My wife Kenzie and I got engaged 5 years ago today! What’s even crazier is we dated for nearly 5 years before we got married. Now, here we are with an 18-month child, a mortgage, and a lot more responsibility.

We started dating in high school. I was going into my senior year and she was going into her junior year. I wasn’t looking for a serious relationship in high school because my focus was on sports. But there was something about Kenzie that I kept coming back to. So we would break up and get back together over and over again. She was a tennis player in high school and I would go watch her matches. I was on the football and basketball teams and she would come to every game. As much as I didn’t want a serious relationship at the time I knew she was perfect girlfriend material.

We Had Our Struggles

Kenzie struggled with health problems growing up which lead her to miss most of high school. Her teachers would excuse her for missing class and the school would send teachers to her so she could finish high school. The doctors couldn’t really pinpoint what was wrong with her. It broke my heart to see her struggle but the nurturing side of me enjoyed being there for her and helping her through her struggles (she no longer thinks I have a nurturing side).

We went through a lot the first few years of dating but we always felt like we were meant to be together (like most teenagers do). The real test was to see if she would wait for me during my two-year church service mission.

She would write me a handwritten letter once a week (just like in the cheesy love stories) and I would respond to her every time. Including emails once a week.

Turns out she ended up waiting for me and when I returned home we were married about 9 months later.

Our Proposal Video

You can check out our proposal video here below. It’s hard to believe it has over 3.5 million views. Big thanks to my brother for putting this together.

Because we dated so long we knew what we were getting ourselves into. And those years leading up to marriage were filled with exciting trips, dates and quality time spent together that never really cost that much money.

The reason I share this with you is to discuss how big of a financial decision it is to get married. Probably the biggest decision you will ever make.

We didn’t have everything figured out financially before we got married but it was a topic of discussion that we had frequently. I hear about people who get married that have never taken the time to understand each other’s finances and that blows my mind!

We Got On The Same Page Financially

We were very much on the same page before we got married. In fact, after I graduated high school and Kenzie started her first job her senior year, I shared with her the money management system that I had been using for about a year or two. She really liked it and started managing her money the same way that I did. That’s when I knew this was the girl I wanted to marry.

Even better, was after I returned home from a church service mission, she still managed her money the same way. When we got married, it was easy to combine our finances and get on the same page financially.

We’ve never really argued about finances (only until recently when I try to get too extreme). But the budgeting system that we use has helped us maintain balance in our saving and spending. Although life gets difficult when you have kids, buy a house, and start businesses, it’s possible to have healthy finances.

We look forward to what the next 5 years will bring!