Our story

Ryan - 

It all started in November 2023. Our family vacation was coming up at the end of the month, and I was on the fence about going. I had a lot of work to catch up on and things I wanted to focus on, so I wasn’t sure about spending two weeks in Mexico. But after some persuasion, I decided at the last minute to join the family. I drove all night to meet them at the airport before we flew out.

Our time in Mexico flew by, and towards the end of the trip, my mom and I were sitting by the pool when we noticed a beautiful young lady and her mother on the other side. My mom, with a wink, jokingly said, "You should go talk to her." Later that day, I learned the young woman, Kielani, was German. My mom, grinning, said again, “You definitely need to talk to her.”

I never did approach her, but fate had other plans. Later, I ended up chatting with her father on the beach during a volleyball game, after which she came over sat down next to me and that’s how we first connected. That was also our last day at the resort. The next day, we moved to another resort for the last three days of our trip, and over the next two days, Kielani and her parents came to visit us, spending time with my family and getting to know each other more. Both families could sense there was a special connection between Kielani and me.

By the second day, I was SCHMITTEN, and my mind was spinning with emotions. Was it too soon to say, “I love this woman”? Funny enough, my dad, after seeing the Schykowski family for the second time, asked me what I was thinking. I replied, “Dad, I’m pretty sure I’m going to marry this woman.”

From that point on, everything seemed to fall into place. Every day, we exchanged long messages and video calls. Despite the 5,017 miles and an 8-hour time difference, we stayed connected. It was tough, but when you're in love, staying up until midnight or 1 a.m. to talk to each other doesn’t feel like a big deal.

I spent many hours praying to God, asking where my “missing rib” was, jokingly asking what He had done with her, and where she was hiding. I had a list of qualities I hoped to find in both myself and my future wife, and when I met Kielani, she seemed to check off everything on my list. The more I learned about her, the more certain I became that she was the one I had been praying for.

After knowing her for just under a month, I had a ring made. I continued to pray for guidance, asking God if she was the one He had set apart for me. A month later, with more confirmation, I called her father to share my plans and ask for his blessing—not just to date her, but to one day marry her. He and his wife gave their joyful approval.

On February 21st, I called Kielani and asked if she would date me, though she had no idea that I already had permission to one day ask for her hand in marriage.

Kielani came out in april for two weeks and got to experiance why we love our beautiful state so much, after she left Erika and I were off on our graduation trip with our grandparents in Europe! We had a few days in Amsterdam before they arrived and Kielani came to stay and explore with us - later in the trip we got to meet the rest of her family, and even though we were only dating at the time everybody felt like family.

Fast forward to August, Kielani came back out and was staying with us until the first week of november, during this time we got to go camping, hiking, hunting and many nights stargazing. 

Her whole family came out for Erika's wedding, spirits were high  and three days after with some help and coordination we got Kielani to get all dressed up without her knowing it was the day I was going to propose! She emphatically said yes, and so now we are excitedly doing all the planning and dreaming of starting our lives together! 

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 Kielani's side, with some aid of google translate "Growing up in Germany I always knew this wasn't where I was going to be staying, I remember telling my parents that I wasn't going to be living here my whole life and they always said I didn't know that, well, just a few years later I find myself meeting the most amazing man and his beautiful family. When we first met there was an instant connection not just between the two of us, but our families as well. I felt like we had known them our whole lives. My siblings didn't join us on this trip, but as everyone who knows his family knows they are the most welcoming and hospitable family I have ever met! It goes without saying that we felt like family already. I remember Ryan and his mom telling me that they had seen me by the pool and she told him to go and talk to me because I looked like a "beautiful Latina" and were very surprised to find out my family and I were German. Even with some encouragement he never came up and talked to me! Can you believe that?! HA! It wasn't until I was playing volleyball later that afternoon that I saw my dad laughing sitting next to Ryan and the two talking. I thought he looked nice and my father seemed to be enjoying their conversation, so I concluded that if my dad liked him already so would I. As soon as our game ended I traded places with my dad - now in the sand next to Ryan the energy between us clicked right away—we were cracking jokes almost instantly. He only knew a few German words, so our conversation was a little broken at first, but we just rolled with it.