Lynsey's Perspective: Want to know how we met? Facebook Dating. Yes, you read that right. Good ol' Facebook. If you're single, don't knock it 'till you try it! We matched in November of 2022. We casually chatted off an on for a few months. We first connected over canning (even though neither of us have ever done it, but boy do we want to!), travel and most of all books. Kaidan had asked for my number at one point then guess what? He didn't text me until two months later. I didn't think much of it. I just kept keepin' on. Please note that Kaidan had a total of three photos on his dating profile, all of which you could tell were a little older, and I wasn't even sure he was a legit person/who he said he was. Then one day in January, I randomly get a text from some Kaidan person wanting to chat. Now I had to try and remember who this was because it WAS months later. We proceeded to text a little and in typical Kaidan fashion he calls me in the middle of the day just to talk. If you know me I don't love phone calls, especially from strangers, but I answered this time for some reason. I'm so glad I did. We chatted for a couple hours while I was running errands, and we chatted like we'd known each other forever. After that call, we set up three different instances to meet in person and go on a date. All of which I canceled on. For legit reasons might I add. Unbeknownst to me, Kaidan had a three strike rule. If a girl canceled a date or didn't show up or left him on read he would move on. Lucky for me, on the third cancellation I told him I couldn't drive the hour to Ogden to see him, BUT I could talk on the phone at least. We facetimed for the first time and we talked for EIGHT hours. Not only was this man real and who his dating profile said, but he was handsome, funny, sweet, smart, witty and easily my new favorite person to have a conversation with. We finally set up a quick meeting before our first date at a Starbucks. Kaidan brought Teddy, and I brought Murphy. They got along swimmingly, and so did we. Who could have guessed after we'd already been chatting constantly for weeks. The next day we went on our first date. We were just going to do brunch in SLC, but we ended up going on a drive through Park City and Heber, to a brewery back in SLC and then got dinner after. We hung out the entire day and neither of us were ready to go home. The rest is history. <3 Kaidan's Perspective: I matched with Lynsey on Facebook dating. The events that led to me ending up there looking for love initially left me feeling like I had hit rock bottom. But once I matched with Lynsey I realized I may have struck gold. I was on a work trip to California, and we chatted all through the night talking about canning and gardening. I was smitten right off, and she was all I could think about while working. Unfortunately, life got a little hectic between work, traveling, school and adjusting to life outside the Navy. So we didn't chat again for a couple of months. I checked our messages and realized I must have missed her message giving me her number so I reached out as soon as I realized. It wasn't long before we set up a date. She had to bail on that date though due to personal reasons. This happened another time or two but I couldn't wait. She was the only thing on my mind and I knew I had to give it my all, she seemed worth it. I finally suggested we chat on the phone and she said yes. After that we spoke on the phone almost every night; my roommates can testify. We chatted for hours, she was the most interesting person I'd ever met. She was bright, intelligent, witty, funny, charming and so much more. I couldn't wait to meet her. Finally, we were able to lock down a coffee date to meet before our first date that was planned for the following day. She brought Murphy and I brought Teddy. Everyone connected instantly and the rest is a tale as old as time. Needless to say, my initial thoughts of her were right on the mark! She's amazing! <3

I had originally planned to propose to Lynsey in the Tulip fields of Amsterdam. But the tulips had other plans. They refused to bloom so I had to make a last minute adjustment to my carefully laid out plans. We were having dinner in the charming medieval town of Bruges when I decided this picturesque place was the place to do it. I slyly googled a bridge near where we were eating and made our way there promptly after finishing our meal. Lynsey thought we were going to look at a bridge from a movie she showed me before our trip called "In Bruges". As we waited for our turn to cross the bridge I ran through my mind all the things I wanted to say for the millionth time. We walked onto the bridge and as we took in the town I suggested we take a picture. After we were in position, I pointed and said "Look a dog!" (The perfect distraction for Lynsey). As she eagerly searched for the dog I got down on my knee and waited for her to turn around. She turned around disappointed saying, "I don't see the dog". She was utterly stunned. She asked me half a dozen times if I was being serious or if I was messing with her while I was on my knee with a ring in my outstretched hands. I reassured her I was being serious, but in all that reassurance I had completely forgotten everything I wanted to say to her. I forgot what I was doing in fact. The nerves had completely rendered me mute. When she realized this was real, and that I was in fact not joking, she said yes! I was struck dumb and forgot that I am supposed to put the ring on her finger. She instructed me that I could in fact put the ring on, which I did as quickly as I could before she could change her mind. After the proposal we talked with a street artist who told us that our bridge has a serendipitous nickname, "The Love Bridge." He also happened to have one painting left of said bridge, so we bought it to hang up in our home. According to a Bruges local, the courtyard leading to the bridge also happens to filled with unique looking trees called Lindon trees, which is where the name Lynsey traditionally comes from or so we were told. It feels like this is exactly what the universe had in store for us!