I (Kayla) was actually friends with one of Michael’s cousins before I met him. There were numerous times growing up that both Michael and I went to the same church meetings in Texas and Oklahoma, and we knew of each other, but we had never formally met. Eventually, we met at the Texas Labor Day Meeting in 2019. We went with a group of our friends to a restaurant together after church services. Because I was hanging out with his cousin, our friend groups merged. While we didn’t get to talk to each other at the restaurant, Michael texted me after the church meeting wanting to get to know me.

We already have a house in Michael’s hometown of Lytle, Texas!

One morning on our Alaska trip we drove to a Mount Denali lookout point. I went over to the telescopes with my parents, and Michael, Kelsey, and our friend Isabel walked ahead up an incline - I thought nothing of it. The three of them came back down, and Michael said that he wanted to show me something. At this point, all six of us start walking up the incline where they just were. Isabel then asked me if I would like her to hold my camera case. I was completely oblivious and just thought she was being nice. Michael then told me to stand on a rock and take a picture of a mountain that can be seen between the tree branches. I wasn’t able to see it, so I gave the camera to him. He then pointed out the mountain and gave the camera back to me. I took the picture and turned around to see Mom, Dad, Kelsey, and Isabel recording me. I continued turning around and Michael was down on one knee. Come to find out, the code word that Michael gave my parents for “Go Time” was “Moose.”