We met at the Red Door in Billings. After celebrating Kali's dads 60th birthday, her and some family members stopped by the Red Door on our way home for a nightcap. Kali was waiting at the bar to order drinks for her and her family, when Erik walks up and gets served immediately. He noticed Kali had been waiting before him, so he insisted on buying all the drinks Kali was ordering. After the drinks were served, Kali went to thank him for his kind gesture. Next thing you know, we were bantering back and forth, firing off questions to one another, wondering how our paths had never crossed after discovering that we have some mutual friends, are close in age and align with the stage of life we were both in. We go our separate ways for the remainder of the night, only to have Erik approach Kali before leaving. We exchanged phone numbers and said "yeah we should get lunch sometime". A week goes by, neither of us had reached out to each other. We both were stopped at a red light and both did a triple take at each other, and the light turned green and we go our separate ways. 5 minutes later, Erik texted Kali and asked her out on a lunch date. Kali asked "was that you I just saw in your work truck at that stop light?" We bantered about that over a few text messages, and we committed to lunch the next day. Erik says Kali was 25 minutes late, when really she was 15 minutes late....Now she knows the urgency of him having exactly an hour for his lunch break. We laugh about that a lot to this day. I don't think either of us ate much at lunch as we were just talking the entire time, never to have a dull moment in conversation. After lunch we made tentative plans to see each other that night. Erik joined Kali down to Ciao Mambo when Kali got off work that evening, and really ever since that first date, we basically became inseparable!

We were in Phoenix for a little getaway with our friends Corey & Jesse. We had a tee time booked at a fairly nice golf course. As our round of golf went on, it became blistering hot and not very enjoyable to be playing in. The round was slow moving, we were all getting a little irritated (okay maybe just Kali) but we were all ready to just have the round be done. We were waiting to tee off on Number 16, when Erik asked Jesse to take a picture of us. Kali was grumpy and didn't want to get out of the cart but Erik asked kindly to join him so she did. I remember Erik lining up weird and I tried to adjust where he was standing for a better back drop, and it was like he kept nudging away from me, only for him to reach in his pocket and drop to one knee. I don't recall what he even said other than "I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with him. Erik says he doesn't remember what he said either haha! Kali said "of course, of course!" Erik stands up and we embrace each other with many tears and pounding hearts. Erik says "so is that a yes?!" Kali then said "of course, YES!" To say the rest of our golf round was enjoyable is an understatement. The proposal definitely boosted all our moods and made for a great day overall! We FaceTimed our families as soon as we got into the clubhouse and shared our happy news with everyone. It was fun being in Phoenix when this happened, as we were able celebrate with some extended family as well! Special thanks to Corey & Jesse Smith for being there with us, and capturing this special moment.