We’re getting married!

A broken iPhone! We were in the same YSA ward (church congregation) in Salt Lake. Ben offered to help fix Sarah’s iPhone. At first she didn’t think he could actually help, because it had been having lots of problems. After learning he worked at Apple for 6 years, she invited him over. He fixed the phone and they talked a little. Neither one thought anything of it.

Ben grew up in Alberta, Canada. He lived in Lethbridge as a kid, Medicine Hat as a teenager, and Calgary as a young adult. He loves technology and works for a tech startup called Spiff in Sandy, UT. He moved to Utah about 5 years ago for graduate school in Information Systems. He also loves politics and studied poli-sci for his undergrad degree. He performed in singing competitions growing up. Ben is a great party-thrower and loves to spend time with friends, especially at a good afterparty. He has 2 siblings and 1 adorable nephew.

Sarah is from Owasso, Oklahoma. She works as a medical assistant at a cardiology clinic in Salt Lake. She is applying to PA school (didn't get in this past cycle, for those following along. Fingers crossed for this year!) Sarah moved to Utah 5 and 1/2 years ago. She has 3 siblings. She loves the arts and was in band for many years growing up. She also loves nature and enjoys hiking and traveling. She adopted our dog, Phoebe, a little over a year ago.

We went to look at Temple Square Christmas lights with some friends from church, then had appetizers at the Roof restaurant. It was a big group date organized by a friend in our ward. Funny enough, we didn't like the group date activity idea but we wanted to support our friend who organized it. We both remember being pleasantly surprised by how good the conversation was.

We made things official in October 2019 after a date at Sundance Ski Resort. We did a moonlight chairlift ride and had a little picnic in the car afterward. We were together for 1.5 years, then broke things off in 2021. Turns out we were bad at staying apart.

We dated through all of 2020, and man was that an experience. Being a new couple when the world shut down meant that we didn't spend time with anyone but our roommates and each other. We both felt like we got to know each other faster and deeper with all the isolation. We went on lots of walks, which we still enjoy.

We are lucky to have lots of friends in common, and continued to spend lots of time together as friends. Sarah helped Ben pick out furniture for his new house. Ben helped Sarah move (twice). We both grew as individuals in the time we weren’t dating, with some big life changes. The best change was yet to come.

In the fall of 2022 we started spending even more time with each other. We had always stayed good friends after breaking up, and with time we started thinking about getting back together. It was a gradual process. Once we finally admitted to our feelings, we made things official again and Sarah postponed her upcoming move. It was the best change of plans ever.

Ben proposed to Sarah on New Year's Day 2023. We were in Sarah's apartment, dancing in the living room by the Christmas tree and candlelight. It was actually unplanned - Ben had the ring in case the perfect moment came up. It definitely was a perfect moment.