We were both members of the swim team at Papillion LaVista High School. One day after swim practice, Jake asked for Kristen's phone number and we started texting. We were both VERY awkward, as most high schoolers are. After a few weeks of texting each other and hanging out in person, Jake asked Kristen if she would be his girlfriend, and she said she would love to. So, on September 13, 2014, we officially started dating.

We dated all throughout our junior and senior years of high school. We knew we were both going to different colleges, but since we were only going to be 90 minutes apart - Jake in Hastings and Kristen in Lincoln - we decided to give long-distance dating a go. Monthly visits and frequent FaceTimes got us through Jake's three years of college. Then, in the summer of 2019, Jake accepted a job offer at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and moved there shortly after. This was hard on our relationship as Kristen was still in Lincoln finishing up her senior year and visits weren't as easy anymore. But with the pandemic starting in March of 2020, Jake temporarily moved back home to be with his family, and we were able to see each other much more often again. Then, that June, after Kristen had graduated college, we both moved back up to Wisconsin and into our first apartment together. Shortly after, we adopted our adorable dog, Paisley.

In July of 2021, Jake, his family, and Kristen, went on vacation to Utah to hike the national parks. It wasn't exactly a secret that Jake was going to propose to Kristen on this trip, but she didn't know exactly when it was going to happen. On the third day of the trip, we were driving from our first stay at Capitol Reef National Park to our second stop - Bryce Canyon National Park. On the drive, we decided to pull off to the side of the road to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery. Kristen was oblivious, taking pictures, not realizing what was about to happen. Jake said he wanted to get some pictures together, so she turned around with him and saw all the members of the family holding up their cameras. After taking a few normal pictures together, Jake got down on one knee and asked Kristen to marry him. Obviously, she said yes!