Can't wait to celebrate!

We met on the dating app, Bumble. In Ryan's profile picture he was wearing a Christmas sweater of a T-Rex wearing a Christmas sweater, and he had a beard. So naturally, it was love at first swipe ;) We quickly realized we had a lot of the same values and laughed at each other's jokes, but it wasn't until we ended up in an unfavorable part of Atlanta, with limited bathroom access, after a 4th of July shrimp boil gone wrong (if you know what I mean), that we knew what love really meant. Our adventures have only gotten better since :)

January of 2020, Ryan accepted a job as a software engineer with Amazon Web Services and moved to Seattle. A few months later, I was accepted into University of Washington's neurologic physical therapy residency. The plan was to move to Seattle with Ryan after graduation in May, but with the start of quarantine, all classes being virtual, and the threat of travel bans, Ryan flew out to Atlanta to help me pack Ava and the car. We all drove across the country, mid-pandemic, and landed on Mercer Island.

Ryan and I had fall and Christmas photos taken with a photographer, Jon. Ryan reached out to him to ask for help surprising me with a proposal. Together, they fabricated this hour long "Summer Special" photoshoot and Jon emailed it to me. I initially ignored this email, because Ryan and I had just talked about trying to stick to a budget. So when he suggested we do it, I was immediately suspicious. My friends didn't think it was a give away, but agreed I should have my nails done. Fast forward to the day of the photoshoot. When Ryan got ready, he was wearing fairly tight pants; I texted my friends "it's not happening - tight pants, no box, no ring". I had successfully unconvinced myself anything was happening. Then after taking pictures in four different locations, Jon asked Ryan to stand behind me for an "admire from afar" picture. This was the code pose to do the deal. Ryan said my name, and I turned to find him on one knee :)