It's actually pretty crazy that we did not meet earlier in life- we grew up in the same county, had the same friends, went to the same church, & yet did not cross paths. Nick even shared a class with Alli's twin their senior year of high school. Alli & Nick finally met their Freshman year, when they both attended Towson University & were active in a club called Young Life. It wasn't until their Sophomore year that they became close friends. On their first day of classes that Fall semester Alli & her friend Blessing walked into their class to find Nick in it as well. Fast forward a month or so later, Alli is scheming on how to make this keeper her Keeper ;)

This past December, Alli went home to Upstate New York right after her last in-person final (though she still had online final papers). As many of you know, Alli's mother's birthday is Christmas Eve and the family was told that she was requesting new family photos as a birthday gift (family photos in December in NY?!). That following Tuesday before Christmas, Alli was finishing up a final paper up until the afternoon family pictures. Alli was quite literally the last to get ready for the pictures- she was half getting ready in the car on the way over. Needless to say, Alli had no thought or guess to what is about happen. That day, Nick drove the six hours to meet us at the agreed photo location. When arriving to the location, Alli quickly figured out family photos were not exactly "family photos". Her family was able to keep this secret for the last four days that she had been home and the engagement plan was a success!