We met each other in August working at the same church. Andrew had started serving in the student ministry- where Kiersten was working. Using our work emails, we professionally began corresponding about things not related to students. The emails quickly turned into lots of coffee dates, breakfast dates and desert hikes.

After dating for 7 months, 5 of which were 1,017 miles apart, Andrew proposed. We had planned this trip a month in advance, but unbeknownst to Kiersten, Andrew had a ring. To finish an adventurous day, Andrew wanted to take Kiersten on a sunset hike in Sedona. Kiersten was reluctant to go on the hike because we had dinner plans and time was running short. Andrew insisted though. Once we got to the top of the mountain, there was a photographer we started talking to. He offered to take our photos and had us positioned facing away from one another. Kiersten had no idea what was about to happen and when she turned around, Andrew was on his knee.

Kiersten threw a Payday candy bar at Andrew while in the Church lobby. Kiersten did not gently toss it, but THREW it at him during his first week of work. Nothing says "welcome" quite like that. After Andrew ate it and thanked her for it, Kiersten told him to savor it because it would be the best payday Andrew would have while on the intern pay roll...Kiersten wasn't wrong.