How did your love story begin?

We fell in love in the ski-town of Park City, UT. Honestly, we’d both given up on finding love, then it hit us like lightning. Unable to get a good job with my recent Geology degree, I was waiting tables, and Deano’d had a corneal disease end his career as a commercial pilot. So he was teaching skiing that winter. Our love was instant when I saw him in wranglers and a cowboy hat. One of our first dates I sat with a gaggle of little girls on a fence watching him calf-rope with a friend. Magic!!

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

We built a house together, literally! And not the easy way with contractors and a big bank account. We dreamed, we scraped and saved, we worked 16 hour days. My school teacher salary, and the income from our honeybee farm, along with sweat laughter and tears built our beautiful woodland home. The old house we were in was literally falling down while we built the new one. That first Christmas when safely in our new home there was a surprise snowstorm on Christmas Eve, the best present ever!

What would you do with $20,000?

We need a new bridge to safely access our land and home, since our old one frequently floods over due to climate change. Even though Deano is nearly 70, he’s building it himself with tenacity and miracles. $20,000 would help us complete our bridge, making our farm and home safe.