Hailey & Payton

It all began during our freshman year at UNL, in Massengale Residential Center. Hailey lived on the first floor, Payton on the fourth. A few weeks into the semester, Payton started leaving games of checkers on random dorm room whiteboards. One of those boards belonged to Hailey.

For several days, Hailey waited for the mystery player to make his next move in Expo marker, responding each time with one of her own. Then one day, she finally caught him in the act. The mystery opponent turned out to be a nice boy with shaggy hair named Payton, on his way back from the campus gym. He quickly noticed Hailey’s impressive stash of Sour Skittles and asked if he could have some. Of course she said yes.

They shared Skittles, Hailey chatted away, and Payton continued their checkers match—one he ultimately won by a landslide. After the game ended, they decided to keep talking over dinner at the dining hall with some of the friends Hailey had made in the residence hall. Just like that, a friendship began.

Soon, they were eating almost every meal together, studying at the East Student Union, and finding any excuse to explore Lincoln. A few weeks later—after countless dining hall meals, late-night study sessions, and even a trip to Eagle to watch dirt racing—Payton confessed his feelings and asked Hailey on an official date.

During that confession, he revealed a secret: they had actually met during the very first week of school, when he stopped Hailey outside her dorm room to ask where the trash bags were kept. As it turns out, the checkers game was just his excuse to talk to her again.

Hailey said yes, and the rest is history.

After four and a half years of dating—countless mornings of Payton joining Hailey’s family for game day rehearsals, a summer spent long-distance with Payton in Nebraska and Hailey in Florida, adventures through the mountains of Colorado and the deserts of Arizona, and endless hours loving Princess—Payton proposed to Hailey on his birthday in Boston.

This season of engagement has been such a blessing, and we are so excited to begin our new family through marriage as designed by God.