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When he said "Meet me at DQ", he meant it literally! Stephen and Michelle met in June of 1999 in Fargo through a friend, and immediately began a phone relationship. At that time, Stephen lived in Moorhead and Michelle was living in Mankato and attending the University there. Michelle was on summer break and would visit Stephen occasionally. After a few weekends together in Moorhead, they decided to meet at the Albany Dairy Queen, since it was about half-way between Mankato and Moorhead. Stephen has said they often talk about that weekend, and "will always hold a special place in our hearts for the Albany Dairy Queen." The relationship continued through 1999 and in January, Michelle transferred to Moorhead State University. She is currently a Junior studying to be an elementary school teacher. Stephen is a graphic artist and has worked for US West Dex since 1995.

"When I decided to spend the rest of my life with Michelle, I wanted to pick a time and place to ask her to marry me that was special to both of us. Naturally, I thought of the Dairy Queen in Albany. Over the last year, we always acknowledged the importance of the Dairy Queen in Albany, but had never been back since we met there last July." On May 13th of 2000, Michelle and Stephen were traveling to the Twin Cities to spend Mother's Day with Michelle's mother. "On the way down, I asked Michelle if she thought it would be cool to have lunch at the Albany Dairy Queen", and she agreed. "She had no idea that this would be the time and place I would ask her to marry me."

They went to the drive-thru and ordered two chili dogs and some root beer. "I pulled into the parking lot and proceeded to pop the question before we ate. We both were so excited afterward that we never ate our food!" Stephen had called me to let me know he was proposing marriage to Michelle, who wasn't suspecting it. On the back side of our outdoor sign, we wrote "Welcome Back, Stephen and Michelle, Congratulations". Since it was a surprise, we didn't want her to see the sign until she had said "Yes". She was surprised, and loved his idea of proposing at the Dairy Queen, since it had played a role in their courting. We had blown up some balloons for them, and decorated a little bit inside the store, so our other customers could join in the celebration a bit. We wish them all the best.