We're gettin' married

Kyle and I first met when I was a senior in high-school and he was a freshman at Troy. I was visiting my future college and my gal Katie Dunn was just about the only person I knew in Troy, so I was hanging in with her group of friends & Kyle..... happened to be a part of that group. He had long hair back then and I remember him being in charge of the aux cord at all times. That night involved a lot of ping pong and me being shy sitting on the couch because I was scared and probably thought everyone could smell the high-schoolness on me, ha. Throughout my freshman and first half of my sophomore year, I would see Kyle on campus or at the Christian Student Center and we would always smile and wave at each other or engage in a lil small talk. It wasn't until January 2017, the 2nd semester of my sophomore year, when we started getting to know each other. Shout out to Alyson Roberts for really getting the ball rolling on that. Ky roped me into doing 21 days of prayer at the CSC by offering to swipe me in to Saga breakfast afterwards. So for a couple of weeks straight, we were getting breakfast one-on-one every morning before class. At the beginning of February, we had our first date--which we didn't know was a date--where we explored Montgomery and ate dinner at Chappy's. It was a night full of laughs and music and just good ole deep conversation. I walked away from that night realizing that #1: Kyle has good taste in music and #2: I just really wanted to keep being around him. On February 11th, we spent the day hammocking at a place called L&L Lake near Troy. That day we pretty much decided that "Well, we didn't want to be dating anybody else so.." we've been official ever since.

This story is about the process of proposing to Lauren. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her for quite some time, but distance was against us. After we both graduated from Troy, we each had to move back home, but being 3 1/2 hours away from each other gave me time to truly focus on getting a ring for her. I researched how to go about custom-making an engagement ring and it took some effort. I wanted it to be just right. After a long back and forth battle with a jeweler, I finally got it. Next on the list was getting the day planned to pop that question. I got lucky because all of Lauren’s friends were in town for a break and it all set up beautifully. I surprised her on New Year’s Day by showing up at one of her favorite spots on Rainbow Mountain where her and her best friends were starting off 2020 by hiking together. That day seemed like everything was in fast forward. I popped the question and she said yes. Afterwards, we all went back to her house with family and friends to celebrate. This was a process I would go through 10 times over. I love you Lauren!