We met - October 2013 We started dating - November 2013 We got our first dog, Ember - May 2015 We got our second dog, Rocket - August 2018 He proposed - December 9, 2018 We get married - September 7, 2019 1,892 days we've been dating 269 days we've been engaged 2 Bachelor's degrees 1 Master's degree (to be completed December 2019)

Darren and MacKenzie met while attending James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We met through mutual friends and later found out that we both were from Stafford, Virginia, what a small world! We dated all through college and after a year and a half of dating, we got our first dog together, Ember. After Darren graduated in 2016 and moved back to Stafford, MacKenzie finished her degree in 2017 and moved back home as well. In spring of 2018, MacKenzie and Darren moved to Downtown Fredericksburg, and four months later added another pup to their family, a second Australian Shepherd, Rocket. Throughout the almost six years of dating, we have made so many great memories and have been on amazing family vacations from visiting beaches in Eleuthera, Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, to skiing and snowboarding in Utah and Colorado. This November we will be celebrating six years of dating!

The weekend of December 8th, 2018, Darren and MacKenzie joined his parents and sister for a weekend in Raphine, Virginia visiting Devil's Backbone Brewery, Rockbridge Winery and staying in an Airbnb on a local farm, for Mrs. Pope's birthday. There was snow in the forecast and Darren wanted to propose the next morning; however, the snow storm had a different plan, and caused us to leave early in the morning so we could get home before we were stuck. The entire two and a half hours we drove home Darren was racking his brain on ideas for a new proposal. We finally got back in town, picked up the dogs and went home. The dogs absolutely love playing in the snow, so MacKenzie suggested they go out to play in the snow with them. Darren informed Jessi (his sister), who was spending the day with us that he was going to propose in the snow outside, and sent Jessi in to take pictures. With the dogs running around and playing in the snow, Darren got down on one knee and asked MacKenzie to marry him, and she said yes!