Before we ever began dating, our lives were already connected. From attending the same weekly small group, to volunteering together, from becoming neighbors to co-hosting events in our homes, our bond (slowly) formed through shared faith, steady spiritual growth, and showing up for our community. We saw a lot of each other. Some memorable moments include: inviting myself to Brennan’s bodybuilding show (then dis-inviting myself once I understood what it entailed), helping me and my roommates move, a mountain hut retreat, carpooling to Raising Cane’s, skiing, attending A Christmas Carol downtown, and walks to the creek that ran between our places. Looking back, it all feels like foundations being laid!

Although we are both very different we found common ground over a shared love of Christ, music, family, and Star Wars. He mentored and became buds with Bridger (my younger brother) while being a youth group and d-group leader for high school boys. He cheered at my rec league lacrosse games and my baptism, and we spent a lot of time cooking and hosting for birthdays, Friendsgiving's, Christmas dinners, and young adult nights. He even showed up at my door one night with birthday treats in hand and a comforting song recommendation when I was sick (Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel). Somewhere along the way, our friendship turned into something that could no longer be ignored nor denied.

Once we became us, life got even fuller! We stayed up all night talking and laughing (dumb), escaped to the mountains for retreat, attended church together, and celebrated our friends’ weddings and engagements, including a trip to Alabama. We traveled often. Breckenridge with Juliet (Brennan's sister), lake days in Oklahoma with his childhood friends, a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska to see Creed, and several days in Dallas to meet his extended family. We made awesome memories with each other’s families. I went white-water rafting with his family. He went camping and backpacking with my dad and brother. Both our families met in Denver over music bingo, lemonade, iced tea, and homemade pizza. We also walked through harder seasons side by side. A million doctor appointments, urgent care visits, CT scans, two surgeries, and long recovery days. We puzzled on the couch, swung at the park after dark, and administered drugs/hugs. Through all of it, we learned what it means to show up for one another with humor and patience and kindness. During this time, we completed a premarital course together, I was in grad school at Penn State, and Brennan was studying for his Porsche Gold Technician exam (which he passed!). We learned how to support one another's big dreams, while balancing full-time work, and long study hours. From the beginning, being married, sharing our lives, and becoming a family felt inevitable and like the best idea ever.

In the fall of 2025, after countless movie nights and dinners at my parents’ house, Brennan asked my dad for his blessing (at the pickleball courts of course), and he gave it gladly. A few weeks later, our families gathered for Thanksgiving. On November 29th, I spent the day with his family eating brunch at Sam’s No. 3 downtown and visiting the Denver Art Museum. Then Brennan proposed at Daniels Park, where I said yes through ugly happy sobs. Both of our families celebrated with us afterward, followed by a surprise engagement party lovingly planned by my mom, April (Brennan's amazing mother), and close friends (some who flew from states away to be there). We are endlessly grateful for the family and friends who prayed for us, encouraged us, traveled with us (and to us), celebrated us, and supported our relationship every step of the way. Now here we are, best friends, very madly in love, incredibly thankful, and so excited for the life we get to keep building together!