We first met at a dorm-room get-together in the fall of 2012, and then.... NOTHING! Neither of us thought much of it and several more meetings through mutual friends went by before we even began to take notice of each other. It wasn't until January and the great J-term exodus of Luther College that our own friendship began to bud. (Without anyone else around, there really were no better options...) We bonded over The Big Bang Theory and some questionably purchased Tennessee whiskey. Once spring semester began (Jake's last!) and our friends returned to campus, the possibility of our friendship wilting away was alarmingly real. But as luck would have it, the one Freshman-level gen-ed class that Jake needed to complete his degree was Geology, a class that Kelsey was also taking for her elementary science endorsement. On the first day of class Jake arrived late and, to Kelsey's great surprise, he chose the empty seat next to hers. Our friendship quickly blossomed into a romance through silly notes scribbled in the margins of notebooks and playful banter in class and during lab field trips. It was on one such trip that we both came to realize that we had feelings for one another. Jake knew it when Kelsey let him lay his head on her shoulder during the car ride...Kelsey knew it when Jake attempted to shove her into a snow bank. The next day a different kind of note was exchanged and all the cards were lain out on the table. The rest, as they say, is history.

In June 2017 Kelsey was invited back for a week on Luther College's campus for a science teachers' conference. Following this event, Jake came to join her in Decorah and to spend the weekend exploring all their old haunts and to drink some good beer. That Sunday we took a trip down memory lane and made our way to Malanaphy Springs, a spring-fed waterfall just outside of town. We had previously made this trip once before on a field trip for the Geology class of the "How We Met" fame. Once at the spring we made our way up to its highest point, a rocky ledge that overlooked the waterfall and river valley below. We sat there for awhile, reminiscing about the past and dreaming of the future. As we stood up to leave, Jake got down on his knee. He had done this several times before (always in a joking manner that ended with a shoe being tied), so Kelsey was skeptical at first. This time, however, a ring box came out of his pocket. Jake reports that Kelsey's expression went from "Get up, Idiot" to "Oh sh*t, he's not kidding" instantaneously. Tears were shed and the "YES!" couldn't have been more certain. We are so excited to celebrate the beginning of this next chapter of our lives with you! See you in June!