Adam and Shelly met in 2014 at Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado. Shelly was there for a pumpkin beer release and Adam was relaxing with a friend after climbing in Boulder Canyon. It started to rain. Adam’s table had an umbrella over it, Shelly’s did not, so Adam’s friend invited her to join them. Adam was in a quiet mood that night, so he and Shelly didn’t talk much, but at the end of the evening he asked Shelly to put her number in his phone. He needed hiking buddies. After texting off and on for two weeks, Shelly and Adam set their first date, a week long road trip to Moab, Utah. After a week in the desert together, they were smitten. By May, they were planning a three month road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway. Unbeknownst to Shelly, Adam was thinking, “if this trip works out well, this is it.” By September 2015, Adam had relocated to Michigan.

Everyone knows that Shelly loves everything fall and Halloween. When she was planning her birthday celebration in October 2018, Adam insisted that it include a trip to a pick your own pumpkin patch. As they wandered the muddy field, Shelly started pointing to potential pumpkins to take home. “What about that one?!” “What about that one?!” she’d say, when they passed the best pumpkins. Suddenly, she heard Adam say “what about this one?” and turned to find him holding an open ring box with the most perfect rose gold ring inside, one with a ruby in a vintage setting. She didn’t know it then but the ring also had “love of my life” engraved on the inside. She started crying. Adam laughed, “Yeah? Will you marry me?!” They made sure to go back and get the pumpkin they were looking at when it happened.

Shelly and Adam are returning to Moab, Utah to get married in a private ceremony in March 2019. They will celebrate at a post-elopement party with their friends and family, the people they love most, back home in Michigan in May 2019. From very early on in their relationship, they dreamed of getting married at Professor Creek/Mary Jane Canyon, a hike they did on their first, week long road trip date. Shelly and Adam spent two days exploring the area around Professor Creek /Mary Jane Canyon, bouldering, playing with Adam's late dog Chaco, and hiking. Shelly got stuck in quick sand here and Adam rescued her. As they were traversing the steep rocks around the creek bed, Adam would offer her his hand to help. In the past when people offered this kind of help, Shelly would say "I got it." But Shelly trusted Adam and wasn't afraid she would look weak accepting his help. This hike was the first time they started to feel like a team. When they started talking about marriage, this seemed like the perfect place. The fact that Shelly's father, Dick Jarenski, who has travel limitations, can attend at this location makes it even more perfect!