As told by Kim The first time I met Conner was at a fundraising event my sorority put on Sophomore year. My friend Nate stopped by and brought along his new friend Conner. For the next year, I would continue to joke with Nate that I had a crush on Conner, however I claimed it was more like a "celebrity crush." By Fall of Junior year, Nate was helping to set us up. I would go over to their house and hang out but would avoid actually talking to Conner at all cost. Obviously I had to play hard to get (or just really nervous). After Conner finally asked for my number, he proceeded to invite me over for lunch at his house with some of the guys, then told me he actually wouldn’t be there… I got the hint and realized he wasn’t into me. Eventually, we went on our first date to Yeti yogurt and 3.5 years later we’re still awkward and stubborn, but a little more open about our feelings towards each other. As told by Conner Kim and I met sophomore year of college when my friend (and her longtime friend) Nate and I were at a philanthropic event her sorority was hosting. The interaction was brief but the impression was lasting and on the way home I (semi)jokingly asked Nate if he was into her. He said no, I said she was cute, and that was the end of the story. About a year later she started to show up at some of the events my house was hosting. I thought she was there to hang out with Nate until I noticed she was at the ones Nate wasn’t even at and it became clear she was playing the long con. After a month or two Nate started playing matchmaker, and eventually I awkwardly asked for her number. I tried to play it cool while texting, but apparently I played it too cool because she stopped responding and was convinced I had absolutely no interest. It took some corrective action from our personal cupid, but eventually we went on our first date to yeti yogurt (RIP) and never looked back. 3+ years and countless dessert runs later, here we are.

As told by Nate Flood Kimmy and I have been really good friends going all the way back to high school and through college. This meant that she knew of most of my friends and the guys that I lived with. From the very beginning of learning about Conner, Kimmy wasn’t shy about making her interest known… but only to me. At this point I had never brought Kimmy’s name up to Conner; that didn’t stop him from discovering his own interest in her and who she was. One night after going to Kimmy’s sorority for a fundraiser, Conner finally met Kimmy for himself and began to ask about her as much as she was asking about him. Since I knew that both Kimmy and Conner were mutually interested in each other, I began trying to set them up. Despite my persuasive hints neither of them seemed to believe me that they were on the same page. After having many “I promise he/she is into you” conversations with each of them and a few different times of them running into each other, something between the two of them really started to spark Fast forward about a year from their first time meeting to a night where we were all hanging out at the Ave House. Before Kimmy had to head home, her and Conner awkwardly started hinting to each other that they would like to keep talking—What happens next is still to this day the most controversial fact that both Conner and Kimmy will vehemently deny, but even so it still remains a fact…After all I was the only one that was not clouded by a flurry of emotional excitement— after Conner mentioned something about talking later and leaving it very vague, Kimmy stepped up and said “well are you going to ask for my number then?”… and that folks is where it all began. Kimmy and I then walked out of the front door and it couldn’t have been any sooner after the door closed that she jumped up with excitement and said “Nate he finally got my number!!”. My work was now done and the two of them finally believed me when I told them that they both liked each other.

The day did not start as planned. We were hoping to catch the sunrise up at Mt. Rainier, however the road up to Sunrise (the location) was closed. We were forced to turn around and loop to the far side of Mt. Rainier, hoping to still catch the last bits of morning. When we made it we were greeted by a lovely thick fog completely consuming the area. By the time we found an overlook to cook breakfast at the sun was already well up, but the clouds had rolled away and presented a beautiful view of the mountains and valley below. As we were cleaning up, Conner set up his tri-pod to take a picture of us in front of the view (and perhaps planning a little more than that?). Like straight out of a movie, just as everything was perfectly set up and the camera was ready, we looked up and watched as the fog rapidly descended into the valley and completely obscured the view within a matter of seconds. Deciding that this was no longer an ideal location, we finished our breakfast and packed up to continue on with the rest of the day. As the day progressed, Conner's list of potential locations slowly started to dwindle down as the weather and crowds (dang tour buses) continued to get in the way of finding a quiet, beautiful spot. Conner slowly grew more and more anxious until finally there was only one spot left they had yet to go, Lake Tipsoo. Meanwhile, Kim had no idea what was going on. The clouds continued to roll in and out, but at the edge of the lake Conner set up the tripod and continued to recite the words in his head that he had been memorizing over the past week. After a brief wait that felt like much longer to Conner, the clouds cleared and the last couple people started heading back to their cars. It was finally the moment - Conner set the timer on the camera and went to join Kim on the bridge. Conner was down on one knee and halfway through his speech (she hadn't even seen the ring yet), when Kim said yes to a question he hadn't even gotten out of his mouth yet.