When Michael arrived in northern Namibia to conduct field work, Nicole, who was just wrapping up her research there, showed him the lay of the land and helped him get set up in camp. After weeks of living out of a tent and backpack, Michael quickly shaved his Joe Dirt'esc facial hair upon meeting Nicole. They quickly bonded over which ski pass to get for the upcoming winter, and developed a friendship that would flourish over the next few months as they set out exploring the Colorado Front Range with new friends. After our first kiss under the Great Sand Dunes' stars in October, we decided to make it official. Hundreds of camping trips, cribbage matches, climbing adventures, cute animal texts, ski days, and a couple cats later....here we are! *written by Nicole and Michael

Nicole is a planner and has most weekends accounted for months in advance, so surprising her is no easy feat. With the help of several co-conspirators (most notably Cole's mom) we convinced Nicole that our good friends Cole and Sarah were set to get engaged the weekend of July 4th. In actuality, the weekend was meant as our engagement celebration in Leadville, CO with a group of friends. While the plan succeeded in throwing Nicole off the trail, it also had some unintended side effects. Nicole enthusiastically started planning an engagement celebration for the soon to be newlyweds, including buying champagne, printing photographs, acquiring decorations, and planning meals for a weekend that was quickly beginning to look better than the one Michael had planned. As the engagement date grew near, Michael began to panic, expecting Nicole to find the ring, flowers, cards, or wine hidden around the house at any moment. So Michael pivoted and decided to propose on a nearby hike at Apex Park, in Golden - a hike that we've done countless times together and feels special to us. Nicole was very surprised (and concerned that we were stealing Cole's thunder), but wordlessly agreed to marry him. Due to their joint planning efforts, the engagement celebration was a blast. We look forward to celebrating some more with all of you in August. *written by Michael #DownToHurth