After a couple weeks of texting (and some debate about whether Haley or Taylor swiped right on Andrew), Haley and Andrew went on their first date to see some live music at Grace Estate Winery. Despite some subpar tacos (for a native Texan) and some minor mishaps, they hit it off and ended up going on many, many more dates.

Things were obviously going pretty well at this point. When Haley came back from winter break, she invited Andrew to come to Houston over spring break to check out the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (and see Lizzo). After a long day (and perhaps a few local beverages), Andrew mentioned that he was willing to move to Texas to join Haley as she started her career in Houston! While the Rodeo and Lizzo show were canceled due to the emerging threat of COVID-19, Haley and Andrew spent their last weekend before the world shut down exploring Houston and starting to think about what their life in Texas might be like.

By August, Andrew and Haley had made it through the first months of the pandemic, and Haley was getting ready to move to Houston. Haley and Andrew loaded up Haley's car (and David's U-Haul) and drove down to Texas. Facing the possibility of being apart for several weeks, and with no end to the pandemic in sight, Andrew decided to take the plunge and move to Houston with Haley. Over an insane few weeks in October, Andrew and Haley took some big steps together. Haley took (and passed) the Texas bar exam as the fire alarm blared in their apartment. Andrew quit his job, finished his thesis, and downsized to what he could FedEx or fit in his Subaru. They finally made it all the way to Texas and started building their life together.

A few months later, Andrew had finally come up with a plan to get a ring, and they were going to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend and their COVID jabs with a vacation out to Arizona. They coordinated the trip with the help of a close family friend (shout out to Sue!) who was also able to plan the engagement with some folks at Castle Hot Springs (the lovely resort outside of Phoenix where the proposal took place). The morning of the engagement started out near the Grand Canyon… with a flat tire 30 miles away from the nearest town. Luckily, they were able to get the spare put on, replace the tire, and spend some time in Sedona on their way to Castle Hot Springs. After making it to Castle Hot Springs, they decided to get a drink and go on a walk to “explore the property” before dinner. Andrew apparently missed the memo - what he thought was a scenic “short walk” was really more of a “short hike,” and Haley and Andrew ended up trekking in sandals, loafers, and their fancy dinner attire. Because they both knew what was coming, they persevered most of the way up before the trail got a little too narrow, steep, and rocky for comfort. Haley was ready to turn around, so standing on the side of the mountain trail with the view of the resort below them, Andrew decided he would drop on one knee at that moment and pop the question – and Haley said yes! They would make it the rest of the way to the summit a couple days later, and to this day they still have plenty of questions about how they made it that far with that choice of footwear – and about their collective judgment with Andrew opting to walk up a mountain to propose and Haley saying yes after that.