Kristin -- It's 2017, I was living in downtown Frederick at the time in an apartment. One Thursday night, my friends Julie and Ricky had come over to go to Karaoke after Ricky finished a big test in regards to medical school. We had the typical Deer Bologna and Cheese tray at my house, then walked a few blocks down the Cellar Door, offering the perfect opportunity for Ricky to show off his harmonica skills and serenade us all with his rendition of "Piano Man". When we arrived Julie and I were grabbing drinks and Ricky brings over his friend Matt. We chatted the whole night, and I was secretly thankful no one asked me to get up and sing just so that I could keep talking to him. Matt - I was taking night classes at the time at McDaniel College. I had just finished my last class before spring break and it was about 8:30 at night when Ricky texted me to go out. I really didn't feel like it, after working a full day and the commute to and from campus. I wondered if I'd get there before he left the bar. I knew he was celebrating, and about halfway to Frederick I figured why not stop by to start my spring break off right with a friend. I walk into Cellar Door, catch up to Ricky at the bar, and he introduced me to Kristin. Thankfully I didn't sing my go-to Karaoke Miley Cyrus song that night because I ended up getting to take her on a date the next week. Now she's stuck with my Miley Cyrus at karaoke night and I'm going to be listening to her Taylor Swift concerts on every road trip - that's a pretty fair trade!

After Kristin had finished her classwork in Miami, the family and Matt came down for a Christmas vacation cruise to celebrate before making the big move back to Maryland. Little did Kristin know, this was a trip to celebrate something else! The family had a great time at each port, the last stop was the day after Christmas (2019). The day was spent on the island of Grand Turk at the beach with snorkeling and lounging! All of a sudden, the relaxation ended, as the realization hit that we needed to get back to the boat in order to get the sunset pictures that her mom had wanted to do that evening. After a mad dash to get ready, everyone headed to the top deck to catch the sunset. Kristin was running only a little behind, and ended up as the last one on the top deck just as everyone had gotten back with drinks to enjoy the sunset! Dad handed Lauren the camera - and said "Just start taking pictures" as Matt asked Kristin to marry him! Of course she said "Yes!" There was a special dinner and a big deck party to celebrate!