Amanda & Max met on a hiking trip to Hahn's Peak with some mutual friends. We probably only said 5 sentences to each other that first day but there's a great awkward picture of us at the top of the mountain! After that, we quickly became good friends through serving at our youth group, having football parties with friends, and realizing that we had a lot more in common than we first expected.

We became close friends that year and could tell that something more was happening between us. Max asked Amanda on a date after Steamboat's Homecoming football game in 2023. Our first date was hiking Rabbit Ear's, where Max carried an entire charcuterie board up the mountain as a surprise! We sat up at the top talking and talking and talking and by the time we got home we had planned our second date.

Max sneakily planned several hikes this summer to throw Amanda off. He wanted to propose at the same place they had their first date: Rabbit Ears. It was snowy towards the top but they trekked through til they got to the spot where they had had their charcuterie picnic. Amanda started to get suspicious the longer they stood at the top taking pictures and talking as it began to look like it was going to rain. Max gave Amanda a big hug (to calm his nerves she learned later on) and told her he had a gift for her. She sat down on a big rock and he handed her a bunch of postcards (a tradition they have when they go on a trips). He asked her to read them out loud, each detailing an important moment in their relationship. As they progressed he signed them: your boyfriend Max, your best friend Max, and then finally your fiance Max! At this point he got down on one knee and Amanda said "I have to stand up for this!" After proposing, Trisha and Hadley ran out from behind some trees, completely surprising Amanda. She couldn't believe they had hiked all this way (and Trisha flew from VA!) to be here. They celebrated and after hiking down in freezing rain, made it back to Max's house for a surprise party :)