Maddie- My sister Caroline initially mentioned Aaron to me in a casual way, sent me a couple pictures and a few words about him to see if I would be at all interested in him. As I was still living in Norman at the time, finishing up my last semester of college, Aaron was all the way in Austin already living in the real world. While I thought he was extremely cute, I also thought it would never work due to distance. The timing just didn't seem right. But then again, when is it ever? After Caroline mentioned him to me, I heard nothing about him for a while until a couple weeks later she asked if she could give him my number. I agreed to it but still didn't expect much to come of it. Soon enough, I got a text from Aaron asking me if I would like to go on a date in DFW, meeting halfway between our two cities. After a hit of an 8 hour (longggg) first date, I was pretty sure I liked him. Soon came a second and third date, then visiting each other in our own cities. It took a lot of miles and gas, but we really nailed the long distance thing. He asked me to be his girlfriend after a Texas A&M football game on the way back to Austin after a couple months of dating! I knew from pretty early on that Aaron was the one I wanted to marry. I didn't need much more time before making a big move to Austin myself to be closer to him. We rocked long distance, but living in the same city was better than we could've imagined and so, so fun! We love to hike, try new places to eat, take random day trips, and go to our church together. In April, Aaron fooled me well and popped the question on Memorial Day weekend. He took me back to where we had our second (and favorite) date and got down on one knee. I don't remember much of what he said, but I said YES and we celebrated with friends and family right after! We are so ready to spend forever together. I love Aaron for his drive, his protective nature, goofiness (always), his ability to communicate so well and his vulnerable heart.

What I thought was a trip to Georgia to visit two college friends turned out to be much more! As we were sitting around James and Caroline's house on the last night of the trip Caroline mentioned that I should meet her sister Maddie and go on a date. Initially, I was skeptical. I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship or make anything awkward. As I left their house to head back to home I jokingly told Caroline, "Tell you sister to call me." In which she responded, "No you call her!" I was back at work in Austin--and after stalking Maddie on social media like a good millennial--I couldn't stop thinking about asking Maddie on a date. Finally one day I mustered up the courage to ask Caroline for Maddie's number. After coming up with an awkward text asking if Maddie would want to go on a date sometime, I sat on it for a few hours and finally sent it. What felt like hours later I finally got a response back: "Yes!" Maddie likes to give me a hard time about our first date being long, but my friend, Calum, told me since we were both making a trip to Dallas I had to make it worth it. After the long date I knew I really liked Maddie but didn't see a viable path to a serious relationship considering we were living in different states. After a few more dates--and many miles--I finally got the courage to ask her to be my girlfriend. Another "Yes!" Long distance wasn't easy. We spent many long nights on the road driving from Norman to Austin and back, but we continued to grow closer. A few months after Maddie graduated she received a job in Austin. At this point I really knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, so I began planning an engagement. Maddie is hard to trick and I knew I was going to have a tough time surprising her, but with a little help (thanks Billi!) I came up with a game plan for Memorial Day. I took her to Klyde Warren park and popped the question there, taking her by surprise! Later that day we were able to celebrate with family and friends!