April 21st, 2014, 16 years old, we both happened to be on Spring Break at Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach. Jason was with two of his friends, Joe and Evan, chasing after my friends, MaKenna, Michelle, Caley, and myself on golf carts. I was driving our golf cart and, naturally, trying to be cool/showoff and whipping this golf cart entirely too fast. The boys are following suit and doing their best to get us to stop and talk to them. Oh to be 16 again at Ocean Lakes :') Consumed with the exhilaration of being chased by a golf cart of cute boys, and not focusing on anything other than how cool I felt, I skrrtttt right past security and next thing I know I'm pulled over, security officer screaming in my face, the cute-boys-chase is over, and I am humiliated. Lucky for me, Jason thought it was cute. ;) We kept in touch after heading back to our homes, despite the 2 hour distance between us. Talking almost every day, we continued to meet up at Ocean Lakes every spring break. MaKenna and I drove to Icard on a whim later that year to watch one of Jason's basketball games, where we were both introduced to the infamous Denver Ice Travel Basketball Team, better known as "Dice", also known as Jason's entire squad of childhood best friends. Jason's parent's even drove him all the way to Burnsville for my 17th birthday party. <3 (Where he tried to give me a kiss on the basement stairs and was rejected... but he doesn't like to talk about that). ;) Fast forward a couple years, we don't keep in touch much besides wishing each other Happy Birthday because we both ended up in relationships. Fast forward again, it's 2018. I haven't heard from him in a couple years. My parents are moving me into my new apartment in Charlotte right before the start of Spring Semester and I get a text from Jason. I'm thinking "OMG!! It's my beach boy!!!" *insert the heart eyes emoji* May 18th, 2018, I finally agreed to hang out with him in person. We went on a date and the rest is history! Since 2014, I think a part of me always knew it would be him. <3

I had coordinated for Kiersten’s best friend, Allie, to take some pictures of us on July 7th, 2023. I was going to propose during the pictures. Kiersten had been begging for a couple’s session with Allie. Well, in late June, I decided to call the pictures off. At this point, I had had the ring for a few months and was 100% ready to get on one knee! But I had a feeling Kiersten was suspicious and somewhat expecting a proposal. I’d be darned if I proposed and she wasn’t completely surprised! Now I have to come up with a completely different plan. Challenge Accepted. First week August 2023 I start brainstorming new ideas. We had a vacation with her family planned to Denver, Colorado that was quickly approaching…..in 3 weeks. She would never see it coming so I knew I wanted to do it there. Kiersten’s biggest request regarding a proposal I knew was that Allie had to be there and had to take the pictures. So I Booked Allie’s flight (along with her mother who was going to video). Me and Allie got to work planning the details. August 22nd, 2023 (proposal day!) At this point we’d been vacationing for a few days. But there was one thing missing. Arguably the most important thing! I still had yet to ask her father for his blessing. It was proposal day and Allie was already in Colorado. I had chickened out the entire trip. Finally, with only a few hours to spare, I worked up the courage and asked her father for his blessing. Thank God he gave it to me! By this time Allie and her mom were setting up at the location we agreed upon, Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It was late afternoon and we had to drive 1.5 hours to get there. Kiersten was a little frustrated with me because I had been staring at my phone all day and seemed a little “off”. Little did she know, I had been planning something she had been waiting on for a very long time. On the way to Red Rocks I told Kiersten we were going on a date. Just to spend some one-on-one time with each other. I told her we’re going on a short hike to picnic and watch the sunset. I was so nervous and so worked up that my stomach was in knots. I couldn’t start the hike without stopping at the bathroom first. Worst timing ever! I was also trying to call Allie while Kiersten was waiting outside the bathroom to figure out exactly what bushes she was hiding in. It ended up being almost a 30 minute bathroom break… so by the time I walked out, Kiersten was rather annoyed because the sun was already starting to set. We started walking down the trail and I realized my fake picnic plan was not the best cover up. There was no picnic set up nor did I even have a blanket to lay down to allude to a picnic. Luckily, just 50 yards down the trail, I saw Allie and her mother in the bushes, hiding and waiting on us. As we got to the designated spot, I stopped for a second. I was shaking. I’m very noticeably acting a little weird and my whole picnic story is not adding up or making sense to Kiersten. Her exact words: “Jason. What the heck are you doing?! Why would we be having a picnic smack dab in the middle of this trail where the most foot traffic is and with no food or picnic stuff? Do you know what a picnic is??”. I knew my picnic story was a lost cause. I couldn’t stall anymore. I grabbed her hands, dropped down to one knee, and asked her to marry me. To be my forever. She said yes! Allie and her mother came crawling out of the bushes, catching Kiersten by extreme surprise. Gorgeous sunset, perfect view, no one in sight but the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. And she never saw it coming. Mission Accomplished. And that was the day I asked the woman of my dreams to marry me! A proposal in Denver, Colorado and a wedding in Denver, North Carolina. We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in Denver!