Like many young whippersnappers, we met on an online dating app. Jonathan waited until the last few seconds before the match expired to message Jessie. We talked for a day or so on the app but it did not take long before we exchanged phone numbers and switched to texting each other - fast progress here (insert sarcasm). The week we started talking was Jessie's twin sister's wedding, so Jessie told Jonathan, "I'm not talking to you all weekend..." and the rest is history!

When Jessie walked into the restaurant for our first date, she asked the staff, "Is there a Jonathan here?" When they said, "No, but there's a Jon..." she was instantly confused. Before our first date, Jonathan had told Jessie that he prefers to go by his full name. To avoid any awkwardness, Jessie decided not to address him by name for the whole date. Our first date was at The Garage in Milwaukee. The date went well; we ordered fried pickles and a few beers. Jonathan swears Jessie only ate one fried pickle, while Jessie claims that she ate more than that. Conversation between us was easy and flowed naturally from talking about the adventures we had been on (hiking the John Muir Trail and biking the Maah-Daah-Hey), to the music we enjoy and what we liked to do for fun with our friends. Jessie ran her first (and last!) half marathon two days later, so she was only supposed to have one beer.... well that went out the window after the good time she was having with Jonathan. This led to a second date at Bel Air Cantina, then a third "date" where Jonathan met Nicole and Max, two of Jessie's closest friends. Because Jessie still didn't know if she should call him Jon or Jonathan, she made them introduce themselves so she would know what to call him. He explained that he goes by Jonathan, but Max insisted on calling him Jonny, so now the majority of Jessie friends call Jonathan "Jonny."

We have the mutual goal of making it to every US National Park in our lifetime. So far, we've visited about thirteen National Parks together and have individually been to quite a few more. Without being there together, Grand Teton is both of our favorite National Park! Jessie was there on a road trip with a friend after college and Jonathan was there with Boy Scouts in middle school. Jessie's top three National Parks are: Grand Teton, Yosemite and Zion. Jonathan's top thee National Parks are: Grand Teton, Zion and Yosemite.