On March 9th, 2021, Blake was scrolling through facebook when he noticed a girl on his suggested friends list. They had a few mutual friends, and she had the most beautiful smile so he decided to shoot his shot. Blake facebook messaged Jaiden, saying his most iconic pickup line (which he claims has worked 100% of the time), Hi there. How's life treating you today?


Jaiden was really uncertain about this Blake, but with some encouragement from some friends, Jaiden finally responded to Blake, and the conversation flowed from there.

Blake and Jaiden go on their first date on a hike at Lowes Creek Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Jaiden, being a concerned women aware of the dangers of strange men, obviously had her best friend, Anne follow her on her hike. Although Jaiden was a little nervous, Blake did not end up being all that bad, and their first date went very well! Anne even got a few funny videos during the process.

At this point, Blake really wanted to get the ball rolling! However, Jaiden was going to head off to Camp Knutson in northern MN for the summer, and unfortunately, she did not want to go into the summer dating anyone, because she wanted to be present with the campers as she was going to be with at camp. She reassured him that they should keep talking and she wanted to see where this would go when she gets back to Eau Claire. Blake was determined to keep the friendship going for the summer!

Jaiden and Blake texted whenever they could throughout the summer, and face-timed at least one a week. If anyone knew Jaiden during that summer, they knew it was a hard one for her. Blake truly was her rock throughout it all. That July, he conveniently decided to take a mountain biking trip at a place not far from Camp Knutson. Jaiden left camp when she probably wasn't supposed to (and didn't tell anyone that she was going to see a boy) to see Blake for a few hours while he was there.

Jaiden came back from camp for the weekend for a friend's wedding, and she asked Blake to be her date to the wedding! They had such a good time together. That evening, they were sitting on the couch when she said So, when are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend? Taken back by her assertiveness, he said "I would love for you to be my girlfriend."

Jaiden and Blake have had their fair share of ups and downs, hard conversations, fun adventures and everything in between. Through the past two years, they have learned how to love each other well, serve each other, and above all love and serve Jesus together.

Blake asks Jaiden to go out for breakfast on July 4th. That morning, his mom calls, claiming that his brother forgot his work boots and that we needed to bring them to him at the tree farm he works at. So, Jaiden puts on a really cute dress for breakfast and they head to the tree farm. At the tree farm, Blake's brother asks if we want a tour of the place, so we hop in two side-by-sides to explore the property. Blake's brother leaves us be to check a deer camera and that's when he finally pops the question!