In 2015 (sophomore year of high school) we were placed in the same English class. The first day of school, our teacher assigned seats in alphabetical order by last name, ironically placing Elena's assigned seat directly in front of Blake. These seats would be our permanent spot the rest of the school year. After about 2 months of being too nervous to introduce ourselves to one another, Blake took the brave first step by sending a Snapchat to Elena - i.e. a social media platform for you older folks ;). The snapchat was a picture of Blake's pass to leave school early which he captioned it: "Jealous? (;" We know.... SO romantic! AND the rest is history!

On October 30, 2021, Elena had asked Blake to attend a Halloween party with her. Blake reluctantly agreed (which Elena took as a "I'd love to!!"). The halloween party was scheduled to start around 7pm, so as Elena got off work that evening, having very little time until the party started, she rushed to Goodwill to buy last minute "Dora & Diego" costume accessories. With no time to spare, Elena speeds over to Blake's house calling him on the way. Here's how our conversation went: Elena: "Okay, I got our stuff. I will be there in 5 minutes. You need to wear boots, and a blue shirt, find a monkey, and we need to pick up my wig from Party City." (Can you get a sense of just how rushed Elena was?) Blake: "Let's carve pumpkins." Elena: "WHAT?!?!?! This is not the time to carve pumpkins, we need to get ready!" Blake: "C'mon we always carve pumpkins and we haven't yet this year. Tomorrow is already Halloween." Elena: "Ugh fine! We will carve your pumpkins then just be late to the party." *Elena (slightly annoyed) carves a pumpkin as fast as humanly possible* After the pumpkin carving, Kristen (Blakes mother) says, "Let's bring the pumpkins outside to light them, and John (Blake's father) can judge them". We lined up on the driveway as Kristen brought the pumpkins outside and lined them up on the porch facing away from us so "John couldn't see them". She lit each pumpkin and turned them around one by one- the last pumpkin had an engagement ring carved into it. Beyond shocked, Elena turned around as Blake got down on one knee and proposed. Moral of the story: If you are rushing to go to a Halloween party, and your boyfriend asks you to carve pumpkins, just carve the pumpkins- he just might propose.