We met at an Amazon warehouse. We would see each other periodically in passing over the course of about a year, but never really talked much. Then one shift, we were assigned to the same spot, with workstations that faced each other. We immediately connected and talked all shift long. We kept wondering how we hadn’t done this sooner.

During our conversations, the topic of fries came up and by the end of the shift, we’d made plans to drive to Applebee’s for fries after we got off. Jeff was definitely thinking more of a friend hang out, as he invited one of his other friends on shift. He told me after the fact, that he had a big no dating coworkers rule. I was disappointed that it wouldn’t be just us, but I wasn’t going to pass up on the chance to hang out with him more. When we got to the restaurant, his friend messaged him to bail on coming. It was distinctly date like after that lol. We spent a couple hours together in our vinyl booth, and the funny thing was, neither of us actually ended up getting any fries.

Remember that “no dating coworkers” rule I mentioned Jeff having? Well, between that Applebee’s hang out and the hike we had planned to meet up for a few days later, Jeff’s seasonal position with Amazon ended. So that hike became our first official date. We hiked around White Tank Mountain Regional Park for hours, talking about anything and everything. I remember that it started to get chilly as time wore on and he held my hands to keep them warm. And then he just kept holding them even after he had thawed them.

Towards the end of our hike we found a bench to cuddle on overlooking the city. We had gotten so close in such a short amount of time, it felt like we’d known each other forever. I think we both knew that day, that this was something special. We still make a point of sitting on that bench whenever we hike that trail.

If you know us at all, you know that we love to adventure in the outdoors and travel together. We've been on countless trips so far, but there are definitely a couple that stand out as defining moments in our relationship.

Our first major trip together was was when we flew to Portland, OR and then did a roadtrip back home. This adventure was a big one for us for several reasons, the biggest being that it was a trip of firsts. It was my first time meeting Jeff's dad and Granny, who both live in Oregon like most of his family. It was Jeff's first time meeting one of my friends, Aftin my MOH, in person (we started dating right at the start of COVID so I hadn't had the chance to introduce him to anyone face to face at that point). And finally, this roadtrip took us to our first National Park together: Redwoods National Park. We spent less than a day there, but it somehow wove its way into the fabric of our love story. It helped spur our love of visiting National Parks together and is now the location where we will tie the knot!

The other major adventure that has defined our relationship was our first backpacking trip. Only 12 miles one way, All Trails said. There would be water halfway, said the research I did. Boy did we get a shock.

We started bright and early in the morning and by the time we got to the halfway mark, we had already clocked just over 8 miles. This was when we knew that All Trails was a liar. On top of that, the spring at that point was gross and had not fully filled in for the season yet meaning no water fill up for us. This really should've been when we made the smart decision to not go any further and just camp there. But, as you can probably guess, we did not do that. We still had water and knew that there was a year round water source at our destination, so we pushed on.

We ran out of water around mile 12. Our bodies were breaking down and losing momentum with the constant uphill slog. It got to the point where we were very concerned for our safety. At about mile 15, I magically managed to hear running water that we scrambled down to and partially filled our bags with right as the sun was setting. We did the last two miles in the dark and when we finally made it to camp we were shivering so bad it was hard to function. We got water, ate food, and went straight to bed.

The next morning, we did the whole thing in reverse. We both cried when we saw our car at the end.

We say this was a defining trip for us, not necessarily for the physical things we went through, but because we made it through together and without fighting. We could've been at each other's throats for being tired, hungry, dehydrated, for planning the trip in the first place, and so many other things, but we weren't. We worked together. We did major problem solving. And we made it home still in a relationship. We figured, if we could make it through the stress of that, we could make it through most things and still come out the other side holding hands.

From first dates to roadtrips, from moving in together to getting engaged, we have slowly woven our lives together. We've learned a lot about teamwork and compromise, as well as what good communication looks like in a relationship. We have changed so much from those individual people we were on that first hike, and I think it's definitely been change for the better. We don't always bring out the best in each other 100% of the time, but we know how to work through it and come out stronger on the other side.

And now, it's time to take blending our lives a step further!