How We Met
Hayden and I met working at Cedar Lake Camp. This is a place we had both gone as kids, is the place where we grew to know the Lord better and is a huge part of both of our lives. In 2012 we both ended up going back to work there as counselors. Throughout the summer everyone kept telling me how great he was, and I started to develop a crush on him. We had kind of flirted throughout the summer, but nothing had really come of it. He ended up leaving camp early that summer to go on vacation, and before he left he made sure to tell me that he was leaving, and he told me this in a very serious and apologetic tone, which was confusing to me considering that we had just been kind of friends throughout the whole summer.
Little did I know that one of my friends had told him that I had a crush on him. So, after camp was over, he ended up messaging me on Facebook and told me that that’s what had happened, and said that he liked me too. (Woohoo!) This was in July 2012 and actually lived two hours apart so for the next few months we only saw each other a few times. But we FaceTimed every single day, got to know each other really well, and found out that our life goals added up as well.
We both knew that we wanted to be in a relationship, but we didn’t want to rush things considering we had only seen each other a few times. But finally, in December of 2012, he asked me to be his girlfriend officially, and the rest is history! When I moved for college in 2014 we were only 45 minutes apart whereas we had been two hours, and our relationship really grew from there, and the more we were together the more we know that we were who God had for the other.
how they asked
In May Hayden and I had gone to look at rings. Later that month, we had gone to a small little jewelry store and we decided we were going to custom design it. So we went there and told them what we wanted, and from there I knew the proposal was coming eventually. So a couple of months later I had the sense that he had the ring just from some of the things that he had said. He had had plenty of chances to propose but he hadn’t yet, so I just figured he was going to wait a while. On Sunday, July 29 he had been asking me to go on a canoe ride all day. This was normal and we did this all the time so I didn’t think anything of it. I wanted to wait until the evening though, because every time we had canoed during the day, it had gotten too hot. That entire day I could tell he was kind of frustrated with me, but I wasn’t sure why. Well, we had a good day, we ended up going to the park and playing putt-putt, and then we went back to his house and had dinner with his family. After dinner, he said, “hey let’s not forget to go on our canoe ride later.” So around 7:30 we ended up going on our canoe ride, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
He kept telling me how much he loved me throughout the whole ride, but he does that all the time. Towards the end, he was on his phone a lot, which I found odd, but again I thought nothing of it. When we were almost back to the dock he asked me to turn around in the canoe and he would paddle the rest of the way. I still didn’t think anything except for the fact that I wasn’t gonna have to paddle which I was happy about. I was looking off into the sunset, and he just looks at me and says hey “you know would be crazy?” Then he goes into his pocket and I still thought he was just pulling out his phone to take a picture, but he pulls out a ring box and gets down on one knee in the canoe and said: “if you’d marry me”. Although I knew the proposal could be coming soon, I have never been so shocked in my entire life. I couldn’t even make tears come out because I was just so surprised. So, of course, I said yes (I think, honestly I don’t remember, too in shock) We paddle back to shore where his family was waiting there for us although none of them knew anything, they were all really excited. I still can’t believe we’re getting married it still feels like a dream, one that I have been thinking about for almost 6 years. I couldn’t imagine someone more perfect for me and I can’t wait to be his wife!