Katie and Michael briefly met two times before their mutual friend asked Katie to come to Michael’s family lake house for Labor Day weekend. During that weekend, Katie and Michael hit it off! Michael took Katie on the jet-ski and patiently went around the whole lake so Katie could look at all the houses (if you didn’t know HGTV is one of Katie’s favorite channels). When they got home from the lake, they continued to hangout, made their relationship official and the rest is history!

Katie and Michael had been talking about marriage for the past year! Katie kindly put stipulations on Michael that he wasn’t allowed to buy motorcylce parts, tattoos, or any more guns until he saved up for a ring! Michael bought the ring in early March unbeknownst to Katie. Unfortunately, our schedules did not allow us much off time together so Michael did not propose to Katie until the evening of May 31, 2019! On the day of May 31st, Katie had the opportunity to do a ride-along with Nightingale (Sentara’s medical transport helicopter). Her last ride of the day was to a mass shooting in Virginia Beach. Before she flew, she texted Michael to let him know that she loved him and she’d be home later than expected as they were leaving for the Outer Banks when she got home. Michael panicked as he was planning on proposing to Katie before they left for their trip and was unsure what kind of mood she’d be in after her busy day. Well, Katie came home on such an adrenaline high eager to talk about her day which Michael listend to with an open ear. Katie is a Burn/Trauma ICU RN and has had a life-long dream of being a nurse on the medical helicopter and the oppurtunity she had that day allowed her to see what her professional future could look like. Michael immediately knew this was the perfect time to solidify their future and propose to Katie. He pulled her into their great room and handed her a gun box. He told her that while she said he couldn’t buy anything, she never said he couldn’t buy anything for her. As he handed her the box, he told her he wanted to keep her safe and loved forever. As Katie opened the box, Michael got down on one knee. Inside, sat a ring box with the most beautiful ring! Katie immediately said Yes!