Our Story

~ Chapter 1 ~

The late summer air was starting to cool down, the fire had just been fed another log, and the country music was turned even louder. This was the start of my (Jacob) fifth year of college at Montana State University, fifth year at Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, and fourth year of hosting swing dances at my parent's house. Ever since learning in middle school, I had always enjoyed swing dancing, and so I naturally loved being able to use it as an opportunity to reach out to new students at MSU. For quite a while I had been praying to the Lord to bring me and my future wife together, and yet I had no idea that prayer was about to be answered as Makenna showed up to dance that night.

As many of you know, I, Makenna, have a passion for dance so I couldn't turn down an opportunity to go to a swing dance! I had no idea how life changing that dance would be.

Makenna and I found ourselves in the same Bible study on Monday evenings. We got along fine, had some similar interests and senses of humor, but rarely spent much time directly interacting with one another. As the semester progressed, I started to notice small random details about Makenna. She would tell a silly joke, reference some meme, or share a thoughtful point about the study, all of which served to slowly grow my interest. Just after finals for the fall semester wrapped up, we had an evening of us two playing Mario Kart and Golf on the Nintendo Switch out in the main room at the Chi Alpha Ministry House. While we certainly did not realize it, we were absolutely in our own world making jokes, laughing together (or at each other), and enjoying being done with the semester. At the end of the evening, I definitely had caught some feelings.

Throughout the fall semester, I had enjoyed spending time with Jacob but really didn't think anything about it. He was just a friend. We definitely had things in common and worked well together, but I was so focused on all the crazy and new things of college, that a boy was not on my mind.

~ Chapter 2 ~

Over the next few months, we started spending time together more and more. We would watch movies, eat food, or work on homework together, all as an excuse to spend time with one another. Eventually, we both realized (with some nudging from some of our friends, and a lot of help from Jesus) that we had feelings for one another and needed to have a conversation. So one night before 755 (Chi Alpha's big weekly group gathering), we set off into the cold snowy weather to walk. I personally thought I was about to be friendzoned hard, so I was incredibly surprised when it became clear that Makenna shared the same feelings for me as I did her.

Pretty much! I was in very hard denial that I had any feelings for Jacob or that he liked me (despite him making this very clear through his actions), and, like Jacob said, I needed some nudging from friends (thanks Joey!) and a gift of lego sunflowers to help me realize just how much I liked him.

During that walk, we decided to wait until after Makenna's freshman year was finished to begin dating, but would go on weekly walks together to help build our friendship further. Towards the end of the semester, those weekly walks really started pushing their bounds on time, and it wasn't uncommon to have a 3 or 4 hour walk.

These walks were a lot of fun that led to us getting lost, finding fun hidden spots, and becoming better friends. As they got longer, our friends' heckling also increased.

~ Chapter 3 ~

Finally the end of the semester arrived, and the second Makenna completed her last final, we headed out on our first date. We hiked Ousel falls near Big Sky, which, much to our dismay, was still quite covered in snow despite it being May. We then attempted to have dinner at Sidewinders, but our reservation was lost! Instead, we ate at Mackenzie River before ending the night by watching the sunset together out near some fields.

This date was so much fun! I got to see how intentional Jacob is and how much fun we were going to have in this relationship.

Over the summer, we continued to grow our relationship, though unfortunately had to do some long-distance. I started work as a software engineer for MSU and Makenna went back home to Lakeside. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Makenna a few times over the summer though! Benjamin and Carolea Burdick were such a blessing by allowing me to stay with them in Bigfork. During these trips, I met Makenna's family, we watched fireworks together, and were even able to go to Silverwood to ride some rollercoasters.

This was such a fun summer, even though we were long-distance. We got to find creative ways to watch a movie or show together once a week on Discord and still go on fun adventures! I know it's a time I will always treasure.

Eventually, the summer ended and Makenna came back to Bozeman for school, where we continued spending time together, growing our relationship, and, of course, dancing. In January 2025, we began intentionally talking through our long-term plans and thoughts about family, finances, God, and much more.

As Jacob said, we had fun during our time together while dating, but we knew we wanted to go deeper. The time of intentionally going deeper in our relationship was one of the hardest but also most rewarding periods of my life. It showed me truly how dedicated Jacob was to me, our relationship, and God, most of all.

~ Chapter 4 ~

By the summer of 2025, I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Makenna as my wife. After a lot of prayer, talking with family and friends, and deliberation, I asked Makenna's mother for her permission to marry Makenna.

I can't pinpoint a specific time that I knew Jacob was the one, but rather just a series of small yeses and thoughtful prayers. Thank you to all the friends and family who contributed to helping us grow in this time!

Then began the search for Makenna's ring. I knew she wanted a purple stone, but amethyst and tanzanite were both too soft of minerals, leading to the decision of a Montana sapphire. I searched high and low for this stone, looking through each option at various stores, but finding nothing that was quite right. Finally, one day my mother and I randomly stopped into a random gem store downtown. The very first stone I saw was absolutely perfect, and I knew the search was over.

During this time, I knew Jacob was planning things but didn't know what. It was so frustrating to know he was planning things and not being able to know any of them! I just wanted to know already!! But I trusted Jacob's plans and knew whatever he was up to, it would be perfect. Even though I knew I had set him up with a hard task to find a purple Montana sapphire.

Once the ring was complete, I could not wait to propose! We had plans to go on weekly walks every Thursday to provide opportunities for a proposal, but still ensure it would be a surprise. Our first walk was on September 11, 2025. The ring had been finished just the day before. Prior to our walk, my mother, my best friend Isaac Burdick, Makenna's best friend Joey Taylor, and I all went to the location of the proposal for setup. I had chosen an area Makenna and I visited on one of our very first walks, and was known for having cows roaming around.

I knew that Jacob was going to propose on one of these walks, so I got ready for what might be my proposal on that September day. I kept going back and forth that whole day about "it might actually be today... No, there's literally no way he'd do it on the first one!". By that evening, I was sooo nervous that I had to call and text two of my best friends (Thank you Ashley and Joey!) to have them calm me down and tell me, "You know Jacob! Do you really think he would do it on the first walk?" Only further leading me to believe that today indeed was not the day (even though both of them had talked to Jacob and knew what was about to happen).

~ Chapter 5 ~

Later that evening, I picked Makenna up. We walked through the fields and hills for half an hour before rounding one final bend. Makenna could then see all the lights and flowers set up, and knew what was happening. I then dropped down onto one knee and asked the quintessential question.

Before we get to that question, I need to share how I felt! On this walk, Jacob made it seem even more like it wasn't the day. At one point, I began feeling lightheaded, and he said, "Do we need to go back?"" Knowing that I would say, "No, it's ok, let's finish the walk". Good thing I did! Thankfully, there were cows to distract me while on that walk. Just what I needed! We rounded that corner and I was speechless. Was this really the moment I had been waiting for my whole life?

"Will you marry me?"

"YES!"