Our first date was at a local Brewery in Fresno, CA called Sequoia Brewing Company. Jared arrived first and grabbed a table to greet Miranda. Nervous to go at first, she felt instantly comfortable upon seeing him sitting there. After your standard, run-of-the-mill, first date, we decided a second meeting was in the cards.

A couple of days later Jared and some friends had planned to go to an outdoor concert and he decided to invite Miranda. Not expecting her to say yes to tagging along with 10 guys going to a concert.. Miranda of course said yes! Once she arrived it became clear to Jared, that she could hang with the guys. Miranda instantly fit in with Jared's crew and they enjoyed a fun night of drinks, music, and laughing.

From the second date on, we became inseparable. The next few weeks were filled with meetings for lunch, church dates, and walks after work.

Already attending his best friend's wedding in Montana, Jared needed a plus one... unfortunately, it turned out to be too short of notice to bring Miranda along. Determined to bring Miranda to Montana, we made plans to spend time with friends and family in Polson shortly after the 4th of July. Miranda was once again put in a situation where she knew nobody and fit in right away. When it came time to leave Montana, we loaded into Jared's pickup and began the 20+ hour road trip back to Fresno. Upon our arrival (and survival) we both knew if we could last that long in the car together we'd have a pretty good shot at doing this thing forever.

Football season was right around the corner and Jared had one more question to ask about Miranda before things got too serious... could she be coach's wife material? It didn't take long to realize the answer was obviously yes. She was all in. Miranda quickly became his number one fan and dove into everything football (even though she didn't know the difference between a Touchdown & Fieldgoal at the time). Through the highs and lows of football season, we stuck side by side and saw each other at every opportunity, if even only for a moment. The Bulldogs had a great season and Miranda was by Jared's side every step of the way.

Knowing he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Miranda, Jared began planning how he would pop the question. We had talked engagement several times by this point and it was just becoming a matter of when. Knowing how much the outdoors and pictures mean to Miranda, Jared arranged a photoshoot in Montana while we visited family over the holidays.

With a slight audible and a change of plans to visit more family in Idaho, Jared huddled up with his brothers and called a new play. The photoshoot would happen in Idaho with his family there. Down by the river near his brother's house, Jared reminded Miranda of what a good fit she was and asked her to marry him. Once she overcame the pure joy and shock, she said yes. The rest is history. <3