Brecken and Kirsti went to the same high school and ended up in the same friend group their Junior year. Brecken, a crowd-pleasing class clown who loved to be the center of attention first noticed that Kirsti, a shy bookworm who over-analyzed every punch line, would always laugh at his jokes. However, this was not endearing to him at the time and he ended up thinking she was way too weird to be friends with. Oh, how the tables turned. Months went by of Kirsti constantly trying to befriend Brecken, only to be met with rejection (silly, silly boy). Until one night after a football game, they found themselves talking and laughing endlessly through to the next morning. Kirsti learned that there was much more to Brecken besides being easy on the eyes and having a rockstar personality, and Brecken learned that Kirsti's persistence and forgiveness were exactly what he needed to let his guard down. In her own words, "Getting to know Brecken was like playing with Russian Dolls. Fun and surprising, but also intensely frustrating." Kirsti says. Ah, young love. A few weeks after that, Brecken decided to quit his job and go on a road trip to the Grand Canyon and Kirsti was the only friend who could join him. When they made it 12 hours in a car and two weeks in a motel together without any murders, they knew they had something special. After getting closer in friendship (and watching puberty work wonders on them both), they finally made the leap to pursue a relationship. Through rollercoasters of life lessons and many more to come, they know that there's nothing stronger than their love for one another and the relationship they cherish. They are both grateful for all of the struggles, tears, laughter, and love that has paved the #WaytoWallace. *P.S. "You Want A Rom-com? I'll Give You A Rom-com," Comes from Kirsti's childhood desire to be in a rom-com movie, combined with her love of "It's a Wonderful Life." Brecken will usually try to end "arguments" with Georges famous line, "You want the moon? I'll give you the moon!"

Nothing quite sums Brecken and Kirsti’s relationship up like their proposal story. Brecken had been saving and planning for months prior. His plan was to revisit the place that helped them create their friendship and propose at the Grand Canyon on 1/1/23. He chose this date because “Kirsti and I had been in our motel room on New Year’s during our first GC trip, and she made me promise that we would help each other do something exciting and new each year. I was also hoping she’d cry from how sentimental AF that is.” However, all his planning could not have known that there was a white-out blizzard about to storm through AZ that weekend. After a treacherous drive from Flagstaff to the GC, they had to kill some time while they waited for the photographers to arrive at the meetup location. Brecken was sweating like a hooker in church while he tried everything he could think of to keep Kirsti from figuring out something was going on. Finally, the time came to go to the meetup spot, where you could hardly see two feet in front of you due to the storm. He got down on a knee and the rest is history. “I think I kept my cool perfectly once we got there.” - Brecken “You definitely did not.” - Kirsti On their way to celebrate with dinner, they witnessed a car slip on ice and roll off the side of the road. After having a family of 4 packed in their car while waiting for EMS, they decided to end the night at their Air BnB with some leftover pasta and a good nights sleep. Brecken was disappointed when his “Grand proposal” didn’t go exactly as planned, but Kirsti was quick to remind him that they wouldn’t have even been together if things had gone according to plan years prior. “God knew we would want a story to laugh at when it was all said and done,” Kirsti said, “I think He just likes to make Brecken sweat first, but our stories always come out way better with all the hiccups that seem to always happen.” *Picture below of the proposal location with 0% visibility of the Grand Canyon behind us*