When I moved to Hawaii after college, the last thing I expected was to be engaged less than two years later. I started working at Seven Brothers in December of 2023 and was hearing word about "the owners son" who would be coming back to island in January. When I came into work on January 2nd, Asher's world stopped. Kidding!! But really, he will tell you it was love at first sight. The first words he said to me were "which of you two can expo," talking to my friend Corina and I. After I said that I could, I brought some food out to who I didn't know at the time was one of Asher's best friends. The rest of the shift we worked I don't think there was a second that was quiet between us. Later that night Asher had texted his friend that I had brought the food to and said "I'm in love with that girl." After every shift we worked together I found myself thinking about Asher more and more. The second the schedule would come out I would check to see which days we worked together. Asher says he would pick up shifts that I was working so that we could spend time together. Finally, after a month, Asher got enough courage to ask me on a date. We went surfing, ate dinner at Raising Canes (Asher is so romantic) (just kidding I forgot shoes), and then went to a lookout of Honolulu and spent hours talking. After he dropped me off at home I ran into Corina's room smiling ear to ear about the best date I had ever been on. We continued to spend more and more time together after this. On Valentine's day I walked out to his car where a single rose was sitting in the passenger door handle. My Grandpa Knutson always used to buy my Grandma a single rose every Valentine's day when he was still living, as she always said "one rose says it all." I took this as a little sign from Heaven. On March 24th Asher asked me to be his girlfriend.

Kelsey and I got engaged on March 6th after just under a year of dating. Getting engaged and starting a future together was a conversation we had pretty early on, so we had known this day was coming for awhile. I am not the best secret keeper, so Kelsey already knew I had a ring. Because this secret got spoiled, I was determined to surprise her for the proposal. I had a couple ideas leading up to it, but once Kelsey‘s sister, Kaitlin, said that her and Kelsey's mom, Kara, wanted to surprise her in Hawaii, I came up with the perfect idea. Kelsey is extremely difficult to surprise so I had to get creative, especially since her and her mom talk everyday. My plan was to make a set-up at Velzyland beach and propose at sunset, the tricky part was figuring out how to get Kelsey there without her knowing what was going on. Leila, my sister, and I came up with the idea for her to ask Kelsey to do a photoshoot for a friend who was trying to get into photography, only the "friend" was actually a family friend, my old babysitter, and a professional photographer. While Kelsey and I were both at work, Leila brought my ideas to life and set up the proposal. Around 6pm I headed to V-land to meet up with Kara and Kaitlin, but told Kelsey I was working my other job. Once I got to the beach, I had about half an hour until Kelsey and Leila got there. It was the longest half hour of my life. Leila was giving me updates "about to pick her up," "on the way," and finally "we're here, get ready." I took my place on the beach surround by roses and candles. I waited as they walked down the path to the beach and once Kelsey was in sight, I started playing our song over a speaker. As she walked down the path to the beach there were lights, photos of us, and candles hanging from the trees, which all led to me standing on the beach. Once she got to me, I dropped down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes through her tears. To add to all the excitement, I told her to turn around and Kara and Kaitlin came running from tree they were hiding behind, which Kelsey might've been more excited about than the proposal. I thought I nailed it, only to find out Kelsey knew the entire time. It was the best day of my life.