Kelen and Katelin met during the fall of Kelen's senior year at WSU and Katelin's last semester before she would head to nursing school in Spokane. Their first time meeting each other was at The Coug sitting at a table in the bar with friends. After that day, they would find out that they lived blocks from each other. The two would spend multiple days a week hanging out at night with friends, going to Cougar football games, and exploring the Palouse. At this point it was time for Kelen to take Katelin on their first official date. On a weekend morning the two drove out to Washtucna to visit the Palouse Falls. They spent that chilly November day talking, laughing, and taking in the beauty of the Palouse Falls. When Katelin left for nursing school in Spokane in the winter Kelen made trips up on the weekends to visit her and her new puppy Tyson so they could hang out together. Kelen continued to make trips out to Spokane after graduating from WSU so he could spend as much time with Katelin as possible. The couple years of long distance brought them closer together than they may have thought and the rest is history. They now own a house together on Fox Island and are excited to get married and see what the future has in store for them!

As a couple we had a bucket list destination of visiting Banff, Canada to experience their beautiful winters and live "off the grid" for a week. Little did we know that it was going to be negative 12 degrees, our pipes would freeze and we would run out of wood to keep the house warm. That week was full of adventures of frozen hands and Tyson's frozen paws but some of the most beautiful snowshoeing, gondola rides, frozen lakes and cross country skiing. The day of the proposal we woke up early to head out to visit Banff and much to our surprise the car wouldn't start because it was frozen. Imagine the stress in Kelen's eyes when he didn't know if we were going to be able to start the car up and then his whole plan was going to be ruined. We ended up using a hair dryer to de-thaw the ignition and were able to depart! The first stop was lake Louise. The lake was frozen and so we started walking around as best as we could in the weather conditions. We didn't make it too far without Katie saying that she felt she needed to turn back because her hands were frozen. Kelen said thats fine but can we at least get some pictures. He set up his go pro and pressed play. When we went to go pose for pictures he got down on one knee and popped the question on film! Katie took her hand out of her glove just for a moment to get the ring on but had to immediately put her gloves back on and asked to go inside the Fairmont Chateau so she can warm up and actually look at it. The ring was purchased at Katie's family jewelry shop which made the proposal extra special. The proposal was full of frozen tears but warm hearts and beautiful experiences that will last a lifetime.