It was the start if the school year at Cheyenne Mountain High School. Louis, a senior, and Kristen, a junior, met in Mr. Schultz’s Problem Solving for Engineers class. Louis had wanted to ask Kristen to homecoming, but sadly had missed the opportunity. She would have said yes. It would not be for another year that they would get together, but they got to know each other as friends while in class together.

While attending the Cheyenne Mountain Homecoming Game, Kristen was hanging out with her friends in the band section (she was a band geek who was not in the band). Sitting in front of her with his tall stature, wide shoulders, and sandy blonde hair was Louis. He was visiting for the game and was in the band section, because he too had friends in the band but was himself not in the band. Kristen decided to be playful and kicked Louis in the butt, starting an inside joke that she kicked his butt so they would get together. After talking and catching up, they went out with friends for food and had a great time. Kristen told Louis that he should call her sometime, but he didn't ask for her number, so she assumed he was not actually interested. She figured he just wanted to be friends. However, a few days later, Kristen got a voicemail from Louis. He had searched high and low to find her phone number because she never gave it to him. Kristen was very happy and excited by this, called him back and they spent hours on the phone catching up and getting to know each other. They set a first date to go out on Friday October 13, 2006.

What was supposed to be the first date for Kristen and Louis, gained a third wheel. He left her a long message that she still has saved on her phone to this day.

After an interrupted date, Kristen and Louis tried a second time as just the two of them. Louis showed up to Kristen's house to pick her up in his 1979 Yellow Mustang. They started the night out with a trip to the movies. Going to the movies on the weekends became a tradition for a while. After the movie, they went over to Montague's, a cute little coffee house that has the feeling of the Hogwarts common room. They sat by the fireplace in two wing backs and drank hot chocolate while talking about random things. To this day, Kristen still remembers Louis talking about the Silent Hill movie and telling her to have him stop whenever because he was just rambling nervously. Once done with hot chocolate and conversations, Louis wanted to show Kristen the stars. They drove up the mountain and parked to get a good view of the stars and the city lights. It was quite beautiful and quite romantic. When they decided to head back down the mountain, the mustang lights decided to stop working. It was quite the harrowing time driving down the mountainside with no lights, but they made it back down safely. It was a great second first date and a story to always remember.

After much discussion and heartfelt thoughts, Kristen and Louis decided to do long distance while Kristen pursued her lifelong dream of becoming an architect. She moved away to California to attend California Polytechnic State University while Louis stayed in Denver studying Game Arts at Westwood College. They decided that there was no reason to throw away a good thing just because society says long distance relationships do not work. They wanted to at least try and see where it went. It was hard and sometimes lonely, but they supported each other through out the process, encouraged each other with school, and were there for phone calls and video chats as often as possible. Five years is a long time to be away from the one you love, but true love kept them together, and after focusing on individual goals, they were able to focus on life goals together. Kristen moved back to Colorado in 2012. The economy was still not great for the architectural business, so Kristen found a job where she could, which happened to be in Colorado Springs. Louis was living and working in the Boulder area, so for the next year, they continued long distance, but in a much more manageable way. Being able to see each other on weekends was much better than every three months. In the summer of 2013, Kristen was able to find a job in Boulder. Louis and Kristen could finally start their relationship together in the same city.