Welcome to our beginning...

Her take: Valley View Youth Group will always be a special place for us. We met at the Christmas Party/ Gift Exchange in 2018. There were easily 60 people there but Kurtis noticed that I hadn't received a gift. He came up to me and handed me a rice krispee treat box and said "I got this for you!" with a huge grin on his face. I opened it and it was a nerf gun. We spent the evening serving the Lord, serving the youth group, and getting to know one another. He will always be that goofy guy vacuuming the youth room while dancing. His take: We met on December 19th 2018 at Valley View Youth Group. It was the Christmas gift exchange and this CUTE girl had shown up to help lead. I asked around and learned that she had been a leader for quite some time and was back for Christmas break. She was so caring and helpful that I just had to find an excuse to say hi. Here it was! She was the only one in the room without a gift! I grabbed our last present and thanked the Lord as I made my way over to give it to her. She smiled and I melted and that's how I met my future wife.

Her take: Kurtis and I had gone to a friend's wedding and Kurtis made us leave early for a "fun thing." We drove to Mount Tabor, the place that we went on our first date. It was freezing and I asked to change into my comfy clothes before we walked up to the top (considering I was in a dress and heels from the wedding) and Kurtis told me no. I am not going to lie I was salty about how cold it was, but all was forgiven when we got to the top and Kurtis had set up a little space with candles, pretty greenery, and an old window frame from my house that I was going to paint someday. The window read "Marry me?" I don't really remember a whole lot, as I was overwhelmed in the best way, but Coralyn and Kenny were there, and Malcolm was there to take photos of it all. Such a sweet, sweet moment. :) Kurtis then took me back to his parents house where we were going to have a "chill night," but he had actually planned an engagement party for us. Such a surprise!! It was such a fun night filled with excitement and smiles. I felt so loved not only by Kurtis but by all of our family and friends. His take: On the day we went to our friend's wedding. Sydney really felt bad we had left early and I had to act genuinely remorseful about leaving early while running through everything that had to go right in the next hour. We arrived at Mt. Tabor and poor Sydney just wanted to change out of her dress into comfy clothes. I barely convinced her not to. It was a cold walk, but I knew it would all be worth it in a moment. Finally, we reached the top! I got down on one knee and asked Sydney to marry me. My best friend took photos and two of my siblings where there as well. A huge weight was lifted as we drove to my parents house and I realized I didn't have to keep the secret any longer! Our friends and family were waiting there to surprise Sydney and celebrate the wonderful night with the two of us.