Group photo at Leavenworth
We met on a surprisingly sunny February 24th afternoon. We'd been assigned to the same carpool by Christi, the carpool coordinator for a retreat to Leavenworth (and now Kelly's roommate!). Upon arriving at Brady's minivan, we discovered that some rearranging was necessary and, following that task, we declared ourselves spatial reasoning geniuses. After cleverly following each other around (while also avoiding each other at all costs), we managed to sign up for the same hike to Rattlesnake Ledge.
We went to some fancy events
We officially began dating on July 13, 2006. We spent our time hiking, reading books together, cooking delicious meals, having picnics, camping with friends, traveling to various and sundry destinations, meeting each others' families, going to a plethora of weddings, and counting the minutes until the next time we got to see each other.
On Kelly's birthday—June 3rd—Jonathan gave her a year-long birthday present: 12 gifts, one for each month of the year. We began having a mini-month-birthday party for Kelly on the 3rd of each month.
On August 3rd, we packed some cupcakes and went on an evening hike to Rattlesnake Ledge to celebrate Kelly's mini-month-birthday at a lookout point. Unbeknownst to Kelly, Jonathan had prepared a second gift for her: an engagement ring, wrapped in birthday paper the night before, and hidden it in his backpack. "Which would you like first," he asked, "cupcakes or presents?" (He was thinking: "Say presents." "Say presents!".) "CUPCAKES!" said Kelly. (He ate his cupcake really fast.)
Kelly opened the original gift for August 3rd (a gift card), and Jonathan brought out the second gift. "What?" said Kelly. "I can hardly think of 12 things I need, let alone 13." "I think you'll want this one," said Jonathan.
Right after the proposal
When Kelly opened the second gift, she looked at Jonathan, shocked/surprised and speechless. "Uh," said Jonathan, smoothly, "er, uh, I tried to think of something eloquent to say here, but the simple fact is that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Then he got down on one knee and asked Kelly to marry him. "HECK YES I WILL!" said Kelly.
Our wedding is scheduled for January 12, 2008. We're excited about the future God has for us and we hope you can celebrate the beginning of our lives together.