The story starts before Cody even met Susan. They shared friends, and Susan would refer to Cody as “the cute friend” after seeing a picture of him. One night after finishing a shift at Bed Bath and Beyond, Susan and some friends went to Waffle House to eat. As Susan and her friends had just driven away from Waffle House, the mutual friends Cody was with called to invite them to eat there. Susan and her friends turned around to meet up with them, and Cody was there! Susan was so excited to finally meet “the cute friend;” however, Susan’s enthusiasm was met with Cody’s bashfulness. He didn’t say much but lived up to being just as cute as she had seen, even in his shorts, t-shirt, and sandals, as they had just returned from a night kayaking trip. The friends agreed to meet the next night for a fancier dinner, where Cody opened up, sharing his interest in music, love for kids, and start to nursing school. To Cody, Susan was the perfect kind of girl and was even in nursing school too. Susan was so gorgeous, funny, and had an infectious sense of joy about her. Susan and Cody were absolutely smitten after that night, leaving the restaurant telling their mutual friends how incredible each other seemed. They met many more times at hangouts, finally got each others’ phone numbers, and began talking every day. They decided to go on a night drive (where they ended up in Atlanta) for their first hangout alone. They drove all night, talked, became close friends, and hoped their friendship would bloom into a romance. Their first official date was a hike in Blue Ridge Mountains on September 22nd.

As they were entering their fifth year together, Cody was intentional in telling Susan this is the year they would become engaged, with the when and where remaining a surprise. Cody had worked 60-70 hours a week the previous fall and saved up for a hiking trip out west. He remembered a little detail Susan mentioned on the night drive. She mentioned it was a dream to go to Grand Teton National Park, and Cody added Grand Teton to the hiking itinerary. On one of the last hikes of their trip, they made it to the clear blue waters of Delta Lake in Grand Teton National Park and took in their surroundings. He proposed sitting next to her with a characteristically Cody delivery-funny, intimate, and charming. They shared their lunch as a newly engaged couple, hiked back down, and regained cell service to share the news with their closest friends and family.