Back in August of 2022, I was beyond excited and, also, thoroughly anxious for what my life at Mississippi State would bring. Little did I known then, my future awaited just one flight of stairs away. I could say meeting Cody was simply a happy coincidence, but I wouldn’t be speaking truthfully. It seems Cody and I were fated to meet that first semester as we both called Hurst Hall home and had strangely similar schedules. On September 7, 2022, I had found the relationship I never knew I had been looking for. Since then, through the unpredictable joys and challenges of life, our love has only grown stronger. Now, I can proudly announce, that I am going to be married to the man of my dreams, the love of my life, and best friend all in one. I’m so grateful that we are able to celebrate this new chapter of story with all of you, our wonderful family and friends. - Liya

I started planning the proposal in January, and it wasn’t easy because I had to make sure that she had no clue about it even though we were often near or with each other. Actually getting the ring was one of the hardest parts since I had to come up with a good reason to go Jackson alone. To set up the proposal, I started to soft-launch the idea of a picnic in her head in the beginning of February, saying we would probably have to wait until March for it to get warmer. Luckily, it was easy to convince her to go on a picnic with our brand new picnic set right after we got back from Spring Break. For most of the picnic, I was super nervous thinking she was going to catch on immediately and ask me if I was proposing—we would always joke about how she can’t help but ruin surprises for herself. When the time finally came, I stood up and took her for a walk to the pier. I purposely distracted her by making her look down at a fish in the lake while I franticly looked for Audrey, who was hidden in the trees to take pictures. I grabbed Li-ya by both of her hands (the signal to Audrey), got down on my knee, and asked her to marry me. She of course said yes. Then, as soon as we walked off the pier to go see Audrey, a fisher man walked up and started fishing right then on the pier (Li-ya’s favorite part of the story). We took some photos, packed up the picnic, and went back to my house where we had a party with our friends to celebrate our engagement.