Adam and I met each other at Golden Lakes Charter School in 2011, when I was a freshman and he, a senior. We took a keyboarding class together and saw each other around campus, but it wasn’t until the spring semester, that we started to hang out. We found that we had a connection through a couple that we both knew and through that, we began to talk more.

I invited Adam to my house to gold pan after hearing of his interest in it, and had a blast getting to hang out with him. As we hung out more, we became friends and hung out into the summer of 2012. However, Adam went off to school and we ended up losing contact. Every once in awhile we would message each other to catch up, but our lives kept diverging.

Adam moved back to Don Pedro after college and I lived up in Redding most of the year due to my schooling, so we didn’t see each other for about 6 years.
At some point in 2018, while back from school, I ran into Adam at a gas station and realized he was still super awesome. Then, after a tough semester in fall 2018, I was home on winter break and thought of Adam (not that I’d ever fully forgotten him haha). So I got some courage and messaged him to see if he had time to hang out and catch up. He replied not too long after, and said I could join him on a hike with some of his coworkers. So we went to Calaveras Big Trees and hiked in the snow. Adam and I ended up talking about A LOT that day and instantly reconnected. We felt so comfortable talking to each other, and quickly realized that we liked each other. Adam remembers knowing that he couldn’t pass up this opportunity with me, and I felt the same way.

After that day, I wanted to see him again, so I invited him to go Christmas caroling with our church. Him, his mom Carol, and my mom all drove together and sang the night away! That night offered even more good chats and cemented the fact that we wanted to spend even more time together.

On Christmas Day, Adam and his parents came to church and afterwards, he gave me a handmade dreamcatcher he had made me, and it had a little vile of gold in the middle that he had collected. I was so amazed that he had taken the time to make me something so beautiful and special, this was when I realized he liked me.

That day we texted back and forth and Adam asked if I wanted to go see Holmes & Watson with him at the movies. On the way there, he asked if we could call this a date and I said that’s what I thought it was. That’s one of the things I admire about him the most, how directly he communicates. We had chimichangas and really enjoyed the movie. A long car ride home provided even more time to talk, and we talked about a huge variety of things. He asked me to be his girlfriend that night, but I was overthinking it and said I’d think about it (that was my first ever date after all). But when I got home, I couldn’t stop beaming at the thought of him-and I haven’t stopped since :) A few days later he asked me again, I said yes, and we shared our first kiss! From that night on, we were inseparable and really enjoyed the rest of that winter break.

January came, and I had to head back to Redding for my last semester of school. That was really hard. But thankfully, Adam drove all the way up to visit me that first weekend, and he came up almost every weekend after that! The fact that he made such an effort to see and spend time with me in those first few months was so important and meaningful to me. We had so many fun adventures from hiking Castle Craggs, to 4-wheelin’ in the snow, to bowling, to discovering a love for pad thai, to comforting each other after surgeries, to meeting family and friends, to going to school events, to playing cards, to learning new skills, to discussing Christ, etc.

After I graduated, we had to be apart again while I was in Israel (hardest 3 weeks!). But we chatted often and I got to share all I was experiencing with him. After Israel, I moved up to Redding to start my job and Adam moved to Mt. Shasta to start his. We still managed to meet halfway and get dinner and see each other on weekends as often as we could. In September, I ended my job and decided to take some time off to visit family, move up to Mt. Shasta to be closer to Adam, and find a new job. Thankfully, Adam was able to take off several weeks as well and we took a trip to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to visit some family and friends we hadn’t seen in awhile. We also spent some much needed time at home with our families and Adam got to get back to his gold-panning hobby.

On October 14th, we went to a creek that was very special to him and he gave me a very special pan of dirt to sift. As I was sifting, the rim of a gold ring began to show in the dirt and I grabbed it out. The ring had a peridot stone (my birthstone) and gold that he had found himself! He took the ring and asked me to marry him, to which I replied yes! I was blown away and felt so loved. We were ecstatic and so happy to share with our parents this next step in our lives!

Now, as we’ve been together over a year, we are so excited to be planning our wedding! We hope you can join us and thank you all for the love, support and advice in this journey we’re on. If you’re invited to the wedding, then you’ve had an impact on us in some way, and we thank you for that.

Love you all!
The Russells