She swiped right. She also swiped right. Barbara made the first move, and by the next day we were complaining about work (and collecting pinecones) together.

We met at Thesis for trivia night- and ended up sitting and talking for so long that they were literally closing up around us!

When Barbara was talking about calling Lexi her "boo thing" to coworkers, Lexi suggested to just make it easier for everyone and call her "girlfriend" instead. What a smooth move!

Only a few short days after making it official, Barbara boarded a plane and was off to Asia for a few weeks. It was the first of many long goodbyes and navigating long distance and inconveniently timed FaceTime calls (but was a great practice for summers at camp!) At the end of the trip, Lexi picked Barbara up from the airport just so she didn't have to sit for another hour with strangers in a van. True love! (PS- Boarding the 12 hour flight was also the moment Barbara decided to drop the news of the relationship on her sister and brother-in-law. She loves a bit of drama!)

The very first time Barbara invited Lexi to her house was after touring a house she was interested in. On mother's Day, Lexi was at Barbara's house and they were out running errands when Lexi got a call from her realtor (her sister) that the house she so desperately fell in love with and wanted (but after 3 nos on the offer, she lost hope) was all hers. In June 2023, Lexi closed on her very own house, and by September, Barbara stayed "just a few nights" but never left. Barbara officially moved into their home in December 2023.

While Lexi had her dream ring created in her mind, Barbara had no idea what she wanted. We decided to go browse a few stores while we were out to get sized and get some inspiration. After going to a few stores in the mall, Barbara was convinced they sized her wrong, so we decided to head over to Laskers Jewelers across the street "just for sizing" since we knew they would get it right. We ended up browsing and Reagan, the manager, guided us through all sorts of options and the customization process. As far as Barbara knew, we left with a great idea for a ring and a quote/mockup on the way. But..... Reagan is damn good at her job and Lexi bought the stone we looked at and ordered the ring within about 60 seconds while Barbara walked away to look at other things! (Shout out to Reagan- we absolutely adore her and love catching up during ring cleanings. Highly recommend her if you are looking for a jeweler!) After our little shopping date, and completely unaware that Lexi bought a ring, Barbara went home and ordered the ring she had been looking at for Lexi! If you're wondering, no, we can't keep secrets! We both caved two days later and told each other about the rings- and had lots of laughs over buying rings the same day AND spilling the beans the same day.

At the end of October, we packed up the car and headed out on our first trip together! We headed to Chicago for a friend's wedding, which Barbara was the maid of honor in. Not only did we not kill each other, but Lexi killed it at the 'girlfriend of the MOH' gig, stepping in and helping wherever she could. On the way back to Rochester, we made our first stop at Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet, which has since become a tradition any time we drive through the area.

From Lexi's perspective: It was the most perfect night. I was dying to get my hands on the Winnie the Pooh Lego set but could not get myself to buy it. Barbara surprised me with it and we had the cutest date night. We sat in our living room watching Winnie the Pooh (original and Christopher Robin) halfway through, she paused (me not knowing what she was doing and very confused) she took out a cute little honey pot, and there was my ring! Did I mention that she bought a hundred acres wood candle too! From Barbara's perspective: I was trying SO HARD to get Lexi to tell me when she was going to propose, but when she wouldn't budge I knew I had to take matters into my own hands to 'Steal' the date I wanted. So, I bought the Winnie the Pooh Lego set and played it off as NEEDING to buy it then because it was being discontinued at the end of the year. I pitched the idea of a Lego and movie date night for our 7-month anniversary. I had no idea how I was going to get the ring into the mix, though. I even thought about opening one of the Lego bags, dropping it in there, and then borrowing one of the heat sealers from the retail shop at work to reseal it, but thankfully decided against it since it was too chaotic. I don't remember how I decided when to actually pull the ring out (it seems like I was waiting forever!) but I DO remember thinking "oh god we cannot fight over these Legos or it will ruin everything!" Thankfully, we did not fight over the build and I was able to propose with only a little crying :)

From Barbara's perspective: As I said, I was TRYING to get Lexi to tell me when she was going to propose. This time, so my nails would be done. She told me she wouldn't propose until after a concert I was going to on the 12th, so of course I was waiting until closer to the concert to do my nails so they would hopefully still look decent when she decided to propose! Since she said it would be after the concert, and because I know how much she loves cheese, her wanting a date night to eat a specific cheese on the charcuterie board left me thinking it was a normal date. This girl played things off SO well- she even had an excuse for the helium tank she brought home (said it was for a celebration for her clients) that I really had no idea. I really thought this girl just had a hankering for some cheese! So when we got back to the house, I was expecting nothing special and just wanted to change into my pjs. Lexi eventually yelled "Will you just go to the kitchen??" and that was when I saw everything. She had the hallway and kitchen decorated, candles going, pictures everywhere, flowers, the whole thing! Once I was able to get words out, I just mumbled "my nails..." and Lexi said "I got you some press ons." Then I told her okay and that she could continue haha (even before she proposed, that already had me saying yes!) I felt so loved and happy, and I was glad we could start telling everyone and that I finally got to wear my ring! From Lexi's perspective: I remember texting my sister and asking her to help me plan it. I bought balloons (that she wasn't allergic to), twinkle lights, flowers (that Asia picked out for me), a water bottle and sweatshirt, flameless candles, and printed off tons of photos. I tried all week to get her to get her nails done; I even texted her friends to convince her to do it (spoiler alert: she didn't listen, so I had to go out and buy fake ones) I played off my plan a week in advance, telling her how much I wanted the charcuterie board from Four Daughters (winery), so we planned a "last minute" date night. I tried buying time, by saying I wanted to steal the glasses, she told me no. She went to the bathroom (and stole the toilet paper roll lol) and I told my sister we were getting ready to leave. When we got back this girl was in such a hurry to get out of her "people" clothes that she didn't even notice the setup. I grabbed the to-go box from her and she still didn't know. Long story shorter, I asked her to marry me, and she said yes!

We headed down to Sedona, Arizona and channeled our inner influencers, vlogging the whole trip. We spent a few days hiking and exploring before the big day. On the 3rd, we hiked up Bell Rock (with our dresses stuffed into sweat suits so we could do a first look!) and got married in a beautiful private ceremony. The cloudcover of the past few days cleared and we had perfect weather and views for the ceremony and pictures. It was truly the most magical, spiritual, intimate, and love-filled moment of our entire lives- better than we could have imagined. BTW Yes, Lexi got her In-N-Out while we were in Arizona :)

Barbara survived her first annual labor day weekend with the Houzenga family! (She actually had a great time getting to know everyone better- she swears!)