We are so glad you are here to spend our special day with us! Details are enclosed, but we are always a phone call away.

We met through a mutual lifting club at school, but recognized each other through similar courses. Engineering students were known to always take a short-cut through a field to get to the upper side of campus, and as Cooper was going up and Leah going down, their paths crossed. After many, many, many, (really, I mean many) clues, Leah finally made the first move. Even after getting pulled over on their first date (this one is on Cooper), they are even more infatuated with one-another with each new day. Through countless meets, long hours and late nights working on school, part-time jobs, moves, internships, spontaneous weekend getaways, and many happy memories gathered along the way, we are finally able to share one more thing: our last name. Best friends comes in many shapes, sizes, situation-ships, Cooper and Leah are one another's places of solitude.

Cooper and Leah spent the cool Saturday morning at Soda City in Columbia (for those of you fortunate to not be familiar with Columbia, Soda City is a vendor farmers market) with no idea of how her afternoon would change. Leah's sister, Sarah and mother, Jennifer, were already planned to spend the afternoon with some girl time (still, Leah picked up nothing). After Sarah and her mom arrived, Cooper said a quick hello, and left the afternoon for the girly chit-chat shenanigans. After being told we were being taken out for a fancy dinner, Leah (obviously) could not figure out what to wear. Sarah, casually pulling out a dress that was known to be saved for an engagement date, Leah denied it and said she was saving it and to pick something else. After Sarah insisted that Leah wear this dress, Leah denied it again, still not understanding what Sarah didn't understand. After Sarah persistently told Leah to wear the dress, Leah realized what was about to happen, and wept in denial that such a dream was finally coming to a reality. Leah was dropped off at the Hampton-Preston House in Columbia (a fancy old garden home) (also not even wearing the dress she had picked out for a very specific occasion) and following a set of carefully laid cut-out white arrows, Leah met her boyfriend for the last time, standing on a sheet of rose pedals, surrounded by framed photos of the memories gathered through the years. After a quick and sentimental speech, Cooper got down on one knee, and pulled out the ring that Leah had chosen so long ago, and asked her to be his wife. With the fastest "yes" Leah had ever spoken, the two were engaged and their new milestone was celebrated at a restaurant surrounded by the people they loved the most. By far their favorite memory together.

Total meets competed: 9 Total degrees obtained: 2 Total part-time and full-time jobs: 12 Total different addresses: 5 Total State Judge certifications: 2 Total tattoos: 4 Total motorcycles owned: 2 Total planes jumped out of: 2 Total name change: 1