After that night, Kyah and Nathan were fast friends. Nathan, a bit more reserved -- and Kyah, someone who could only be described as "chaotic good." 

Their favorite things to do were going on long walks, listening to music in silence, and hanging out at Atwater Beach. One Thursday morning, Kyah entered Nathan's dorm room and said, "Let's go to Chicago, there's an Amtrak leaving at noon today." Despite Nathan's objections ("I have class?"), Kyah successfully dragged him to go play hooky on a beautiful day in Chicago. To this day, it's still one of their absolute favorite memories.

Before the end of Freshman year, Kyah and Nathan were becoming closer. Music and Atwater Beach had become a large part of their friendship -- until one day, it became a large part of their relationship:

As the sun went down, listening to music at Atwater became dancing at Atwater, which turned into a small kiss at Atwater. But after several months of dating, Nathan headed to his dream school in Madison, WI, and needed to move 2 hours away. Even though they were both so happy for the news, they made the decision to amicably split, despite the great year they'd had.

Together, Kyah and Nathan are many things: artists, musicians, adventurers, stubborn nerds, and people with a zest for life that also includes a lot of staying home. One thing they are not, though, is liars -- and they won't lie in saying that their home in Menasha sucked. 

But even among mice problems, Wisconsin slumlords, a short stint with a very challenging foster dog, Levi, and countless attempts to get approved for fully remote work, Kyah and Nathan spent two years preparing, saving money, and researching insight for their big move to Colorado, which had been a dream since they were both 10 years old. When the day finally came, Kyah and Nathan packed up their 3 bedroom house, their dog Mozzie, and about 8 spreadsheets into a Uhaul and made their way to Fort Collins, Colorado, where they currently live.

In Menasha, Kyah and Nathan were lucky enough to adopt a black lab-hound mix, Mozzie. Mozzie is a sweet, expressive, bug-eyed boy whose favorite food is unfortunately paper towels. He is scared of people in motorized scooters, garbage trucks, and being home alone (we're working on it).

But of course, that's the perfect reason to get yet another dog. Enter Caffrey, who we adopted in June of 2024, just months after moving to Colorado. Caffrey is a Great Pyranees-Lab mix, who at the age of 4 months weighed approximately 50 pounds and was faster than Kyah, much to her annoyance. Named after the main characters from White Collar, both of these beautiful, bizarre animals were present for the couple through big life changes, and also helped them carry out their daily bidding (working from home) without going insane. 

2024 turned out to be a massive year for the "family." After starting a new job, moving to Colorado, and adopting a puppy, Kyah had a month-long art exhibition in downtown Fort Collins andwas honored as a 30 Under 3 for NoCo magazine. Nathan was finally remote, leaderboarding on an internationally-acclaimed game, and working on recording and publishing his own music.

This is why Kyah was incredibly surprised to experience Nathan's marriage proposal on a wooded trail near Fairplay, Colorado, where they had been on vacation. Even though Kyah ruined her own proposal by crying on top of Mt Sherman the day before, the proposal was the perfect culmination of over half a decade of true friendship, 20 US states, and way too many Gary Clark Jr. concerts. The two of them enjoy every single day together.