Abbi - We met at work in California 5 years before we started dating. I always appreciated his humor, work ethic, and the way he lights up everyone around him. Over time, he started calling me on his breaks and inviting me to hang out with his friends and family. Suddenly he told me he'd decided to move to Oregon, and I was taken aback by how devastated I felt. Although I was accustomed to goodbyes, having moved many times myself, this felt different. During a trip to Mexico and a tipsy taco Tuesday at La Siesta, I made my deeper feelings known. He asked me out and we started dating in July, 2018. When he moved away that August, I knew the long distance would either cause us to drift apart, or prove that our relationship was special. Michael- After our summer of falling in love, we began a long distance relationship. The year apart flew by as we were able to spend lots of time with each other very often. We saw rock concerts in San Francisco, explored the beautiful scenery in Oregon, even celebrated weddings in California. Most important for me, however, was that we both were able to extend our already big families even further. I had the pleasure of meeting Abbi's family in New York for Christmas. I felt immediately welcomed to the family and felt so much love right away. Abbi came with me to Arkansas a few months later and I think we did a pretty good job conveying the same love and letting her know she was one of us too! I couldn't imagine a better group of people to be surrounded with and having Abbi by my side every step of the way.

Michael - Once I asked for the blessing of Abbi's parents and grandparents, I knew I wanted to propose to Abbi somewhere on our trip to the UK. We shared a wonderful lunch at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland and I saw the Ferris wheel and knew that would be a place that we could remember forever. Abbi - I was surprised at his eagerness to enter the Christmas Market and ride the Ferris wheel: he's not usually very enthusiastic about crowds or rides. During our wait in the line he seemed to take special notice of the length of the ride, how many rotations were made, and where it stopped. When it was our turn we were allowed our own private pod. He sat across from me to take my picture and then pointed out the Scott Monument behind me. I turned around to look, and when I faced him again he was on one knee.