When Laura first met Justin on Xavier's campus in fall of 2014, she offered him a chocolate chip cookie, but he declined. That put her off at first because who turns down a cookie?! Suffice to say that's not the end of their story though.

Justin invited some LAS (Life After Sunday) club members to check out Latin mass with him and his buddy, Jacob. Laura was one of a few others who decided to join them for this new experience. After a while, there was a small group of Xavier students who would carpool to mass together every Sunday at Sacred Heart Church. As the years went by, Laura and Justin continued to attend mass together at Sacred Heart. They have been going to mass together there since November of 2014, before they were even good friends.

Justin, being the California boy that he is, finished his exams and went home for the summer. He and Laura would text and Snapchat just about every day while he was gone. Laura at this point had baked chocolate chip cookies several times for her friends and also brought some to club meetings with Life After Sunday, where she learned that Justin REALLY liked her chocolate chip cookies. So for his birthday in July, Laura decided to bake some of those cookies for Justin and mail them to him in San Diego. As it turns out, Justin hid the cookies from his family so that he didn't have to share, and ate them all himself. (Now you know, Megan)!

Although Justin had a thing for Laura for many months at this point, it took a summer apart for Laura to realize how important Justin really was to her. That is when, in the beginning of the fall semester in 2015, we finally decided to make it official and start dating. (Can I get a woot! woot!)

After just a few months of dating, the Hanks family realized how special Laura was to Justin, and so they invited her out to San Diego to meet the family. Laura arrived right after Christmas in 2015. Also visiting the Hanks family on this trip was Laura and Justin's good friend, Jacob. You see, the plan was to spend New Years with the Hanks clan, and then drive Justin's car from San Diego to Cincinnati. And that's exactly what we did. On this trip, Laura flew in an airplane for the first time, left the Midwestern United States for the first time, saw the ocean for the first time, and met Justin's family for the first time. It was definitely a week to remember! Not only that, but Laura was leaving to study abroad for 3 months just a few weeks after the trio arrived back to Cincinnati. As you can understand, this trip is also part of why Laura, Justin, and Jacob are all such good friends. Aside from spending an entire week together at the Hanks' house, the 3 amigos also spent 4 days in a car together driving across the country. Shout out to Jacob for being such a wonderful friend and sticking with us through thick and thin!

While Laura was packing to leave for her girls trip to Gatlinburg, TN, she had no idea what Justin was plotting. The first night in Gatlinburg, as 5 ladies lay fast asleep in their cabin in the Smoky Mountains, three were wide awake, knowing that Justin was driving through the night to surprise his one true love with something: the promise of a lifetime. (Oh, and a pretty gorgeous ring too!) He arrived just before 6am and had the sleepless ladies let him in downstairs. Once Justin was in place, it was time for the ladies to wake Laura. But how would they do that? Tell her there's a bear outside of course! After refusing to get up so early, the ladies told Laura there was a bear not far from the cabin that they had to go see. She immediately sprung into action, tossing on a coat and some shoes over her pajamas, and throwing her hair back in a messy bun, to which the ladies responded, "Uh, you should probably look nice..." At this point, Laura was suspicious and began to ask questions. She knew what was about to happen the moment she asked if Justin was there, to which the ladies responded "Maybe.... I mean no!" She finished getting ready as quickly as she could and went downstairs to find that the "bear" had indeed been Justin! The two went for a drive to a remote hiking trail just as the sun was rising. They walked along the trail together for what seemed like an eternity before he popped the question, "Will you marry me?" Laura immediately shouted "yes!" and gave Justin a big hug. Shortly after, Justin said, "Did you even look at the ring?" No she didn't, because no matter what it looked like, the answer was going to be the same. (Spoiler alert, he done good, ladies and gentlemen.) After walking, talking, and praying together for a while with not another soul in sight, the two decided to make their way back to the cabin. When they arrived, they found it filled with streamers, balloons and posters the ladies had made while they were gone. It was an amazing day!