Small towns are comfortable, especially if you are lucky enough to call one home. Like a sweater or an oversized sweatshirt, they are roomy, warm, and welcoming.

This is how Ann felt about her little city of Littlefork, Minnesota. As her dad, Darrell, revealed to a packed house at the Board Room in Superior, Ann never intended to leave. She was going to stay home, work at the local mill, and call it good. Even when she away for college, she reminder her parents that she could beat them home should she change her mind (her roommates even let on that she maybe kept her bags packed for those first few weeks, just in case).

But that change of heart and mind, it never happened. Quite the opposite did, actually. As Ann embarked on her journey into engineering, first tip-toeing into the dorms at Itasca, it was actually engineering that took Ann on wild excursions, such as to Denmark, Florida, and Canada; she was running all over the world for in her field.

As she was running for work, she bumped into James, who would be the greatest adventure of all. As a fellow engineer, they had an understanding of each other at the professional level. Professional became personal, and before too long, they were standing with each other in front of their family and friends to become husband and wife. In a spin on the traditional bridal party, this couple was escorted down the aisle by their immediate family, who could not have been happier to do that duty. It was these same souls that brought the laughter and the tears to the reception with their speeches. Speeches lead into dancing, which lead well into the night and lead this dynamic duo into marriage in the best possible way: Full of friends, family, and laughter.

Congratulations, Ann +James! Best of luck to you as you keep “bumming” around the world!:)