After years of swiping left and right on various dating apps, on February 13th, 2024, they matched on Bumble. After over a month of texting and Lily canceling the first date because she was sick, they finally had their first date on March 30th, 2024. Mattie picked up Lily to get coffee at Gypsy Coffee House, where they stayed for 5 hours. They then went to Panera to get food, after realizing it was 3 pm, and they both skipped breakfast because of nerves. The date only ended at 5 because Lily was going to see one of her students' performances, but they quickly both agreed they wanted to see each other again

On their 4th date, they decided to have an early morning picnic before Mattie had to go to work. On the picnic, after some talking and sharing their first kiss, Mattie asked Lily if they would be official. Lily said yes, but did not know they were officially in a relationship... yet. On April 21st, 2024, after going to the Tulsa Zoo and having dinner at Baja Jacks, they decided to watch Mean Girls the Musical back at Lily's old apartment. While out of the room Lily heard Mattie shout, "Dang it! I only got to tell one sibling that I have a girlfriend!" And this is how that interaction went: L: Wait, I'm your girlfriend? M: Yes, what did you think I meant when I asked if you wanted to be official? L: I thought we were solidifying that we weren't seeing anyone else (they already discussed this on their 2nd date) M: What did you think I meant when I said I like the term girlfriend? L: I thought you were preparing me for when we were in a relationship in the future! M: What did you think I meant when I said "Ahh, April 13th, That's a nice date"? L: I thought you were making a Miss Congeniality Joke! M: I haven't seen the movie! *both laughing at this* L: Ask me again! M: Lily, will you be my girlfriend? L: Yes!

On their 1-year anniversary, they both wanted to propose to each other, but didn't know when or who would propose first! Mattie's Proposal- Mattie bought Lily's ring right before they were going to have friends over on February 8th, 2025. They already knew exactly how they were going to propose. Mattie wanted to recreate when they asked Lily to be their girlfriend: on a morning picnic in Woodward Park. They got their older sister, Emily, to take the photos while Mattie popped the question, and later surprised Lily with her best friend, Erin, who flew down from New York to surprise her. Lily's proposal- Lily knew that she wanted to be proposed to, but the longer she waited, the more she now wanted to propose to Mattie too- and soon! When trying to figure out when Mattie was proposing (she was able to convince them to tell them what date, and Mattie pretended that they were going to propose at home), she decided she wanted to propose on the same day. When getting to their picnic spot and setting the blanket up, before they could do anything else, Lily made Mattie open the 1-year gift she had made, a scrapbook. Making sure Mattie did not skip a page, she used the second-to-last page to write down her speech, and the last page to officially ask, "Mattie, will you marry me?"