Casey's version: I met Emma in 6th grade when I was the "new kid" at King's. I was nervous about the transition to a different school but I was lucky enough to be put in the same class as Emma. To me she was always that cute tall girl that was good at just about every sport. Naturally, we became close and our friendship blossomed over the next few years going into middle school and high school. We were always a part of the same friend groups and remained close throughout the years. Emma's version: Going into 6th grade, Casey stuck out like a bleach blonde sore thumb. This is because he was the new boy at my K-12 school where everyone had been practically growing up together their entire lives. Now, Casey and I just happen to both be placed in the same homeroom and my friend group at the time was placed in another homeroom. So, I was given the daunting task by my friends to get to know "the new cute blonde surfer boy at school" because they couldn't (side note: he still is a cute blonde surfer boy to me). Lucky for me getting to know Casey was not as difficult or as daunting as I had thought. Casey and I were always seated next to each other or near each other in the classroom (shoutout Mrs. T), we were placed next to each other in computer class in the very back row (shoutout Mr. C), and we even stood next to each other in our chapel concert (where we sang "give me your eyes"' by Brandon Heath in front of the whole elementary school... and it is still a frequent song you will find us singing to in the car!). Now, I know this sounds crazy, but in 6th grade at 12 years old I knew that I was going to marry Casey Boyd Needham. That thought faded away overtime as we continued to grow up, but I promise I thought it...several times in fact. We just had too much in common and our lives seemed to overlap in so many ways. So, like any rational 12 year old, I thought "gee, God must want me to marry this boy." To me this made sense because my parents met in 6th grade too...so you can see how I jumped to this conclusion! Regardless, I am so thankful to have met Casey when I did :)

Casey's version: As Emma and I progressed through our schooling at King's, I began to feel something more than a friendship. That very meaningful friendship had grown into a deep love that I felt towards her, however, she was very hesitant to date me at first. As I started to peruse her throughout my Sophomore and Junior year of high school, she rejected me at least 3 times. I did everything I could to win her over. I even was her chauffeur to a dance that she attended with another guy! After being shot down a few times, I started to loose hope. Just when I thought it was all over, I heard from a mutual friend that she was coming around to the idea of giving me a chance. When she got back from a basketball trip on New Years Eve (2018), I made plans to pick her up from the airport and to hang out with her the rest of the evening. On that very night, we decided to exchange our belated Christmas gifts. After the gift exchange, Emma finally admitted her feelings to me! This was the greatest gift of all! One of my proudest moments to this day is that I still have a note in my phone, time stamped to that exact night. I decided to write about my amazing experience immediately because I was overwhelmed with joy! This was by far one of my most memorable moments with Emma (my future wife). The beginning of our future together :) Emma's version: He asked.. I said no...he asked again...I said no again....he asked for a third time...I said no for a third time...he asked for a fourth time...I said no for the fourth time...I finally showed some interested...then we were dating the next day. We were 16 going on 17 at the time. So, for those of you trying to keep up with our timeline this is about 4.5 years after we met. It was just that at this time I could not imagine dating my best friend. But, just like 6th grade, Casey and I were placed in a lot of the same classes and that pushed our friendship into best friend status real quick, and we were inseparable (like the annoying kind). So, giving in to his constant persistence ended up being the best decision I had ever made and 12 year old Emma was screaming "I told you so!"

Casey's version: After a year at Baylor University I decided to move to my favorite place! I mostly moved to the island for the surf...and a little bit for Emma. And then God did the rest:) We love our island lifestyle and our awesome community that is constantly pouring into the both of us. The only thing that would make this life of ours better is if I could get Emma on a surfboard! Emma's version: Umm I think the tagline speaks for itself... we've been through a lot together! But, I wouldn't change a thing. Getting to grow up with Casey and go through many of life's ups and downs together has been one of the biggest blessing. Forever grateful for the way that God has ordained our lives and placed us together in His creation on this beautiful island that we now call home! But, lets be real, in all honesty we both just can not stand that Seattle rain, so we will settle for some occasional tropical storms ;)

Casey's version: Emma had been waiting for this moment for a loooonnnngggg looooonnngggg time so props to her for remaining patient and loving me through it all! Anyways, as Emma and I talked about our future, she knew a proposal was in the cards. It was my duty to throw her off the scent. To do this, I set up a nice picnic date at a spot in Hawaii that was meaningful to us and a pivotal point in our relationship (where I convinced her to stay and to not go to Tennessee to complete her schooling. Long story for another time). Throughout the date, I tried to say things to make her think that I was going to propose. I even looked over her shoulder a few times as if a photographer was behind her. After the date, she was extremely disappointed and I decided to cancel all the other "fake proposals" I had planned. About 2 weeks after the "fake proposal" we had a trip scheduled to Seattle. I knew this was going to be the perfect opportunity as I wanted to include both our families in the celebration. I had arrived a few days before her, so she was surprised when I told her that we had a date scheduled the morning after she landed (at 1 am) and that I was picking her up at 7am. In the morning bright and early, I picked her up and drove her to Kenmore Air where we flew on a seaplane over to Roche Harbor. The views of the San Juan Islands were amazing and we even saw our high school on the flight over (this was special because that is the place where our story really began). When we landed, I realized I had not accounted for the cold weather as we both were freezing in our short sleeves (that's what Hawaii will do to you). As we started to tour through the town, we decided to stop in a few shops where I got her a white Roche Harbor sweatshirt. After walking around for a bit, we grabbed lunch and went back to the boat docks where our seaplane had landed. As we were walking down the dock, I stopped us at one of my friends boats. There, we got ready for our "early dinner." When we were walking over to a secret dinner location I stopped at the the dock (that I would be proposing to her on). Anyways, I blacked out for basically my whole speech when asking her to marry me and proposed to her with the ring box upside down haha. After the photographer took a few photos we walked to a garden by the docks at Roche Harbor. We were taking photos sitting down when our photographer told us to stand up and turn a different direction. In our view standing on the hotel balcony was both of our families. I knew that having our families to celebrate would make Emma super excited so planning that was a key part of my proposal idea. Once we took pictures with family members we went out to dinner and finished off our magical day. Emma's version: I said "yes!" right after telling him that the ring was upside down in its jewelry box...he almost nailed it... ha just kidding it was PERFECT!