Once upon a time a dragon kept a princess named Krysta trapped in a castle. Jesse came and saved her. Scratch that. Our story has been much more exciting and romantic than any fairytale. It all started when both Krysta and Jesse swiped right on each other's profiles on the app, Bumble, to indicate our initial interest. We started messaging (Krysta reached out first as required by this app) and we soon set up a time to meet in person. We chose somewhere in the middle of Anaheim and Whittier and wound up at Laguna Lake Park, a place that we often return to for long walks and good talks. It's also where we took our engagement photo shoot and we will always hold it special. On that first date, I (Krysta) remember feeling like Jesse was so easy to talk to. He was funny, charming, and easy on the eyes. I came home that night much more excited about how it went than I was expecting and gushed to a few friends pretty quickly. And I have had love goggles on ever since! Jesse still gives me a hard time about upgrading his offer of Yogurtland to sushi after our walk on that first date. I still hold that it was dinnertime and I did not want to skip to dessert! And I will always give him a hard time about waiting an unreasonably long 3 whole days to message me!

During the first 6 months of dating, we spent our time adventuring and getting to know each other! We spent lots of days near the beach, went on a few hikes, and even enjoyed a few nights out dancing. We cooked together and circled around to conversations about life, faith, values, dreams, and more. We started introducing each other to our friends and slowly to family. The day Krysta finally met Mia was a big one! We often found ourselves delighted by our connection and reiterating phrases like "we're really into each other right now" and wondering if that feeling would ever fade.

As most of my stories start with the 7th grade and can go on and on, I'll pick up simply in 2017. I did a lot more traveling, reading, and introspective growth that year. I once heard author Jordan B. Peterson talk about marrying his wife and posing the question: What's more romantic? Waiting a number of years to know all the little idiosyncrasies about another person and then decide whether you want to marry them or not, or you could say, I love you so much right now, I'm willing to look past all the unimportant differences we may have and commit to you forever. And the latter is exactly how I feel about Krysta. And I know she feels the same way about me. When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2018 I had to break the news to her. I expressed that I had a really good support system with my family and that she didn't have to join me to fight this cancer battle. She said, "If we break up it will be because we don't get along or have some major differences in values or beliefs on a topic, but not because of cancer.." Awww, I know right.. But things got even more real. As the chemo regimen and schedule ramped up and our daily lives were being shaped by what this was, we of course had our moments of ups and downs. But through it all, we never let cancer or chemo define what our relationship was. I told Krysta one night, "I can't wait for all this chemo to be done and cancer to be gone and we can really get out and date and you can get to know me even better for who I really am, not this cancer patient" She responded, "Jesse, I already know you. It doesn't matter if you have to live with cancer for the rest of your life and we have to go to chemo for certain periods of time, I know you and I love you for who you are through all of this." Cue my tears. Then planning a proposal, naturally. To read more about the proposal or catch up on the cancer journey both blogs are available at: http://jessedaniel.me/

When my dad met Krysta I did not know what to expect, all I thought about was the future. Sometimes I thought my dad did not love me anymore but I know he still loves me and I love him. Okay, I thought Krysta was mean because like I said I didn`t know what to expect but now that I got to know Krysta I know she is really nice and now I trust her and like her.

Now that you know everyone's version of at least part of the story, we invite you to join us for the rest! We cannot wait to celebrate with our friends and family at the wedding and then continue sharing life with you as we establish our little family. Thank you for all the love and support! Love, J+K+M