Our love story started in the way that many do in this day and age- on the internet. Thanks, Tinder! After swiping right, we began to get to know one and decided to grab a drink. One drink turned into two (or three) and we found ourselves lost in conversation for a few hours. Being from such different places, Joe from Washington and Laura from Kansas, there was no shortage of things to say. After that night, we continued to date until the end of the summer when Laura was set to move to Nebraska to start her graduate schooling. Knowing that what we had was special, we made the decision to give long distance the ole college try. Over the next three years, we alternated visits to Washington and Nebraska, often with 2-3 months in between. Many Google Hangout dates, long phone calls, long plane rides, drives to the airport, and adventures later we made the decision to continue to share the rest of our lives together. While long distance was hard for the both of us, we grew as a couple in ways we could not have imagined. Thankfully, that long distance recently came to an end when Joe made the move to Laura's hometown of Manhattan, KS (The Little Apple). We feel so fortunate to spend this time together before our marriage begins and cannot thank our families and friends enough for their unending support of our relationship and of us as individuals.

Our first backpacking trip as a couple in May 2017 was in Olympic National Park on the Enchanted Valley Trail. The hike was absolutely stunning and to be able to share that together was one of our fondest memories as a couple. Fast forward to 2019, we decided that we wanted to revisit the trail and hike into the valley, which we had not done on our last foray into the forest. When we finally reached our destination Laura started to cry tears of joy that they were done walking for the day; the trail had not been kind to her feet. After setting up camp, soaking in the stunning views of the valley, and taking a visit down to the river, Joe got down on one knee and asked to share the rest of our adventure together. Spoiler alert: Laura said yes!