Zeke and Payton had known of each other through friends and through many events for Christian Challenge (campus ministry at K-State). They first officially met through a Challenge bible study in August of 2023 - Zeke says he remembers Payton at a Challenge Retreat in January of 2023, but Payton doesn't remember him at all...whoops! Anyways, for most of that fall semester their interactions with each other consisted of them saying "Sup, Payton" and "Sup Zeke" and then walking away. Yeahhhh, we've come a long way in a year! Fast forward to November and they had their first REAL conversation!!! It was about...you guessed it, helicopter hog hunting in Texas :D They both continued to talk about all their dreams and hobbies, and from there, interest in each other became so clear! Payton then tried to invite their bible study over to her apartment for one more gathering before Christmas break and only two guys showed up, Zeke being one of them, haha! Payton made sure to be playing her favorite hunting game on the wii so she could try to impress Zeke, and then continued to kick his butt in Mario Kart, not allowing him to win one race. He got a taste of Payton's true competitiveness that night! Not many words were exchanged after that, until January 2024 when they both attended Winter Retreat for Challenge. During that retreat they found their friend groups hanging out together, which allowed for more conversations to spark between them, and then on the second night after the late night dance party, Zeke and Payton took a walk around the whole campsite, just the two of them! After that walk Zeke asked for Payton's phone number!! Payton was denying the fact that Zeke was interested in her and thought he was doing that just to be nice, but then on January 15th he proved her wrong by asking her out on a date!!! Four days later on January 19th, Zeke asked Payton to be his girlfriend!!! And seven and a half months later, on September 13th Zeke asked Payton to marry him, and she said "YES!!"