Jesse and Lauren met at church 5 years ago and soon became friends. Jesse was an avid climber and showed the ropes (pun intended) to their group of friends. In time, Jesse fell hard for Lauren, and Lauren fell hard (and often!) while climbing. It took Lauren a bit more time, but she eventually came around (she is stubborn of course). After coming back from a long and amazing camping trip (in Glacier!!), Jesse had the brilliant idea to confess his feelings to Lauren just days before she moved to China. By that time, Lauren was hooked, reciprocated, and they started their virtual relationship separated by 7,470 miles and 13 time zones. You can probably guess how well that went.... Feeling they were headed on different paths, Jesse and Lauren parted ways (metaphorically, of course, seeing as how they couldn't physically get any further from each other). They remained friends for a while. Then, like the gluttons for punishment they are, they took another shot at the long-distance thing. And guess what-it stuck! Though Lauren moving back to KC soon after probably helped a bit... And THEN they lived happily ever after... In all seriousness, it's been a windy road, but at this point we're all in and couldn't be happier. Walking through a lot together- both within our relationship and outside of it- we've realized there's no one else we'd rather do life with. And so, we'd love to have you come celebrate that commitment with us!

We traveled to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with some of Lauren's family. I (Jesse) had bought the ring in KC and brought it along for when the time felt right. I made the wise decision to loop her family in, a decision that would payoff in dividends. Lauren's sister, Erin, and mom, Sheri, were quick to course-correct my casual plan into something we'd all remember. Our day started with playing in the ocean and a bike ride. Erin posed to the group to dress up and take pictures on the beach that evening. Just before walking down to the beach, Erin claimed that there was an emergency needing her attention and promised to join us quickly. The rest of the gang put on Oscar winning performances and followed Erin. Lauren and I got some time alone to walk down the beach, and let me tell ya, I totally kept my cool (in spite of the obsessive-compulsive checking for the ring in my pocket). Little did she know that the rest of the gang was driving down to the other end of the beach to place a bottle and write a message in the sand. Eventually, we made our way the bottle, and I gave it to Lauren. At that point the tears started to flow as she had a pretty good idea of what was happening. Embarrassingly, the message got stuck and she had to fish it out of the bottle. After reading her the letter, I walked down to the ocean looking for the writing in the sand. After what felt like an eternity, I gave up on finding it and got on one knee. After proposing, her parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came out from the sand dunes to celebrate with a picnic on the beach!