We met at our mutual friend's cabin (Thanks, Jake!) back in 2012. We had an instant connection, and although neither of us were ready to pursue a relationship at the time, we kept in regular communication. Whether it was texting, playing word games, or catching up at friend's parties, we always enjoyed talking and spending time with one another. At a friend's Halloween party in 2014 (ironically, Jake's again..), we finally broke through the "friend zone". From that moment on, it was clear that we were meant to be together.

Matt got me Phillies at Nationals tickets for Christmas 2016. We had talked a lot about starting to go to baseball games at other stadiums, so I was excited for our first one! We decided to go down to Washington D.C. for the whole weekend (the game was Sunday, April 16, 2017) and get to experience a few more things on our trip. On the way down the morning of Saturday, April 15, we stopped to visit with my long-time friend, Megan, and her family. Matt was antsy about getting into DC where we were staying, but I was enjoying spending time with friends and was in no rush. When we finally got into the city, we decided to walk down to the National Mall since it was only 3 blocks from our hotel. It was a warm, beautiful day out - so Matt insisted I not go into any of the museums and just check out the outdoor memorials. When we got to the Washington Monument, Matt asked me if I wanted to take a picture. Clueless as I was, I thought we were just taking a picture together, so I started situating to take a selfie. Matt suggested we have someone else take the picture instead so that we could get the monument in the background. Again, clueless, I agreed and handed my phone over to a stranger. As we walked over to pose for the picture, Matt bent down, claiming he needed to tie his shoe. It has been a long-running joke between us that Matt would "fake propose" to me and just tie his shoe. This is what I thought was happening, so I yelled at him because we had just given my phone to a stranger and he could tie his shoe later. Well, he got his joke in, but turns out he WASN'T fake proposing. IT WAS REAL! He presented me with the ring of my dreams and, obviously, I said "yes"!