Our story began on September 25, 2024 when we had our first date at the Westwood in Rathdrum. We had a great time talking at the bar and playing trivia, and as it just so happened, some of Jaren’s work friends sat across the room and decided to make funny faces at us in the bar mirror! As always, Jaren’s mad trivia skills put mine to shame, but we had an incredible first date anyways! We spent the next couple months getting to know each other and spending time with friends, before introducing each other to our families over the holidays. Then in January those three little words came along!

In February 2025, we took our first two short trips - first to Kalispell, then to Hot Springs, MT! In May, we took our first long road trip down to Kayla’s hometown of Grand Junction, CO to spend time with family. We had so much fun exploring, off-roading in Moab, and learning about the area’s history from Jaren’s research! LOL! We had no idea so much stuff went down 45 minutes from home! In June, we had an incredible long weekend in Salmon - staying in the old courthouse and jail, and rzr riding all over the canyon! On the first day of summer, we rode up to Long Tom Lookout and got caught in a snowstorm at the top, then rode back down to the bottom and were back in t-shirt weather! It was quite a bipolar day! In August, Jaren threw me the most amazing surprise 30th birthday party a girl could ever dream of! He picked Kayla up in his Dad’s Buick, then we met up with his Dad and Jaren’s new mini truck to swap rides, and drove the rest of the way to the party in style! He even flew Kayla’s parents, brother, and brother’s girlfriend up for the weekend! In September, we went camping with friends in Polebridge, MT for the first time! We stayed at the Schnaus Cabin, went rzr riding each day, then relaxed in the evenings next to the campfire. It was a magical weekend and ended with seeing a big, beautiful, white wolf!

In March 2026, we went exploring in Polson and Ronan, MT for the first time together - that wasn’t in a blizzard! Polson is Jaren’s second favorite place after Salmon, and I fell in love with the area that weekend too! Then we went back to the Schnaus Cabin hoping for a couple days of snowshoeing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much snow left, but we took a walk down to the river anyways. It was a beautiful, overcast day, and we were admiring the mountain and river views when Jaren said he had to ask me a question, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! And of course I said yes! Now we’re excited to share one of our favorite and most special places with our closest family and friends for our most special day yet!