B|E a part of our love story

It was a Friday night. Elyse was late, which turned out to be a theme in the relationship. They met at Number 38 in RiNo, Denver. It's in kind of an obscure location with a lot of construction nearby so Elyse had to call for Brent to help her find the place. Elyse knew someone working the bar, which also turned out to be a theme in the relationship (not because she's an alcoholic but because she's worked in the industry for a super long time). They drank some drinks and Brent thought she wasn't that interested. When he came back from the bathroom and started talking about the diorama in there and then they had a full conversation about their favorite restaurant bathrooms, Brent realized maybe he had a shot at a second date. They listened to some music and walked around. Elyse said she was buying a car they next day and Brent said he was moving to Montana for a month in 2 weeks. They spent time together almost every day for the next 2 weeks.

After 2 short weeks, Brent went to Montana for a month as a final true remote working opportunity. Elyse decided she fancied Brent enough to take a trip up to Billings. With construction on the Beartooth Highway (where the planned hike and scenic drive was), they decided to make an impromptu camping trip of it. They went out better prepared for bears than mosquitos. After a hike spent primarily swatting mosquitos away, they found one of the best campsites in the country up a rough Forest Service road. The site was not to be enjoyed as the mosquitos devoured them in the evening and morning. The next day featured a drive through Yellowstone National Park and Paradise Valley, followed by a small bluegrass concert (shoutout Them Coulee Boys) at Pine Creek Lodge. The way they looked at each other after this trip was different and decided to make the relationship official.

After a crazy 6 weeks of work for both Brent and Elyse, Brent was planning a weekend away in a yurt in Creede, Colorado. On Wednesday of the big week, Brent asked Elyse if she could take Friday off work to get off the grid for some mental R&R. She barely agreed and worked her tail off for 36 hours to be able to leave after a morning meeting on Friday. Brent said he would book something and told her to pack for "glamping". Little did she know the yurt had been booked for weeks and when he went grocery shopping on Friday morning, he was picking up a full weekend of professionally prepared meals (thanks Kelly Kingsford!) and having a latte to kill some time. When they finally got on the road, it started snowing (in late May), which really solidified that this was the right weekend for the engagement because it seems they picked the worst weather for road trips all winter. The location ended up being about 2 hours further than Brent told Elyse so as to not alarm her before she was actually in the car. Once they got to the yurt, Brent couldn't let her see any of the food or some of the bags - turns out he didn't have to worry because she was solely focused on changing into baggy sweatpants and pouring wine. After a beer to calm the nerves, Brent started figuring out the logistics to get pictures and video of the occasion and gathered the ring. After some hugging and prolonging Elyse from her chair and wine, Brent finally dropped to a knee to pop the question. Elyse screamed, ran in a circle, called for the dog to celebrate, and finally said yes! It was a great start to a weekend of no cell service, incredible views, and celebration!