After a few weeks of getting to know each other and helping move Olivia into her off campus townhouse, we made it official on Olivia's 21st birthday. We celebrated by going on a date to Firebirds. Although Covid made dating pretty tricky, some of our favorite date nights included movie nights, Friday night trips to the National Aquarium, and during the summer, ice cream dates at Woodside Farm Creamery.

Not long after moving into our first apartment, we welcomed our first fur babies together into our family. After convincing Mark we were just going to look at the cats, I quickly fell in love with them and put in an application for not one, but two kittens! They set us up by waiving the second adoption fee, so of course I couldn't just choose one! Ziva and Zeus were adopted on July 21, 2021, just 6 days after moving into our first apartment. Ziva is named after Ziva David from NCIS, and Zeus just fit in with the theme of "Z" names.

We had planned a trip down to Aunt Joyce's house in Cape May to visit for the holidays, we were going to bake Christmas cookies, do some shopping at the Washington Street Mall, and take pictures in front of the Christmas Tree at Congress Hall. Little did I know that this was all part of Mark's big plan. He had already spoken with both our our families, and I was the only one aloof to what was happening. As we were taking pictures in front of the Christmas Tree, Mark got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said "Yes!" but the story doesn't end here! Tears were shed, but I was told that wasn't the only surprise of the night! I didn't know what else Mark had in store. I knew we were meeting Aunt Joyce, Mark Sr. and Kaitlyn at Nino's for dinner, but to my surprise when we walked in the door my parents and sister were all there waiting for us! Of course more tears followed and the whole restaurant was congratulating us. It was the best proposal and surprise a girl could dream of! It meant the world to me that Mark included my family in this special moment, knowing how much it would mean to me for them to be there!