Our marriage can be attributed to the bravery of Kayla Pfingsten. On one of the first days of Freshman year at Northwest Missouri State University, Kayla knocked on Jamie's door asking her to lunch. Even though they did not know one another, Jamie agreed. Kayla was from Lincoln, Nebraska which was also where Jamie's grandmother lived at the time. Over the course of that Freshman year, Jamie would carpool to Lincoln with Kayla to visit her grandma. During these trips, Jamie also had the chance to meet some of Kayla's friends from home, including Jason (the two grew up across the street from one another). Their Sophomore year of college, Jason expressed some interest in Jamie to Kayla but it never went anywhere and we did not cross paths again until 5 years later. Five years later, Kayla got married to one of Jason's other childhood friends, Daniel. Jamie was a bridesmaid and Jason was a groomsman in their wedding. At the time, Jamie was living in Idaho and Jason was still in Lincoln. We connected at the wedding over our mutual love for Jack and Coke, desire to live in Colorado, and goofiness. From that night on, we spoke on the phone daily, dated long-distance for 6 months, started living and exploring together in Colorado, and have celebrated the night we (re-)met and friends we love at many, many weddings. We are so excited for our own next June! *Of note, Jamie likes to fantasize that she and Jason met far before that Freshman year of college, playing somewhere in Lincoln together as kids since Jamie would visit her grandma so often and Jason was growing up there. Devastatingly, we will never know if this is true or not, so we felt it necessary to tell you the more realistic version of our story.

It was the day before Jason's birthday and he had insisted he and Jamie celebrate on this day instead of March 3rd. Throughout the day, Jason brought Jamie to all of their favorite Colorado spots where memories had been made during their 5 years of dating. The night ended with the couple seeing How to Train Your Dragon 3, complete with Jack and Cokes smuggled into the theater, just like when they saw How to Train Your Dragon 2 on their first date. When they got home, Jason asked Jamie to drop him off at their apartment before she found a parking spot because it was snowing so badly. When Jamie got upstairs, the apartment was full of candles and different ticket stubs, cards, coasters, and other mementos representing the memories they had made and the life she and Jason had created together. He proposed with a thoughtfully designed custom ring containing Jamie's grandmother's diamonds. They waited until well into the next day to tell any of their friends or family, enjoying the intimacy of being the only ones to know about their engagement.