Their story began on the last night of the Walla Walla rodeo. Emily was there with her friend Ashton, Ashton’s son Waylon and their cousin. The cousin had extra tickets and had asked if she wanted to bring a friend. Emily had never been to the Walla Walla rodeo in her years of living there and was excited to join. After the rodeo ended,there was a band performing in the beer garden outside the arena. Emily and Ashton found some drinks and after scoping out the garden discovered some of Ashton’s friends nearby. Shelby, her husband Luis, and her brother Jake were there and excited to see Ashton. Before too long, Ashton saw more people she knew and wanted to say hi to while Emily found herself making conversation with this new group. Both Emily and Jake remember the conversation being easy and comfortable, much like one with someone you’ve known a while. Although strangers they found they had a lot in common and made each other laugh. When Emily mentioned she was from Alaska, Jake was excited as he had been looking at properties in Alaska to maybe own one day. At the end of the night everyone had said it was nice to have met and said goodbye. The next day, Ashton asked Emily how she’d feel about them all getting together for dinner sometime. Emily agreed it would be a fun thing to do but between everyone’s schedules they never were able to get something planned. Fast forward to November when Jake decided to take matters into his own hands. He added Emily on Facebook and sent her a message. “Hey my name’s Jake we met at the rodeo and I've been kickin' myself for not getting your number since. I was wondering if you wanted to go get some drinks sometime?"

In July, Emily and Jake decided they wanted to go to Sitka together. She was eager to show him where she grew up, meet the girls, and introduce him to her community. He was excited to do all that as well as have his first Alaskan adventure. Jake had decided that this trip to her hometown would be the perfect time to ask her to marry him. They flew in on a Friday evening and immediately went to a close friend’s birthday party after they discovered the airlines lost two of their bags. The next morning was the first sunny day in Sitka in a couple weeks from what they had heard. Before the couple went to the airport to get their luggage, Jake told Kathy and Austin today felt like the perfect day and they agreed! The couple went to grab their luggage then did a quick driving tour of downtown from New Thompson Harbor to Totem Park. It was then Jake laid eyes on the Sea Walk and thought it would be the perfect spot. After shopping at the Christmas bazaar at Centennial Hall, Jake asked if they could go on a walk to enjoy the sunshine. They decided to walk to the Sea Walk to take in the view. Emily took pictures of Jake with the mountains and then took a “selfie” when Jake asked if they could try to take a picture together with the phone set up against the railing. After the first picture was taken, Jake got down on one knee and the second picture captured Emily speechless for the first time in her entire life (probably).