Carmen had been flying to Colorado since very early in the morning. Let’s just say she prefers to travel comfortably with her sweats, hoodie, and her hair in a bun. Sometimes Carmen can also be very directionally challenged. That day just happened to be one of those days. As she landed in Denver, her next goal was to find a bus to get to Boulder, Co.; however, she forgot the name of the city, so she was looking even more lost. The Lord is good. That day, she decided to wear her iBelieve black hoodie that says "Jesus is everything" on the back. Now, this hoodie was bought in Central California from a church. When it came to campmeeting, everyone would buy / wear them. Okay, back to the story. As Carmen was looking mad lost, a man came up behind her and asked, “Are you working at Glacier View Ranch?” With shock on her face, she said, "Yeeess??" Then he exclaimed that he was too and he knew from the hoodie. As they were talking, he asked if she was hungry and wanted to get some food somewhere. (The guy they were waiting for could pick them up from there.) So she agreed. Mike had arrived the night before to stay with a friend to guarantee he wasn't late. He had been waiting at the bus stop to pick all three of us up, but we weren’t there. Mike was with the ranger when he finally came to pick bus guy and Carmen up from the restaurant. Now, normally Carmen is the type of person that does need help and likes to do things herself. In this instance, that was not the case. She had food in one hand, her backpack and blankets in the other, and her suitcase. The ranger looked at the two gentlemen and asked them both if one of them could help her put her stuff in the car. Mike just looked at her helplessly and then backed away, leaving it to bus guy. Bus guy, of course, had to put all his stuff in first before he could assist, while Mike stood there empty handed.

Now, was Mike wrong to not help Carmen? In his mind, he was trying to respect bus guy because he thought Carmen was dating him. So he's not trying to play “Mr. Steal Your Girl.” The summer camp they were working at was about an hour up the mountain. Now, for those of you who don't know Mike, he can talk, and he's pretty funny. While they were driving up the mountain, Mike turned around and looked at Carmen and noticed three things: they were sitting a little far apart, bus guy wasn't laughing at ANYTHING he was saying, but Carmen was. This gave him the impression that they were not together, and if they were, then they had some stuff they needed to work out. Once they got up the mountain, they didn't see each other much or really pay attention to each other… until Friday, the end of staff week when everyone was in the sanctuary practicing the Friday night play. Now Carmen wasn't in the play that year, so she was minding her own business drawing in her notebook. Mike also loves to draw, so he decided to comment on it and ask if he could see some of her work. She was reluctant but eventually agreed. After this incident, they once again didn't really pay close attention to each other. It was the first week of camp, and every Thursday, GVR would put on a rodeo if weather permitted. Well, this week it did not. Earlier that day, Carmen was hanging with the camp photographer, who worked closely with Mike, since he was the videographer that year. She asked Carmen if she liked Mike, commenting he would alway comment on the photos that she was in. As Carmen and her friend walked towards the longhouse where they were playing an old western movie for the rodeo, they somehow got a dumb idea that when they saw Mike, they were going to just start dissing him (no idea why). Mike was definitely taken aback by this because at this point he was starting to like her.

Carmen was a counselor that year and didn't have any kids the first week, which gave her the ability to sit anywhere. She was sitting towards the back when Mike decided to give it another go at talking to her, despite her being a little rude to him. o.0 That night, they began talking at the beginning of the movie and didn't stop. After the movie was over, they agreed to go to the pool / hot tub together (along with other staff) and continue talking. When the pool closed down, he quickly texted her, so they could continue talking. That night, they talked for roughly 5 hours straight. Now, you're probably thinking, What could they have possibly talked about for that long!? Literally everything!! Mike and Carmen both typically take time to open up about family, the past, etc., but that was not the case that night. As time went on during camp, Mike and Carmen continued to talk whenever they got the chance. When camp was over, all the campers had gone home, and they were cleaning up. Mike asked Carmen's dad if he had his permission to date his daughter. Her dad said yes, of course (this was the most nerve racking time for Carmen!). However, Mike waited a couple days to ask her out because he wanted to do it on top of the mountain that most of the staff hiked at the end of the summer, but Carmen's flight left too early that day and was not able to hike it... so he went ahead and asked her out the night before she left on Monday, July 27, 2015