It was over 5 years ago that Kayla and I first met. Her best friend Joy was in town from Chicago and had talked Kayla into throwing a game night so she could see all of her Washington buds. Joy also knew that one of her buds thought that Kayla was really cute… Luckily for me Joy shot me an invite to this game night and I met Kayla. Despite talking to her all night, I couldn’t quite figure out a smooth way to ask for her number. Luckily, our buddy West sent over her number the next day. And I wasted no time in asking her out, which she promptly informed me she couldn’t because she “had a work event at the Seattle Aquarium”. A response that I for sure thought was completely made up. But to my surprise, she texted back the next day and said she got her dates wrong and that she’d love to grab a drink. We got together that night for a drink at a bar called “El Camino” in Fremont. During that date I mentioned to Kayla that I was hiking with a few friends that coming weekend and she should join us. But again, Kayla claimed she had another work event until 11 am and wasn’t sure she could make it. I told her that was all good and we weren’t planning on leaving until around 11 anyways. After that date I called up my friends and begged them to go hiking with her and I at 11 am on Saturday. After convincing them that, “no, 11 am wasn’t too late to drive for an hour and start a 4 hour hike”, they all agreed. We dated for 4 more years after that. In that time we’ve camped on the Washington coast, hiked the Enchantments, planned and led a kayak camping trip through the San Juans, traveled for four weeks in Italy together and enjoyed countless bottles of wine and poker nights with our friends. All the while, Kayla successfully took her MCAT and got into a great med school in Oregon called Western University of Health Sciences! After the exciting news, we made the move to Oregon in August of 2022. Kayla crushed her first year leading clubs, going on wilderness med retreats and acing her med school tests. I’ve spent my time exploring the Oregon coast and continuing to shoot photo and video projects for outdoor brands. After our first summer in Oregon I knew the time was coming when I wanted to propose (she told me she wanted to get engaged that summer). I planned a vacation for us up in the North Cascade mountain range of Washington. Little did she know (she definitely knew) that weekend I was planning on proposing. Once we arrived in the mountains I told her I wanted to take a quick picture product shot for a brand I was working for. I had her face the mountains while I set up the tripod. Then when she turned around I asked her to marry me! To my relief she said yes - making me the happiest man in the world. We celebrated that night and then drove back to Seattle the next day, where my brother Dan and his fiance´ Cate, hosted a surprise engagement party for us (that one actually did surprise her)! Since that day in July, life has been a whirlwind! We also found out that Kayla’s clinical rotations will be back in the Tacoma/Seattle area so we’ll be moving back after our wedding in the summer of 2024! We are so happy to be moving back and even more thrilled to see all of our amazing friends and family at our wedding! Hope to see you there!