Our love story is something that has always been very special to us. We both grew up in neighboring towns and were introduced through our mutual friend Janelle, but never spent much time together. It wasn't until the summer after our freshman year of college, when neither of us had any kind of job prospects, that we both independently decided to apply to be waterski instructors at Culver Summer Camp. Kyle had extensive boating experience while Cindy had never actually pulled a skier behind a boat before. We were both hired, and the minute we stepped foot onto the dock, we were inseparable. We both still recall this summer as one of the best of our lives, spending the hours of 8-5 behind the wheel of a ski boat and cruising down the country road between Culver and Bass Lake after work. It was a blissful and carefree summer until the end of the 7 week camp when neither of us was brave enough to commit to doing long distance between Purdue and UConn, and we both returned to our respective schools. But of course we couldn't stay apart long, and made it official 6 months later. We continued to date long distance for the next 4 years before we finally got to live in the same state together in beautiful Ohio. Shortly after we moved to our now home of Los Angeles, California.

Our proposal was everything Cindy dreamed of and 10x more stressful than Kyle imagined. It happened in early May, when Kyle disguised the real reason for the event as an elaborate surfing trip up the coast of California. Both of our brothers came into town and we rented a full sized RV camper for the trip. The first night we had a small campsite at San Onofre State Beach, a beautiful spot on some bluffs overlooking the ocean just north of San Diego. Many of our close friends drove down for the occasion, and everyone except Cindy knew what was going to happen. As the sun was setting, it was showtime. Kyle started the impossible task of getting Cindy to cooperate. First he tried to get her to take a walk, but it was too cold. Then the group tried to get her to change out of her baggy sweats and sweatshirt, but she claimed she didn't want to have any other clothes smelling like campfire. Then the group tried to get her to change locations for a picture, but she was too busy prepping dinner. Eventually, Kyle was able to get her alone and convince her to take a walk with him. It was during this walk that Cindy asked Kyle not once, not twice, but three separate times if he was "going to propose or something?" Eventually, Cindy was wrangled into the pre-determined spot where our friends were hiding in the bushes with cameras. Knees were weak and arms were heavy, but the question was asked and our journey to forever officially began.