Ben first saw Tori (and thought she was very cute) Monday, August 23 at 8am in Greek I with Dr. David Kotter, Leprino Hall 330. Our interaction was little until we met in October for mission trips meetings and writing exegetical papers. We started studying Greek daily and eventually turned in our exegetical papers. By December, we had become Greek experts and had developed some feelings in the process. With Christmas break quickly approaching and the "good friends" looking at 1 month of no Greek study dates, we wondered how this would affect our mojo. Ben friendzoned a hopeful Tori on a cold January 12th night, on a hard metal park bench. For the next month and a half, we remained great friends studying Greek, rock climbing, and hosting Sabbath dinners every Saturday night. February 19th everything changed.

What felt like years of "friendship" for Tori ended quickly on February 19th when Ben asked her on a date. We planned the following Friday for our first date and the rest was history :) The date started with a sunset drive up a mountain nearby our college campus. We then went into Golden, CO for a Mexican dinner with way too messy of food for a first date (- Tori). Ben then took Tori to a staple ice cream place for dessert at Little Man Ice Cream and we ended the night with studying Greek and completing our homework due that night! We consider February 25th to be our birthday because there was no separating us after that day!

One day I got Tori a ring. Then another day I took her to get soda and to dinner. But on the way to dinner we had mistakenly arrived too early! Oh no! The horror! What a tragedy am I right!? So what was a young couple to do to kill time? Well, lucky for us, there was a beautiful botanical garden close to dinner. We drove over and began to walk around. You should have seen the look on her face during the beginning of that walk. She was absolutely clueless. Anyways, I got to where I wanted to ask her to be my wife until either of us dies or Jesus comes back. She said yes and then she kissed me out of nowhere. Then I put the ring on her finger. The End

Our conversations of what our purpose in pursuing one another was and our long term goals for our relationship started pretty early. I remember having our first "marriage?" conversation in August of 2022 where we both decided that we were content where we were and loved going through different seasons with one another as they came. That perspective shifted subtly as time went on, but by December we were talking about marriage coming within the next year (which, obviously, is not what happened). But our desire to become one and partner with each other for the Kingdom of God for the rest of our lives came as we grew in knowing each other and experiencing more life with one another. We were in Oklahoma for Christmas of 2022 and this is where our conversations really sped up in terms of our future and if we would be getting married in a year from then. We talked about what our life would look like with me still in school, providing for ourselves independently, we looked at rings, wedding venues, and really immersed ourselves in figuring out what would be possible in terms of getting married that quickly. Eventually, through lots of conversations with one another and with our parents, we decided to wait until May and push our engagement and wedding back a few months. All of these conversations got me so excited for our future and big life moments that were coming so quickly! Throughout the next semester, we focused on school and I patiently awaited the day that Ben would bring up going to look at rings together. Throughout all of this, we decided to move to Utah for the summer! Our summer was focused on ministry and getting to know the amazing people who live in Orem, UT. Except for the day that we went ring shopping. We did some research together for reliable and well reviewed jewelry shops in our area and found one that we decided to go to! It felt like a playground! After that day, Ben was very secretive about everything proposal. I knew it was coming and was convinced it would happen while we were in Oklahoma (because it was, after all, the place I TOLD him I wanted to get engaged and celebrate). The day came that we left Utah for the summer and drove back to Colorado to then drive to Oklahoma the next day. We spent one night with my mom, I told her the next time I would see her I would be engaged, and left for a very special weekend! I couldn't wait to FaceTime my mom the second after he got up off of his knee! We arrived in Oklahoma, and I was ready for whatever came that weekend, but more importantly was excited for whatever Ben had planned ;) Day 1 came and went. Day 2 came and went. Meanwhile, I brought the cutest clothes I owned and was dressing as if I could take cute pictures with Ben at any point if need be or there were some sort of occasion for it! Day 3 Ben told me we were going to dinner that night. He told me the restaurant and I looked it up to decide on what I'm ordering before we get there (as I always do!). But I noticed that this was a really nice dinner. I thought it was cliche of him to propose before a nice dinner so had every expectation that we would go to dinner, come back, and day 3 would end just like the first two. We arrived to dinner "early" and there was a "botanical gardens really close by that we should go walk around at". So we did. And this is where Ben proposed :) We went to dinner and enjoyed our first hour of a newly engaged. I heard the stories of his preparation for this weekend and he answered a phone call from our pastor. After dinner, we went back to his parents house to see a whole line of cars down the street and an engagement party waiting for us as soon as we got back! Not only this, but my mom had flown in from Denver for the party and this was kept secret from me the whole time! It was the most special weekend with lots of fun celebration with friends and family. I am so thankful and can't help but use up every word possible to explain how thankful I am!