodeos throughout Montana and watch his "dance". By then I had the biggest crush on him! In 2000 Ryan had just finished the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals and was passing through Big R in Bozeman, MT (now Murdochs), where I worked in clothing. He had dyed his hair blond so I didn't recognize him. I just followed him around the store like a puppy dog. He was talking to a mutual friend at the store, John Sterling. As he left he past by and said "hi". I quickly ran to John and asked who it was. When he told me it was Ryan Ehmann I was so shocked but I told him about the big crush I had on him. John told me he was going out that night to a bar called Little Johns. I quickly made plans. My boyfriend at the time wouldn't let me go out with just the girls to he tagged along. At the bar Ryan showed up and we all briefly talked and then he disappeared. The next day at work John Sterling told me that Ryan said he didn't understand why such a pretty girl was dating such a jerk. I almost fainted that "Ryan Ehmann" thought I was pretty!!! I told John to tell Ryan hi and John informed me that it was too late and that Ryan was moving to Texas to pursue rodeo full time. I was devastated! A couple days later John came up to me and told me I had a phone call. It was Ryan in Texas!! I was like an 8th grader again! He invited me down to Texas and I said I could probably come down and visit my sister Haven who was living in Austin, TX at the time and while I was there we could meet up! Well, a couple more phone calls and I had the confidence to make the biggest chance of my life. When school was out, I dumped my 3-year relationship, quit my job at Big R, packed two suitcases in my old pickup and drove from Bozeman, MT all the way down to Corpus Christi, TX by myself with no cell phone! On 05/19/00, I met Ryan at a Dairy Queen in Ingleside, TX just outside of Corpus Christi. He didn’t even remember what I looked like! His face was a little fuzzy in my memory as well. When we reunited it was like love at first sight! We spent that summer together painting houses on the bay in over 100 degree weather. We have been together ever since and have done so much together! We are now traveling the US living on the road in our camper. We spend 24 hours/7 days a week together and we never get sick of each other.

WHEN WE GOT ENGAGED September 9, 2004 HOW IT HAPPENED
Ryan and I went on a Caribbean Cruise from 09/04/04-09/11/04. We had such a wonderful time visiting Cozemel, Roatan/Honduras, Belize and Cancun. We were in Cancun the last dock day were we spent it on the beach hanging out. A local Cancunian came up to us to sell us jewelry. Ryan got a few things but I didn't find anything appealing. That night we set sail back to Houston, Texas. Ryan wanted to get dressed up and eat at the fancy restaurant rather than the buffet dinner. We got all dressed up and had our pictures taken in front of the staircase. He reserved a window seat and bought a bottle of wine. We had a wonderful lobster dinner. It was about 9:30 pm and I started to rush Ryan because there was a show starting at 9:45 that I wanted to go to. He told me to just relax and talk. He then said "Hey remember that Mexican guy selling jewelry today on the beach? Well I got you something." I got all excited thinking it was this blue necklace I wanted but didn't get. He leaned over under the table and pulled something out of his custom made Gold's Gym boots. It placed a beautiful mahogany box on the table and my heart stopped. I was so confused. I just kept saying, "What is that?" "What is going on?" And Ryan asked if I would be his wife. I just couldn't believe it! I thought it was a joke. I mean we had been together for 4.5 yrs and everyone that knew him told me he would never get married. I was shaking all over and just kept asking "Are you serious? Is this a joke?" After several minutes he said "Hey! I haven't got an answer yet!" and I screamed, "Yes of course!” By then lots of people we're watching and asking to take our picture. I then just started crying of joy. It was so romantic! We spent the rest of the evening telling our new friends about the news, talking about the future and wedding. It was the best thing that has ever happened to me. The proposal couldn't have been more of a surprise! It was perfect!

Story by: Summer Smith

On what seemed to be a typical evening for us, just 6 weeks after we started dating, we decided to take a drive up to Hyalite Canyon, which houses a beautiful waterfall not far from our house, Patrick had never been there before. As we approached the road that leads to the trail head we had to stop because there was too much snow to drive through. I had been there before and as far as I could remember, the trail head wasn¹t far from where we stopped the car. It was only 5:00 pm and though it got dark early this time of year, we figured we could make it up and back before It got dark. Well, apparently I am not very good at gauging distances. After walking almost 2 miles we approached the trail head, only to see that the Falls were another 3/4 of a mile up the trail! What the heck, we had come this far. So we continued on. I though for sure this guy was never going to ask me out again. But he was such a great sport, had we not laughed and joked around as much as we did going up, we probably would have made it there a lot faster.

When we arrived at the falls, the sun was just creeping down behind the mountains and we sat just for a couple minutes before I suggested to him that we should head back, since there are quite a few mountain lions in that area, (another surprise to him). I turned to pick up my jacket, which I had shed when we first got there and as I turned around to go back down the trail I nearly bumped into Patrick, down on one knee with a ring box out. His only words were " Not until you tell me you will marry me".

I laughed, he had to be kidding, I hardly knew him. And I had just drug him up a 2 hour hike to see a waterfall that was frozen solid. I soon saw though that he wasn¹t kidding, all I could do was tell him to get off his knees and I gave him a great big hug, I don¹t think I ever answered him, but I didn¹t have to, he already knew.

Story by Laci McVey