‘Bachelor’ Stars Ben Higgins And Lauren Bushnell Spend Time In Indiana, Celebrate His Birthday As Relationship Strengthens
Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell are still celebrating being able to be public with their engagement after the finale of ABC’s The Bachelor 2016 aired earlier this month. However, Ben and Lauren just had another reason to celebrate and it looks like they did it in style. What’s the latest from these newly-engaged lovebirds?
Lauren and Ben hung out in New York for a few days after The Bachelor finale aired, but now they have been spending some quality time together in his hometown of Warsaw, Indiana. Higgins is based in Denver, Colorado these days, but it seems that Ben and Lauren decided that some quiet time back home was the right fit for this next phase of their relationship.
The Bachelor stars have been sharing some fun tidbits via social media during their time in Indiana, and now they just shared that it was Ben’s birthday and they were together for that as well. Lauren shared a post on Instagram with some casual photos of the two, saying that she is thankful that she got to celebrate with him not just on his birthday, but for forever.
From the looks of things, Bushnell had to share Higgins with some others during his birthday, though. Bachelor fans will remember that one of Ben’s group dates during his season was held at the Baker Youth Club, a place where he volunteered a lot when he still lived in the area and the group still holds a very special place in his heart. Ben and Lauren headed back to the youth club to have some fun with the kids the center serves as part of his big birthday celebration.
Ben and Lauren visited the Baker Youth Club earlier in the week and the center had been planning a big event for Friday night featuring the Bachelor stars in a fundraiser for the center. Higgins and Bushnell spent time at the center on Thursday, hanging out with the kids and getting a bit silly as they celebrated his birthday. Lauren shared a few tidbits via Snapchat where everybody sang Happy Birthday to Ben and they had a big pizza party.
According to the Baker Youth Club website, this year’s fundraiser is centered around Ben with the theme being “BYC Reality.” Both Bachelor stars will be there to talk about their experience with the show and meet fans, and he will be talking about his passion for the BYC services as well. While the fundraiser itself is for adults only, the club notes that it is doing a meet and greet for younger fans during the day.
While it is not clear just how long Ben and Lauren intend to stay in Warsaw, the Bachelor couple did share during the “After the Final Rose” special that she would be moving to Denver within a few weeks, leaving California behind. The two are set to be involved in the Little 500 festivities for Indiana University in mid-April, notes the school’s website, and they will seemingly load up on a few other opportunities as they arise in the weeks ahead as well.
Is this Bachelor couple the real deal? Ben and Lauren certainly seem head-over-heels in love with one another and they are already talking about marriage and babies. They have navigated a few tough moments during the time their relationship had to stay hidden, but they say they’ve come out of it stronger than ever. Fans will have to stay tuned to see if Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell do manage to stay together and eventually marry and have kids, but Bachelor fans are hopeful that this is one couple that will manage to make it work.
[Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images]
