Our story actually begins before either one of us remembers. Our parents were friends before either one of us was born. It all started when Thearen's father and Simone's mother were wedding attendants at Neil & Yvonne Moore's (parent's to Simone's maid of honor) wedding in 1999. At the time, their parents were paired to walk down the aisle together, but because of their joking and mischievousness, they were separated and put with other attendants. Our parents became part of the same group of friends, and because of this, despite living in different parts of the province, we grew up attending many of the same social events.

Neil and Yvonne Moore's Wedding - August 1999

Although Thearen was born in Slave Lake, lived in Leduc until the age of 8, and then moved to Grande Prairie (all while Simone lived in Edmonton), through the years there were always opportunities for us to get together with our families and our common friends.

One of the major events that we always looked forward to every year was one week of camping together at our church's annual Camp Meeting in Bowden, AB. This is a time where as small children, and even into our teen years, we would do activities together for the whole week. We share fond memories of making crowns together in Kindergarten class, face painting at the family carnival, counting and comparing "Primary Pennies", trips to the Red Deer Rec. Centre and playing outside Simone's trailer along with Emily, Zion and Micah. If you ask Simone's mom, she has vivid memories of Thearen consistently knocking on the trailer door, asking for Simone to "come out and play". Simone's mom and dad would often walk Simone, Thearen and Emily to their class, encouraging them to "hold hands" so as to not get separated through the crowds. This principle of the three of us sticking together has remained even into our adult years. These seeds of friendship became the basis for much more to come!

Simone, Emily and Thearen at Campmeeting - 2009

Through the many years of Campmeeting Thearen had a consistent "crush" on Simone - just ask Micah and Zion! Another commonality we had as families and individuals, was our dedication to homeschooling. Both our moms shared homeschooling "stuff" through the years, and our parents even remember attending a Homeschooling Conference in Red Deer together.

Our personal friendship really began to bloom when Thearen joined PACeS, the on-line homeschooling school that Simone was a part of in High School. We would video chat for hours and as our friendship and mutual feelings for each other bloomed, Thearen asked Simone to be his grad date (as friends) 10 months before grad, long before we were even dating.

New Year's Eve 2021 was a turning point for our relationship as we rang in the new year together virtually along with some of our mutual friends. Thearen even stepped out of his comfort zone and texted Simone's mom asking if Simone could stay up (virtually) past midnight.

In February of 2022, Simone contracted COVID 19 and Thearen spent countless hours video chatting and keeping her sane when she wasn't doing so well. During this time, one night, Simone texted Thearen at 3:00 am asking for prayers as she wasn't doing so well, and he was up worried about her already. We ended up video chatting the rest of the night, laughing and crying together. This is when we both realized we had something special.

Thearen and Simone on one of their many Zoom calls

We began dating on March 6, 2022 and quickly became each others biggest supporters. Our early dating months consisted of countless hours of video chats as we were 500 km apart. If you ask Thearen's parents, they have never come down to Edmonton so many weekends as they did in the first few months of us dating. If they couldn't come down, Thearen quickly found the nearest bus terminal to get himself down to Edmonton. Simone's parents also took a few trips up to Grande Prairie, never having visited it before.

Our first official date was at the Banff Gondola with a trip up to Sulpher Mountain during one of Thearen's stays in the Edmonton area. Thearen then officially moved down to the Edmonton area in September of 2022 to begin his apprenticeship as an Automotive Service Technician.

First official date at Banff Gondola - April 2022

We have shared many experiences together since with one of the highlights being a daytrip out to Jasper on July 2, 2023 in which Thearen proposed at Pyramid Lake after kayaking the afternoon.

The last year has been filled with new adventures including a trip to Hawaii, both of us going to school, renovating a house together, Simone beginning her studies and of course planning a wedding! Despite the busyness we always make it a priority to go on weekly dates and include each other in all aspects of our individual lives.

We look forward to the beautiful garden of memories that God has in store for us as we continue this new part of our journey together!