When Ian's brother, Noah, and my cousin, Taylor, asked each of us to be in their bridal party, we had no idea that that "yes" would lead to the best "yes" of our lives. Ian was Noah's best man while I was one of Taylor's bridesmaids, and we had so much fun together through all of the wedding events. After the wedding, I was feeling the "post wedding blues" and quickly realized that what I was sad about was not getting to spend any time with Ian anymore. I decided to have my sister, Casey, reach out to Taylor and Noah about setting us up (as if it was her idea of course, because doing it myself would have been WAY too scary!). Luckily for me (still asking God how I ever got so lucky), Ian was interested and we started talking.

We met in early June and spent the entire summer talking and getting to know each other. I remember that the very first night we talked, Ian asked me about my faith and relationship with Jesus. This was such a significant moment for me because I had always prayed for a man who would lead me in faith and always point me back to Jesus. This was the beginning of God revealing to me how special Ian was and the plan He had for the two of us. I knew Ian was something special in that moment. We started spending as much time together as we could, and in August Ian asked me on our first date. We went to Blaze Pizza and then back to his house where we played games and I met his family's new puppy (Ian is simply the smartest man for including a puppy in the first date's events, he had to have known I was hooked after that!). A couple weeks later he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Shortly after becoming boyfriend and girlfriend, the journey of long distance officially began. I was still teaching in Waterloo at this point, and Ian was working in the Des Moines area. We hated being apart during this year, but Jesus had a plan for sure. Even though I wouldn't wish for distance, we are both so grateful for all that this season taught us. We grew so close and learned about the importance of intentionality, communication, appreciation, and so much more. During this school year of being apart we valued each other and our time together and knew that we were dating with the pursuit of marriage. They say "when you know, you know" and that couldn't have been more true! This is such a special year in our story that we both value and appreciate so much.

While we were grateful for all that our season of distance brought us, we were even more grateful to watch it come to a close. We spent every single weekend together, most of which being in the Des Moines area due to this being where both our families were and where we often had something going on. Home is wherever I am with Ian, but we also knew that we wanted to put down roots close to family. I found a teaching job and we found our perfect first home and started the moving process. We were overjoyed to officially move into our home on the very first day of my summer break. This will forever be one of our favorite days.

On September 15th, Ian created the most perfect proposal. He took me to Blaze Pizza, where we went for our very first date, and then to Badger Creek, which is another special place to us. We walked down a trail that lead to the water and after enjoying the view and appreciating all that God has done by bringing us together, Ian asked me to marry him. It was the best and easiest "yes" ever, and we are so excited to continue to say "yes" to loving each other as husband and wife for the rest of our lives.