Ian and Ashley both attended Whitworth University. Ian was a year older than Ashley, so they never had any of the same classes. However, they passed each other on the “Hello Walk” and smiled and said hi several times. Ian worked in the sandwich shop and on Wednesday when Ashley went to the student government meetings, they would see each other and chat a little. Ian says that he always loved Ashley’s smile and wanted to get to know her. They just never really had an opportunity and ran in different circles. Ian and Ashley had a lot of mutual friends but they just never really spent time together. After graduating, Ian went to travel for a few months and Ashley finished her senior year at Whitworth. She decided to take advantage of the endless amounts of possibilities and moved to the greater DC area to teach. Ian came back from his travels abroad and stayed in Vancouver, WA where he could be close to family, friends, and his gym and church community

Shortly after Ashley moved to DC, she went to New York City with a friend. While there, they attended a Yankees game. Ian and Ashley share a hatred for the Yankees so he decided to message her and start a conversation. That was at the end of July 2017. Since then, Ian and Ashley talked almost everyday for 4 months. Life got busy and their talking dwindled to every couple weeks as until Christmas. Ashley texted Ian on Christmas and Ian said that he realized he had to do something about this. He decided to send Ashley a Christmas gift. The week after Christmas, Ian and Ashley decided to start doing Whole30 on January 1st 2018. An Instapot, a cookbook, and a sweet and simple note showed up at Ashley’s door. Moments after receiving this gift Ashley thought “friends do not send gifts like this!” So she called Ian. She just had to thank him and hear his voice. From then on out, Ashley and Ian spent hours a day talking on the phone and FaceTiming. It didn’t take long for Ian to ask Ashley if he could fly out to DC to be with her for a couple weeks in February

The first night Ian was in town, he joyfully agreed to meet Ashley small group from church at one of their Thursday meetings. He instantly fit right in and impressed Ashley with his genuine commitment to Jesus and deep care for her friends. While Ian was in town, Ashley met two of Ian’s longest friends, Micah and Daniel. Ian has known them since grade school and they both live in DC as well. Ian’s brother, Zac was also in town and they all hung out and got to know Ashley a little. Ian got the “okay” from his friends while he was in town. And they both were head over heels for each other. When Ian’s time with Ashley was over in February, there already a plan to see each other again in 2 weeks. Each time they said goodbye was harder than the previous time. Early on, Ashley and Ian knew their relationship was different and worth investing into. They stayed up late and got up early to navigate time differences, spent money to see each other or sent small gifts as reminders of their affection, they planned a road trip, made a list of vacation spots around the world, visited jewelry shops to see their ring sizes, and got to know each other and their families. They both knew that this would be hard, but they didn't mind the challenges. Love is a choice, not a feeling or something that happens because of convenient circumstances. It requires sacrifice and constantly learning to put the other first. Ian said it was the easiest decision to move to DC to be with Ashley. He moved in with his brother Zac (who also moved across the country), his best friend, Daniel, and another friend, Avery. Shortly after moving, Ian planned the most thoughtful day and asked Ashley to marry him. Her easiest decision was saying yes!