We're getting married!

Kaylyn and Travis met in Logan, Utah in the summer of 2016 at a Navigators potluck bbq, the day after Kaylyn moved into town. Both were studying at Utah State University and were involved in the Navigators Christian collegiate ministry. That year Kaylyn and Travis got to know each other and became friends through lots of time spent with the Navigators crew and movie nights at Kaylyn's townhouse that was affectionately named "The Ranch". In the summer of 2017 Kaylyn helped coordinate a river float on the Oneida Narrows of the Bear River in southern Idaho with the Navigators. The group brought float tubes, stand-up paddleboards, and a two person inflatable kayak (aka, Duckie) to float down a few mile stretch of lazy river and mild rapids. Travis and Kaylyn discovered each other's love for water and the river. On the second float of the day, after having balanced on a stand-up paddleboard for the first float, Kaylyn wanted to try out the duckie. Travis also expressed interest in wanting to try the duckie, (or maybe just interest in wanting to float with Kaylyn?), so they paired up and set out. Within the first few minutes on the water, the tandem kayakers were struggling to keep the duckie pointed straight down the river and not gently spinning in circles like the Disneyland teacup ride down the Lazy River. Despite spinning in circles down the river and Kaylyn jumping overboard to avoid an overhanging branch with a giant spider attached to it, both thoroughly enjoyed their time on the river together.

Fast forward a few months and Travis starts to want more than friendship with Kaylyn. So, after a couple missed opportunities due to friends unknowingly pseudo third wheeling, he asks her out to coffee. This was certainly a surprise for Kaylyn, but a pleasant one. Their first date was at Kneader's Bakery, where they didn't drink coffee, but ate a light meal instead. Kaylyn, being nervous, but not being a nervous eater, didn't finish the bread bowl with tomato bisque Travis had bought her. Travis was disappointed that she did not offer her leftover bread bowl for him to finish off for her. A second date was planned, and this time, hot chocolate. It was on this date that Kaylyn turned Travis down from another date. While romantic relationship was turned down, it was agreed that the platonic relationship would continue. No ghosting, no avoiding each other for fear of awkwardness, just remain friends and move on. Something to note: Travis likes yoga and math. Kaylyn likes stand-up paddle boarding (aka SUP) and failed a Summer 2017 online statistics class. Before dating, Kaylyn and Travis enrolled in a SUP Yoga class, and Kaylyn, along with a couple other friends, enrolled in a Stats class, which Travis enrolled in to help Kaylyn and Troy (one of the groomsmen) not fail again. Spring semester of 2018, Kaylyn and Travis spent probably more time together and became closer friends than they had the previous year. The mornings were spent sitting through stats class, and in the evenings there was SUP Yoga at the USU pool. Travis showed up to every stats class, even though it wasn't his grade that depended on it. After classes at the pool, Travis would wait for Kaylyn to emerge from the women's locker room so he could walk her to her car, then would request that she let him know when she made it home safely. Travis remained a genuine, caring friend to Kaylyn, not expecting anything beyond friendship. At the end of Spring 2018, Travis graduated and moved away from Logan, UT.

After Travis graduated, he moved back to Greeley, CO. Prior to graduating Travis had been hired to be on staff with the Navigators in Japan starting in 2019, and had staff training scheduled to start early summer of 2018. Travis took time out of his training to return to Logan for a wedding, the bride being the friend who had initially introduced Kaylyn to the Utah Navigators group by bringing her to the BBQ where Travis and Kaylyn had first met. Both Kaylyn and Travis were part of the bridal party, and Deonna, the bride, purposefully paired them together. Their first walk down an isle together. Travis returned to Greeley and continued fundraising and preparations for a two year commitment in Japan. His plans for employment with the Navigators in Japan fell through later that summer, so he remained in Colorado while searching for a new job. In the meantime, Travis returned to Logan for a visit and surprised friends who were gathering at the park for an evening Bible study. Travis eventually found a job working on the production floor at Vestas, building wind turbine blades. The schedule included lot's of four day weekends, and allowed Travis to travel. In 2019 one of Travis's road trips included returning for another visit to Logan. This particular trip took place in March, at the tail end of USU's spring break. Kaylyn was in Salt Lake City, after returning from her spring break trip to visit family, and had stayed with a friend the night before Travis came to town. Kaylyn had asked Travis if on his way through Salt Lake City, he could stop and take her the rest of the way back to Logan. They enjoyed a pleasant 1 1/2 hour car ride talking and catching up with each other. That weekend, Kaylyn and Travis got to spend a lot of time together. Each day that Travis was in town they spent time together.

The weekend spent together made Kaylyn start to think that maybe she wanted more than friendship. But was there any chance Travis would be willing to give her a second chance after she had turned him down? Kaylyn sat with a good friend, Hannah (one of the bridesmaids), and expressed her feelings for Travis, to which Hannah responded with much enthusiasm and encouragement to express those feelings to Travis (preferably in person before he left town). Before Travis left Logan, there was a plan to go with friends to a country swing dance in town. Kaylyn and Travis were both planning on dancing that night, so Kaylyn had texted Travis, "If it's easier, I can give a ride over when you're ready... Actually, can we ride together so I get a chance to talk to you?", which freaked Travis out immensely. Travis, who had been staying at Joseph's place during the visit, turned to Joseph with, "Look what Kaylyn just texted me...". Joseph (one of the groomsmen) responded with something like, "Yeah, so, you don't live here. What's the worst that could happen?" So, they met at 9:30pm to go dancing, which unbeknownst to Kaylyn had been cancelled. But Travis, wanting to have this conversation, kept quiet about the fact that dancing had been cancelled. Kaylyn and Travis drove to the fairgrounds. Upon "discovering" that the dancing had been cancelled, Travis suggested going to Cold Stone Creamery, because he had a gift card to there. After ice cream they drove back to Kaylyn's house, where they sat in the car and talked. During that conversation Kaylyn stated, "Could we talk more?". Travis countered with, "Do you mean platonically, or...", to which Kaylyn responded "I don't know." (which Travis though was not very helpful). Travis went home the next day. Over the next few weeks Kaylyn in Travis communicated consistently, sending each other good morning messages, updates about their days and work, and occasional video calls. After a while, both decided that it was time for a DTR.

The first DTR (define the relationship) ended with deciding to think and pray on deciding whether or not to date long distance. In Travis's mind, the amount of communication they'd already had was what he pictured a dating relationship to be like. One week later, April 7, 2019 they had a video call and decided to start dating (officially).

Now Travis was in Colorado and Kaylyn was in Utah. The first time the couple got to be in person was at the beginning of May, for USU's graduation. Travis devised to arrive earlier than he told Kaylyn he would be arriving, and used Awbrey to find where Kaylyn would be studying. He pulled up a chair next to her in the library and gave her a Kiss (dark chocolate). After Graduation Kaylyn went back to Colorado with Travis for a few days to officially meet his family. Once Travis' weekend was over Kaylyn flew back to Utah (the first of many airport 'good byes'). One week later Travis flew out to California for Mother's Day with Kaylyn and her family. All .Of Them. At once. At the same party. Uncle Mark told Kaylyn that "That boyfriend of yours, he's a keeper." (Turns out Travis has an okay sense of humor.) After the party they went for a romantic walk and then got to play with a litter of adorable baby bunnies. (That peed on Travis.) After this week they did not see each other again for a few weeks, when Travis drove out to Utah for Memorial Day. Now Travis had made plans in February to quit his job at Vestas in June to go to India for 5 weeks, then move to New York afterward, to live with his sister Jessie and her benevolent husband Bryan. Kaylyn said that Travis should continue with this plan. So the couple met one last time for rafting the Arkansas river before Travis left for India. This meeting was the last time they lived in the same time zone until Travis moved to Salt Lake City in 2020.

Did you know that India is 11 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Utah? Well it is. Did you know that where Travis when in India did not have great internet service? They made it work. Travis calling in the mornings or evenings, writing texts to send when service hit and long responses to texts received. Kaylyn worked at the National Ability Center during this time and occasionally had Travis on the phone for her commute. She would send snap chats of horse and Travis would not send snapchats of spiders. When Travis returned her came out to Utah for a few days to see his Girlfriend (He arrived clean shaven, which did not go over well.) While she worked he went to the Library to submit job applications. A week after returning to Colorado, Travis moved to Ithaca, New York (August 2020).