How they met--Mike & Ishel

Mike and Ishel met in June 2014 at a massive camping trip in Moab, UT.   He was a BYU Finance graduate, about to begin his full time job in California and freshly returned from a trip to Costa Rica.

 She was enjoying the summer before her senior year studying Art Education at BYU, about to visit her home in Virginia Beach then explore NYC for a week.    

She saw the handsome blonde hair blue-eyed boy walk over to their campsite and immediately knew she wanted to get to know him.   

He saw a beautiful brunette sitting on top of a car watching the sunset. He fell in love the instant he saw her and she said her name. 

They stargazed for hours together on the very first night in the campground. They spent the entire trip together hiking and exploring Arches National Park. And when Ishel became very sick after the camping trip, Mike extended his stay in Utah just to take care of her. 

  After her recovery and the best Fourth of July celebration ever, Mike left for Palo Alto to work full-time for KPMG and Ishel stayed to coach a week long BYU Dance camp. They talked every day and planned when they would be together again.  

 When Mike returned to see her two weeks later on his birthday, they began dating. They dated for six full months long distance, Mike in California and Ishel in Utah.  Mike was dedicated to flying out to see Ishel every other weekend and even flew out to Virginia for Sarah Kay and Derek's wedding reception to meet Ishel's family!  It was hard to be apart but so good to talk every single day. They made some great memories in California when Ishel took a few trips to visit Mike.  

 When Ishel's sister Sarah Kay was diagnosed with cancer, Mike was fully supportive and helped out with Ishel's family during and after the diagnosis.  

One December night in downtown San Francisco, Mike told Ishel that he loved her.  Ishel decided to take her winter semester off from BYU and work full-time as a nanny in California, just to be closer to Mike. They were finally together, in the same state! They explored the coast, city and mountains and fell in love with eachother (and San Francisco).  It was a wonderful time full of adventure, beautiful places and growing love.

........to be continued 

(This is already so long I'll do the proposal in another post)