Lauren and I first met in third grade in my dad's Sunday school class (see photo gallery). She was as deeply in love as a 9-year-old could be. However, I was too busy maintaining my cool guy demeanor to pay her much mind. Fortunately for me, I wised up, and before she moved away to some foreign land, I told her that “somebody has a crush on her.” She never saw it coming. She moved and then moved again, and we lost contact with one another, except for our mom’s occasional Facebook updates. After nearly six years, we quite literally bumped into each other at church and immediately reconnected. We spent the next few years of high school flirting, and becoming good friends. The summer after we graduated high school, my friends and I went on a cross-country road trip and spent a few days in Washington. Our car had broken down and I called Lauren, knowing she was in Washington, and asked if her grandmother would be willing to feed and house five hungry boys. That night at her grandmother's house, I seriously contemplated confessing my love for her. But instead, I decided confessing later, over FaceTime, was better timing. Despite college being only a month out, we decided to start dating, and I ended our call by telling her we needed to start wedding planning ASAP! Going to college five hours away from each other provided us with many challenges to overcome. We spent most of our weekends driving to see one another, doing everything we could to spend time together despite being long-distance. On August 10th, 2024, I asked Lauren to marry me, which was the happiest and most surreal moment of my life. I am so grateful to have found such an amazing woman to be my wife, and Lauren and I are thrilled to start our lives together.