To tell our full story, we'd need hours! To keep things short and sweet we've included a photo timeline of our favorite photos. Most all of these photos are from our travels together! We plan on going to every national park in the United States and to all 50 states! We also plan on traveling the rest of the world so no sight is left unseen!
We've decided to take turns sharing our story so pay attention to the D or L in the beginning of the paragraph to know whose perspective it is from.
L: Our story starts back in the 3rd grade at Bear Lake Elementary School! I first met Devyn during meet the teacher day, and from the first moment I saw her, I knew we'd end up together. I was too nervous to talk to her then, and the year went by.
D: By the time we were in fifth grade, I also had a crush on Lukas. He ended up going to a different middle school so we both forgot about our crushes but we reconnected again in High School.
L: When we got to high school, we didn't have class together until 11th grade but our feelings didnt take long to come back.
D: From German class, band, marching band, statistics, and english class, we were constantly together and I quickly fell for him again. Junior year, I spent English class sneaking glances and laughing at all his horrible dad jokes.
L: During the summer between our junior and senior years, we went to Germany for 3 weeks as part of an exchange. There we got closer and Devyn finally got the courage to text me and try to be my friend. Her first text to me was the pizza time theme song from a Spider-Man video game. From there we started talking more and became good friends. When we got back from Germany, she invited me to the beach with our other friends and to Wonderworks with her family. At this point I was crushing on her like crazy, and I was thinking of ways to ask her out.
D: By the time senior year started we were already becoming best friends and hung out every afternoon with our close friends. Lukas even taught me how to play saxophone so I could join jazz band with him!
L: Right after school started again for our senior year, Devyn went roller skating and broke her arm. She had to go to multiple different hospitals for hours late into the night, and we talked for the entire time. I decided to drive her home from school on days we had band rehearsal, which was all I could get her to agree to, even though I would've been ecstatic being her personal chauffeur forever. During our rides home I would try to make her laugh and we both never wanted those car rides to end. I was always sad when she'd get out of my car. Eventually her arm healed and she stopped needing rides, which made me sad as well, but I guess fate didn't want both of us having the ability to drive at the same time, because one night when I was going to get a friend and we were all going to hang out and make smores, I got into a car accident that totaled my car.
D: I feel this was fate since we were both too awkward and nervous to ask to hang out alone without having had that happen!
L: Devyn told me she'd drive me to and from school, which I appreciated and was really hoping she would do, even though I told her it was fine and that I'd take the bus. We got even closer during this time, and we finally made plans to hang out with just the 2 of us. I tried to work up the courage to finally ask her out the whole night, and I couldn't do it until she drove me home and I made myself tell her before I got out of the car. I still tried to get out of it, and I took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes and said "look at the children playing in the road,' pointing at my neighbors. It was then that I finally had enough of being scared of telling her how I feel and I told her, and she said she felt the same and we hugged. I felt so happy and that was the start of our relationship.
D: He forgot to mention in that story that the night he finally asked me out was right before Thanksgiving break so 'if I said no, he would have a week to find a new ride to school.' haha.
Another great memory for us in high school is that we got to go to senior prom together and I will always cherish the adorable book of song quotes he wrote for me ending with "Will you go to prom with me?"
L: After highschool, I moved to Indiana to study mathematics. Devyn followed me there for a month before having to come back home but during that time we got to go to travel to Chicago together. Soon after Devyn left, I decided being seperated from her was not worth it and moved back to Florida. I didn't want to spend so much time apart, and Devyns' parents (who I am now happy to call my parents in law, and to whom I will be forever grateful for their generosity and acceptance of me living with them (- I told you guys I wouldn't be annoying to live with -) allowed me to live with them back in Florida. I decided to get a job and my plan was to go back to college for math in the spring, but I ended up becoming a restaurant lifer instead. If I had never been with Devyn, I would likely never have found my true passion in cooking. Devyn has also always been very supportive of my cooking endeavors, tasting everything I make and boosting my confidence by telling me she loves it. Soon after I moved in we found our first kitten, Jack. Even though he bites me all the time, I still love him. 6 months later we found another kitten outside, Jovie. A year later, Devyn took home our spoiled husky, Fauna, which I found out about the next morning. Fauna is a good dog, although she can be difficult to deal with at times. She's crazy and stubborn, but I'm very glad Devyn brought her home. The start to our family has been furry so far, but we're both looking forward to having some human additions later too.
D: Since Lukas has moved in, we have grown a lot as a couple and as individual people. We have also done a lot of adventurous things Lukas probably never thought he would ever do, and Ive even surprised myself with some of my own wild ideas. We've gone kayaking with Fauna in the ocean and kayaked 11 miles to find wild Rhesus Monkeys at Silver Springs, went paddle boarding with sharks, horseback riding / horseback surfing at the beach, hiking through thigh high water in the everglades to find alligator nests, sat on the edge of mountains, snorkled at coral reefs in the middle of the ocean and in a prehistoric cave, swam with dolphins, braved the French Quarters of Louisiana, and even went over Niagra falls in a barrel (just kidding!)
L: Our time in Florida has been a good experience for both of us, but some of my favorite memories together come from outside of the state. We've been on a few road trips, some local, some very distant. We've been to south Florida, most of the southeastern United States, and New York, New Jersey, and even Canada, close to where I was born. We got to see some incredible sites, spend a lot of time bonding, and eat some absolutely amazing meals together. I'm very excited for our next big trip - our honeymoon in Iceland!
D: Out of everything we do together my favorite is also our road trips, near or far. Currently we have gone on 3, two big ones and one smaller trip. For these trips, I turned the trunk of my Honda CRV into a foldable bed and we went car camping each night to save time and money! Pictures included in the timeline from our roadtrips include our first roadtrip to New York and Niagra Falls. (One of my favorite memories while planning this trip is Lukas asking if I booked all the hotels and his shocked and confused face when I told him no, theres no hotels, I bought a car mattress!) Since then he is a lot more used to my crazy ideas and we have car camped many more places including: Disneys Wilderness Camping when we went to Epcot Food and Wine Festival, a random rest stop in Miami while visiting Biscayne, Dry Tortuguas, and Everglade National Parks, and most recently our last roadtrip where we visited all the southern states with our puppy, Fauna and found many places to park our car to sleep including national forests, state parks, RV parks, and rest stops. Its always so much fun taking a road trip together, singing along to music, and making unplanned stops to cool places we saw along the way and I wouldnt trade it for anything. Lukas even proposed on our latest roadtrip on the top of a mountain, the highests point in Alabama at Cheaha State Park!
Now we take every opportunity we have to travel the world together (with Fauna when possible!) and we are so excited for everything to come in the future!
Next Stop: Iceland! 🇮🇸
"You keep me safe, Ill keep you wild"