our greatest adventure!

We grew up in the same neighborhood and on and off rode the same bus, where Nicole had a little bus crush on the cool older boy named Colin, who lived the next street over. Both of our first memories of each other were on a snow day in second or third grade. Nicole's best friend at the time asked her to trudge through the snow down to Colin's bus stop so she could deliver a love note to him. Good thing that note ended up in the trash right after he got it! Though we always had mutual connections, we didn’t hang out much back then, except for the occasional bus conversation, yearbook signing, or neighborhood interaction. After high school, Nicole moved down to North Carolina full-time to attend college, and Colin was working as a chef back home. Fast forward a few years, and shortly after graduating, Nicole moved back home from college in NC, and started hanging out with her brother and some of his friends, one of which was Colin, which is eventually how we reconnected. (although Shawn takes all of the credit for us actually getting together!) With a little liquid courage before a night out, Nicole made the first move and asked for Colin’s number, & since that night, we have not gone a day without talking! We went from talking every day, to going on dates, and on January 22, 2022, after a night out at the bar with some friends, Colin took advantage of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" playing on the radio on the way home, and made things official. Only two months into dating, we took our first trip together, driving down to NC to visit Nicole's college town and a DJ Diesel concert, and the adventures never stopped after that! Since January 2022, we’ve traveled to 26 states, 1 country, and 14 national parks together, and have explored several cities, restaurants, and trails in our 4.5 years together. We share a love of the outdoors, traveling, road trips, good food, art, cozy nights in, and being surrounded by friends and family. A few months into 2025, Colin suggested taking a weekend trip to Virginia to visit Shenandoah National Park, one of our favorite places. He tricked Nicole into planning most of the trip, and in June, on our second day there, we set out on an early morning hike to Chimney Rock. In our typical luck with travel/hiking plans, it was down pouring as we pulled up to the parking lot. We debated turning back, but decided to throw on some rain jackets and hike it anyway. At the top, the rain stopped shortly after we got there, which was the perfect time for Colin to suggest taking some photos and for a proposal. Spoiler: Colin forgot to start the camera that he set up, so you'll just have to take our word for it! We can't wait to see what this next chapter brings, and are looking forward to growing together, challenging each other, rooting each other on, and of course continuing to be each other's favorite travel partners. We're excited to see where life takes us next, and we’re grateful to be on the journey together.