Rylee and Kristin met in Gig Harbor, Washington. Kristin was working for a law firm at the time as the firm's Manager. The law firm was experiencing an influx of issues with their IT company sending interns that couldn't fix issues, so the firm was searching for a new IT company. Kristin's boss suggested that she call OTM Cyber to retain their services, as her boss personally knew the owner. When Kristin called, the owner said they would send their "intern" out to the office the following week. Kristin, not so politely, declined to have an intern sent to the office and explained why this would not be an option. What the owner failed to mention to Kristin, was that Rylee was getting out of the Army, and everyone has a title of "intern" when they are transitioning to civilian life regardless of what job they choose. After approximately 30 minutes on the phone, and Kristin almost ruining her opportunity to meet the love of her life, the owner convinced Kristin to schedule a day for the "intern" to come by the office. Queue Rylee. Rylee made the commute out to the law office the following week to help with the IT issue. When she pulled up to the office she saw Kristin through the window and immediately thought she was cute. Rylee came into the office and Kristin immediately felt the same about Rylee. Kristin, at the time, had a very short haircut. After Rylee and Kristin started dating, Rylee disclosed to Kristin that she had thought that day, "oh great, another straight girl with a short haircut that is cute. I'm in trouble." Kristin also disclosed to Rylee after they started dating, "I was wearing rings that day and threw them on the floor in case I had a chance with you. Didn't want you thinking I was married." While Rylee fixed the IT issue, the two talked about various topics. This apparently sparked the interest of Kristin's co-workers. After Rylee left the law office, Kristin's co-workers came to her office to see "why her voice went up 10 octaves." They joked that Kristin would probably break the printer just to see Rylee again. Ironically enough, and not because of Kristin, the printer did end up having an IT issue. Kristin happily got to see Rylee again. For the next couple of months Kristin and Rylee attempted to sleuth each other's social media to figure out if the other was single, but neither was successful. After months of working together, Rylee had made a post on social media about heading to Vegas. Kristin joked that she wanted to go to Vegas, and hoped Rylee had fun. The two finally exchanged numbers and began talking more. Rylee asked Kristin out on a date, and that date just kept on going. Rylee and Kristin knew early on that they were each other's person, and got engaged before moving to Minnesota. They have been happily engaged since December 2021. (Kristin and Rylee would like to note that they have stayed happy through: selling a house and coordinating a move in less than two weeks, moving from WA to MN and transporting four pets, having total engine failure in the middle of effing nowhere WY, Kristin renting a crack head apartment on accident, and buying a home together). Kristin and Rylee are so excited to get married, and to share that day with you in August. Moral of the story is: let the company send the "intern." They might actually be your person!

Rylee and Kristin talk all the time about how wild it was that everything lined up for the two to meet. So here are the things that lined up for the two of them to find each other: The law firm that Kristin would eventually work at had an IT Company that helped mostly with security of client files. One of the employees for the IT Company ended up leaving that job and starting up his own business. The law firm knew that he had left the IT Company and wanted to see if he would be successful going it alone. This was a year prior to Rylee being at the company, and a year prior to Kristin being at the law firm. Rylee was in the process of resigning her commission in the Army and transitioning back to civilian life while living in Washington. Rylee never planed to stay in Washington forever after the military, and actually thought she would sell her house and move somewhere new. She just didn't know where she was headed next. While transitioning out of the military, she was connected through a mutual contact with a Veteran owner of a start-up cyber security company who happened to be looking for "interns." Rylee received a job with the company, which was the same company the law firm was keeping an eye on for the past year. At that same time, Kristin had left Vermont and moved back to Washington. Kristin's parents were graciously letting her take care of their cabin in Tahuya, Washington. Kristin was taking some time off with the pandemic in full swing, but ended up picking up a job at the local Starbucks. While there, a regular customer started asking about Kristin's life story and found out she was an attorney. That same customer knew of a law office in Gig Harbor needing a Manager and told Kristin to apply. Kristin wasn't interested in the position and was planning on likely moving out of state again soon so didn't apply for three months. One day that customer came through again and convinced Kristin to at least apply. When Kristin visited the law office she fell in love with the location, and saw that the job was much more than it had sounded. She took the position still planning to eventually move out of state. The start-up company had at least 6 interns at the time, all of which were closer to the law office than where Rylee lived and worked from home. Rylee was still the one sent. A lot of things needed to line up for the two of us to be in each other's lives and we are so grateful they did. We cannot wait to officially be The Banks'.