Logan and I met in our Bible study group in January 2023; however, we didn't start talking until August and we started our dating adventure that November. I, Logan, had my eye on Ally for a little while. But being part of the Bible Study, I didn't want to risk losing friends or causing any chaos. It wasn't until Ally and my best man, Tony, cornered me and convinced me to go to our Bible Study retreat in November of 2023 that anything started to happen. Being oblivious, as is a man's job, I had no idea. But others took notice, and then began to ask me when I was going to ask her out. "Eventually", I said, with no actual plans. The retreat came, and we (Ally and I) spent a good chunk of the weekend talking to each other; sometimes in groups, sometimes just the two of us while we were waiting to be able to brush our teeth or something. At the end of the retreat, Josh (one of my groomsmen) pulled me aside and told me I really just needed to make a move. The next day, Monday, we had Bible Study. I decided I'd finally go for it, but I had a plan: wait for Ally to leave, follow her out the door, and then we'd have a moment to ourselves which would make it easier! You see, Ally would normally leave relatively soon after we finished up. But no, not this evening! This time, Ally stuck around! And continued to stick around! So I was sitting there, thinking "Hm, when am I actually going to have a chance to do this?" At long last, she left, but also at the same time as several other members of our group! This made it ever so slightly awkward to just follow her to her car... so instead I went to my car first, telling myself I'd just ask her next week. I put my (massive) water bottle in my car, was about to get in, and then realized this was stupid and decided to just hop on over to Ally as she was getting in her car. So I did. Good thing, too, because otherwise I wouldn't have written this whole thing! I, Ally, noticed Logan the first time that I went to our Bible study (January 2023) and thought he was cute and tall but that he would never be interested in me. Little did I know that after that summer, I would start going back to Bible study, and that I would have even more interest in him than I thought. I started to tell Kyrie (my maid of honor) about "this boy at Bible study" that I didn't know much about but that I was determined to find out. I decided that I would start to talk with him more, learn all the things that I could, and start to embrace the risk of being known like our pastor at church always tells us. Then it was announced that we as a group would go on a retreat, but Logan was unsure as to if he was going to go or not. Well, Tony and I convinced him that he should go. That weekend, I started to put the feelers out there. We started to talk a lot. The following Monday was our Bible study's community night and I decided that I would stay a little longer than I normally would, to try and get to know others in the group. As the night ended and people started to leave, I decided that I should probably get home. Logan followed me out and I started to guess if he would ask me out or not, but he went to his car instead. So, I put my things in the car and was just about to get in when I noticed that he was coming over to me. He asked me if I "would like to get coffee with him, and that it would be as a date." I said yes! We exchanged numbers and planned a day. Afterwards, I got in my car, did a little squeal, turned around hoping that no one heard me, and texted Kyrie "HE ASKED ME OUT!"

Ally: Yes, I know. You are probably wondering what the giant red bandage is on my finger. Two days before we were supposed to go on a "hike" with some friends, I was cutting a bagel for breakfast at 5:30 am October 10th, 2024. I was almost done making the final cut when the knife came down too fast and I cut the middle finger on my left hand (I know, smooth right!). I, in panic, called my mother as I was watching my parents house and unsure what to do and if I should go to the ER. The cut (maybe skip this sentence if you get squeamish) was gushing blood, gaping and would not stop bleeding. My mother told me it would probably need stitches. So I drove to the ER in tears, worrying that I might lose my finger. I called Logan and told him I was on my way to the ER. He graciously met me there, but not before he bought a couple of pairs of no cut gloves. At the ER, I needed 2 stitches. And they gave me the bright red tape and no catch bandage. Logan: Two or three weeks before "the day", I texted Ally's best friend, Kyrie. I had the ring in hand, we had already been figuring that out for probably a month or two beforehand. It was time to get it done. I decided a hike up to Pulpit Rock would be super cool, especially around sunset time! I figured out a time that would work for Kyrie, and then I set to getting Ally to agree to the idea. I asked her if she would be interested in doing a short hike up to Pulpit Rock at sunset on Saturday! Unfortunately, there were many chickens that needed to be chickened into their chicken coop at that time, so it wasn't going to work.... so I suggested a late morning hike instead. Then came convincing her to invite Kyrie (who was already coming, but she didn't know that!). I suggested that we use this as an opportunity for Kyrie to meet two of our friends from Bible Study, Tony and Emily. She agreed that would be a good idea, and so I "invited" Tony and Emily - they were already invited, but, well...that's another story. Point is, they were already invited. Everyone knew who was coming and what was happening except one person - Ally. So I told Ally she should invite Kyrie, so that she could meet our friends. She wasn't sure about that, thinking that Kyrie would be unhappy that we had invited other people along on the hike. Eventually I convinced her that it would be all good, and she invited Kyrie. So now everyone was going! Perfect! Right...? The day is Thursday. The time is 6:00 in the morning. I'm getting up, just about to get ready for work. My phone begins ringing. It's Ally! Uh-oh, did she forget about something on Saturday and she can't go on the hike? Did something happen to one of the dogs? Did the chicken coop get left open? No, no, and no. She cut herself. Not on purpose! But she did indeed cut herself. She told me what had happened and that she was headed to the ER, and I told her I would be there ASAP. As soon as the phone call ended, I pulled up Amazon, searched "no cut gloves", and hit Buy now. Then to the ER I went... A couple days later, we went on the hike. It was hot. Not just because Ally was there, though. I just wasn't thinking about it actually being warm when we hiked. Whoops. Anyway, we got to the top of Pulpit Rock, and I pulled the ring pop out of my bag. Did I open it in advance? Nah, why would I do that? We walked to the edge of the rock and I popped the question. Well, I was going to. It took like three hours to open the ring pop first. But then I popped the question!