We were going on three hours at a table for two at a small restaurant in Cap Hill, but we wouldn’t have known if you had asked us. Our conversation had started long before we had gotten there and showed no signs of stopping. The waitress came by multiple times just to hear that we were so, so sorry again, but we still haven’t looked at the menu. We were friends first, and this was far from our first time being together, much less our first time having a conversation. We met in college, and mutual friends kept us around each other enough to learn the broad strokes of each other’s lives and enough that I knew I wanted to stay in the know about Liz Jones. What was she thinking at the time? You’ll have to ask her! In what we now attribute to God’s timing, our lives had been overlapping more and more. We were constantly on long weekend adventures, ski days, and backpacking trips with mutual friends. We soon realized that life was simply better together.

The year before our engagement, coffee walks, pickleball, and plenty of cooking became staple pandemic activities, with plenty of talks about our future together sprinkled in between. When travel became possible again, the Jones family joined the Zeile's in Wilson, Wyoming, knowing what was coming but everybody played it surprisingly cool. Then at sunrise on July 9th, 2021, she said yes at Taggart lake in Grand Teton National Park, after which we spent the rest of the weekend celebrating with our families. We are now so excited to celebrate our wedding with you on June 3rd!