We met at Kilkenny's for the very first time. Elizabeth was out with her friends Jenna, Jason, and Sydney and Evan met them there later. Evan and Jason spent the whole night talking about Iowa football and basketball and when the night was over, Elizabeth was not convinced. On the way back to Jason and Jenna's house, they spent the whole time talking about how amazing they thought Evan was and they told Elizabeth, "He's a really great guy, we think you should give him a chance." Elizabeth took Evan up on his first date offer two weeks later. We spent hours at UP Skybar talking and laughing and the rest is history.

For those of you who know Elizabeth, you know what she is most passionate about. For those who don’t, I can quickly sum it up – her kindergarteners. Elizabeth is always thinking about how to make a positive impact on these kids’ lives, researching new ideas on how to help them learn, and being the human tissue for them to wipe their noses on. Once I knew I was going to propose to Elizabeth, I knew exactly where I was going to do it, but I just needed to figure out how. One day she came home from school and mentioned a ‘pumpkin patch field trip’ that they were going to have outside of her classroom since all field trips were cancelled for the year. The light bulb immediately turned on inside my head, this was the perfect opportunity. After weeks of planning with her school’s principal and partner teacher, the day had come for me to be waiting outside in their ‘pumpkin patch’. After watching 20 kids sprint by me to pick the biggest pumpkin, Elizabeth finally walked out, looked at me, and said “what are you doing here”? I started my speech that I had prepared, but that soon went out the window when all that came out was “thanks for putting up with me”. Once I was done mumbling and she was done laughing at me for what I was trying to say, I ended up on one knee. “Yes”. The word I had been hoping to hear for such a long time. I’m so thankful that I was able to pull off this Proposal at her favorite place and surrounded by her favorite little people (I’m talking about the kindergarteners, guys). I can’t wait for everyone to join us on our big day and I hope it’s just as special as the Proposal was for the both of us.