We were both finishing up our final semester for our Bachelor's Degree at CSU Fullerton. Fortunately, Emily's schedule had problems, so she had to switch classes around a week after the semester started. Groups had already been created during the first week of our senior project class. When Emily walked in, Ryan made sure that she was added to his group. After three months of *not so obvious* flirting we went on our first date. Emily made a point that she would be going on a trip soon and would not be starting anything serious.... little did we know at that time how wrong she was.

After graduation, Ryan went on his six-week backpacking trip through Europe and Emily left on her year-long road trip to travel through the continental United States visiting every National Park. Before we both left, it was planned that when Ryan returned to the US, he would fly into Denver so we could spend some time together. We decided that we were ready to make this more serious even though Emily would be traveling for quite some time. Denver was the first of 6 visits throughout the next year: Chicago, Virginia, Alabama/Georgia/South Carolina, Missouri, and New Mexico.

Ryan had the most perfect trip to Joshua Tree National Park (one Emily had put off so we could do it together). He knew exactly which hike he was going to ask on... Friday the 13th of March 2020 came and the world shut down, but it was okay because Joshua Tree National Park was still open so everything was still on. One week prior to our departure, the national parks shut down and would not be allowing even camping within the parks. Ryan had to make a decision, he wasn't going to let events in the world stop us from living and moving forward with our lives. We had a wonderful day doing things we loved around Emily's parents' house. We went for a walk, had a picnic, made coffees, and played games. We went to hang out in the "secret garden" on the side of the house and Ryan popped the question!!

We found our first home!!! We bought a three-bed, two-bath house in Long Beach where we are so excited to start our family! We have loved getting to make this house into a home that fits and is customized to our personalities! We hope to have you over soon!

As the weirdest year in our lives came to an end not knowing what the future holds, we made a big decision. We had no idea how to start planning a wedding with so much up in the air and didn't want the pandemic to put our lives on hold. We made the decision to get legally married on Emily's dad's (Hugh's) 65th birthday. After getting all dolled up we met at the Honda Center separately with Hugh as our witness. We got married at ticket booth number 7 inside the Honda Center. Followed by a photoshoot at the Redwood Grove in Yorba Linda. We will be sharing the video of our elopement at our wedding!!