It didn't take us long to cross paths as we both began college at the University of St. Thomas in the fall of 2013. Our social circles overlapped quite a bit between both joining the cross country and track & field teams and sharing freshman biology and chemistry classes in common. Though we sat on opposite sides of the room in these classes, we soon began walking to and from classes together and meeting each other for lunch in the cafeteria every day. Study dates in the library consisted more of story telling and laughing than actual studying. At the end of our freshman year on a chilly night in May filled with kite flying and star gazing, we decided to take the leap from best friends to a romantic relationship, and we never looked back! Over the course of the next 7 years we have celebrated each other's athletic, academic, and professional accomplishments. The phrase "distance makes the heart grow fonder" proved true more than ever in 2018 as Kayla moved to Chicago for PA school and Ryan stayed in Minneapolis for his job. After a year of long distance and five years of dating, Ryan proposed in May, 2019. We moved in to our first apartment together in the middle of the 2020 pandemic and look forward to soon moving in to our very first home, which we purchased recently! We couldn't be more excited to finally be marrying one another and to start building our lives together.