Growing up as Alicia's close friend, MJ was a regular around the Cormie house. We lived in the same area, went to the same high school, but never even talked growing up. We basically "met" at Arizona State when we all began hanging out. We were friends for a few years, saw each other through other relationships, wrote letters back and forth as Blake was braving the Middle East, and without even realizing what was happening, our friendship grew into a relationship.

We spent so much time in school and working on our individual careers that marriage was put on the back burner. Blake graduated and landed an amazing job at the Yavapai County Public Defender's office and Marissa was thriving in her second year of residency. It was time to make this partnership official. January 25, 2019 Blake took Marissa to the compass room downtown for an amazing dinner with 360 degree views of Phoenix. Afterwards, they went to the Cormie residence to meet up with Blake's brother, Bobby. Blake mentioned they family was hanging out next door, at his grandparent's old home, which was a common occurrence. As they walked in the backyard, luminaries lighted the path to back patio. There was a collection of pictures from over the past 10 years they had been together as well as luminaries posed by the pool asking, "Will you marry me?" If the message wasn't clear enough, Chester, their Australian Shepherd appeared with a bandanna asking "Will you marry my dad?" The rest of the night was spent celebrating with family and friends in the backyard of Grandma and Grandpa Cormie.