Aaron first laid eyes on Kaylee in the summer of 2021. We were both working at Hume as summer staff. He noticed her at the hostess desk in the Ponderosa Dining Hall and was drawn in by her green eyes and curly hair and thought to himself that he’d like to get to know her more. But then 2021 passed by with Kaylee not knowing Aaron even existed.

By March 2022 Kaylee was now working and living full time at Hume. Aaron returned as an early arrival summer staff member. The first week he was there he was assigned to help in the kitchen and on the first day he and Kaylee were on the schedule together, she sent him to bring her ingredients for mashed potatoes. But instead of bringing her sour cream he brought her Mexican crema. After that he managed to break the potato masher. And so, it was the spring of 2022 that Kaylee knew Aaron existed, because he was the summer staffer who irritated her on that day. He knew he hadn’t made a great impression on the pretty girl with green eyes when he asked her for a dining hall mug a few days later and she handed him a dirty one and told him to wash it himself.

Summer came and Aaron was working in activities as a HAG (High Adventure Guide) and Kaylee was working in the Meadow Ranch Dining Hall in the middle school camp. Being in separate departments we never ran into one another at work. We also had separate friend groups so he only got to ever see her in passing which he was okay with. He didn’t plan on staying after summer and so there was no point in pursuing a camp crush. Kaylee had never pursued any crush and had a reputation for only shooting down attempts by any guy brave enough to share their interest in her. So it all seemed pretty unlikely from the start.

As the weeks went on however, staff activities and mutual friend hangouts made our proximity more regular. Kaylee started to notice Aaron but only because he wasn’t really paying her any attention. So she did what she knew best and started to find ways to cook for him. It ended up being a fun summer filled with food and pranks on fellow coworkers. Our attraction for one another was definitely growing and noticeable to anyone with eyes, even us, but we were still doing that thing where we were pretending like we weren’t smitten even though we were now both making a point to unexpectedly “run into” one another more often around camp.

Then came week seven of camp which was the week the kids from Kaylee’s church came up for camp, led by her parents. Kaylee had told her parents she had a crush, but didn’t happen to mention to them much more than that fact. On that Monday Kaylee’s parents were scheduled to take their campers to High Adventure. Being protective of her campers in their vulnerability up in the trees, Kaylee’s mom was quickly impressed with the calm and kind gentility of the HAG setting the kids up for the zip line at the end of the course. Immediately after their time in the trees, it was dinner and so as her parents and their campers were walking to the dining hall, Kaylee’s mom sent her a text. “Why can’t you like a guy like Bobby from activities?” Kaylee was confused because there was no staff member on the mountain named Bobby. She was also discouraged because whoever Bobby was, it wasn’t who Kaylee had a crush on. Until she realized later that night that Bobby was Aaron’s Wagon Train (elementary camp) name. Bobby was Aaron and Kaylee got butterflies in her stomach over the irony and possibility of it all.

Once all the high school and middle school kids from her church found out that Aaron was Kaylees camp crush, the childish instigating games were on! They tormented her pretty much all week anytime Aaron was nearby. Aaron caught on and was making plans of his own to take advantage of getting close to her family while they were on the mountain for the week. He found out what rec team the high school girls from Kaylee’s church were on and made sure he was their referee on super spirit day. During the games while he was distracted, one of the girls took his water bottle and wrote “Kaylee loves Aaron” on the top of the lid. Aaron was very amused by this. He took a picture of it and later texted it to Kaylee who had no idea this had happened and she felt like dying from embarrassment.

The following week things were quieter with no teenagers to meddle, but with everything they stirred up, the quiet left each of us wanting more interaction. With summer winding down, Kaylee was preparing for the “Planty Awards” for her kitchen staff which is basically Hume’s version of The Office’s “Dundee” awards, only it is a plant potted in a dining hall cup with a food service label. She was also starting to get sick. Aaron brought her some tea and popsicles for her throat as well as some toilet paper since she was out, and she shared with him a bit on some of the award titles she came up with for her staff. He told her to be sure to share with him what award she received from her co-lead.

Despite growing more ill, Kaylee managed to get through the kitchen staff Planty Awards receiving one herself, the “Hard To Get Planty” with a description that said she was cold hearted, having broken every heart from Hume to Fresno. Kaylee called her mom after the awards to tell her how it all went and her mom told her it would be funny if she gave Aaron her Hard To Get Panty and told him that he was the only one who had a chance. Drowsy on cold medicine, Kaylee thought that was a brilliant idea and texted Aaron that she had something for him. He came over 15 minutes later and Kaylee gave him her Planty with a speech, confessing her interest in him. He told her thank you, gave her a side hug, changed the subject, then left two hours later with his secondhand Planty.

The next four days Kaylee was so sick. She was in and out of sleep running a very high fever. Aaron kept up with bringing her provisions while she was so sick but kept Kaylee guessing if he even actually liked her since he never responded to her directly. On the fourth day after the Planty awards Aaron spent the whole day at Kaylee’s watching movies while she was sick on the couch. Finally that night he asked her if he had missed his shot. She stared at him with disbelief for how clueless he was and told him no. He then asked if he could take his shot and more annoyed than excited at this point, she said yes.

Two years later, Planty still lives.

The Breakup

We know, the breakup was weird. Trust us, it was more weird for us. But it was necessary. The week after Aaron asked if he could take his shot, it was assumed that we were exclusive. But before that could be true, Kaylee made him sit down and watch a four part conference on defining dating relationships. The bar was set high. Kaylee had never been in a relationship because she didn’t believe in dating until she was ready for marriage and so Aaron knew the terms up front: Love God first and more than her. After watching the conference we discussed the terms of what we wanted our relationship to be and even though it was a new concept to him, he agreed to the common sense of it and we became officially exclusive.

We fell in love hard and fast, but over the course of several months, Kaylee had to keep calling Aaron back to loving God more than he loved her. After nine months of growing in love, affection, and friendship, Kaylee was shattered when she knew she had to honor God by ending the relationship. The weeks that followed were terrible. Kaylee wanted Aaron, her greatest friend and love, and she couldn’t have him. Aaron wanted his best friend and the girl he loved but she also hurt him deeply by ending their seemingly perfect relationship and he was angry. She withdrew into a depression and threw herself into staying busy at work. He did the same, but he also reached out to Kaylee’s dad for guidance on what he was missing because he knew Kaylee valued and trusted her parents’ wisdom fully for her future.

Over the course of many months of mentorship and discipleship, Aaron began to grow in a deeper knowledge of Jesus. While he started the process to win back his girl despite being warned against this very thing, God was doing a work in him and he came to a point where he was doing it out of his desire to know The Lord more for himself. We began being more comfortable around one another as he continued to pursue Christ. We were mutually at peace at the necessity of the breakup and the fact that we both needed to do some growing in the midst of it. Aaron was baptized in October, five months after the breakup. He maintained a relationship with her parents and leaned into them for guidance on many aspects of life, so his character and walk with Jesus was well known to them. Kaylee hated being left out of conversations between Aaron and her parents and she had to dig in with faith that God would take care of her.

By December, with the guidance and support of Kaylee’s parents, Aaron knew how he was going to pursue Kaylee and show her that he could lead and love her well in the Lord. We fell back into a comfort level with one another where even though we weren’t official, we knew where we were going. Somehow not being official held us accountable to how we wanted our relationship to be and it was better than before. Somehow we were better friends, more comfortable with one another, and at peace with where we were even if most everyone around us didn’t understand it and even spoke down about it. But God. He knew and we knew and since its just the three of us in this marriage covenant we were headed for, we were all good with it.

So we got engaged eleven months after our breakup and we couldn’t be happier or more proud of our story because it has made us better as one and it exalts Christ.

Sequoia National Park

Kings Canyon National Park

Fresno Chaffee Zoo