You know, boy meets girl on the internet. Five years, one large dog, and thousands of kisses and laughs later, it's time to make things official!

Marissa thought she had the whole day planned. She set up a meet and greet with their friends', Gaby and Cameron, new puppy and dinner with her sister, Jessica, in Minneapolis. Little did she know that Mitch had a whole lot more planned. After a great day, they hopped in the car to head south back to Owatonna. Weirdly, Mitch took an exit off the highway in Faribault. "Let's go see if the tree is still on." The tree being Jerry's Tree (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG_iODz6e7E), that Mitch and Marissa had marveled at dozens of times on trips to and from the cities (let's be real, mostly Mitch waking Marissa up to see it right before they passed by). They got out of the car and wandered around the beautiful tree. "Is this allowed?" asked Marissa, completely in the dark that Mitch had written a letter to Jerry and spoken to him on the phone, making sure the tree would be lit on this special night. Starting to get cold in the February air, they turned to head back toward the car. Mitch stopped, turned around, and told Marissa he loved her. All of the sudden, he was down on one knee opening a beautiful lighted box to reveal the perfect ring. Mitch asked the question, and after asking one back ("Are you sure?" "Of course I am!"), Marissa gave him a big YES. Mitch, having thought of everything, laughed as Marissa put the pieces together that the random person walking towards them was the photographer Mitch had hired to capture the event, and that her friend, Gaby, hadn't actually wanted to get her nails done earlier that week for an interview and had been in on the whole thing. They went home and shared the good news with Nala ("Your parents are getting married!") and their families. It was the most perfect day, and will continue to be until 8/13/2022 takes the top spot.