It was 2020 and we were just two college kids who swiped right on Bumble! Little did we know just a few short weeks after matching on a dating app, the entire world would shut down. COVID threw us for a loop, no restaurants open, curfews in place, classes moved online, jobs furloughed, and everything in between. Nick and I spent a lot of time just talking and then by May, we were having movie dates at home since nothing was open. During this time, we watched A LOT of movies and Nick showed me all the "classics" I apparently was missing out on. I will give it to him that all the movies he showed me were actually pretty good and he does have good taste. By August, we started hanging out more, and then he introduced me to his buddy, Tyler, where we did lots of dinners and country power hours together. In September he started to meet some of my friends including Vicky, Emily, and Lily! We officially went on our first date in October of 2020 and Nick surprised me by taking me to Tin Roof on iDrive where we saw the Bachman and Polk Happy Hour Show for the very first time (little did we know Tin Roof would become our personality for a solid 2 1/2 years). I like to give Nick grief because he didn't officially ask me to be his girlfriend until November 16, 2020. If you ask Nick, it took him so long because he had to make sure that I was girlfriend material! The last 4 years have been a whirlwind and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We grew up together from experiencing our last year of college in a pandemic, both graduating college, starting our first real professional jobs, a few moves, and buying a house! We are so excited to tie the knot and continue growing and living our lives together. There will be many more theme park days, binging of the trashiest TV, traveling to different places, concerts, and enjoying live music at our local bars (probably Tin Roof). May 3, 2025 cannot come soon enough! We are so excited to celebrate together and so thankful for each and every one of you!

Our 3rd Anniversary was coming up and we decided to plan a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. I was completely clueless up until the moment that it happened that I would be getting there as a girlfriend and leaving as a fiancé. Nick and I started off our trip by getting to the cabin and getting ready for our first night in town! He knows how much I love Christmas lights and the SkyPark was completely decorated in lights! We are both terrified of heights and the only way up to the mountain to get to the Gatlinburg SkyPark was up a ski lift. I thought Nick was just nervous because of the heights but he actually had the ring box in his boot the whole time. There were a couple of signs that should've hinted to me that he was going to propose like the fact that he didn't want me to buy the picture they take at the top of the mountain and kept saying we would get pictures or that we should come back to the gift shop later. I should've also known something was fishy when Nick just happened to ask a random photographer to take a picture of us (which was the cue to the photographer that we were the couple). In my mind, we weren't getting engaged until 2024 because that's what Nick told me, so who am I to question? We started our walk on the trail and Nick was being weird by asking me to take a picture in front of the bridge, I told him no LOL. He insisted so I was like uhh okay do you want one too then? This was Nick's attempt to get the photographer to switch sides with us which didn't happen. Nick had been joking with me for months about when he was going to propose and, of course, quoted The Office. He would say "It could be one month, it could be two, maybe 6 months, maybe a year". Nick started his speech to propose by bringing that up. He said, "You know how I've been joking about it could be one month it could be 2 or 3 or 4....well what if it was 0 months, what if it was right now?". He pulled the ring out of his boot, got down on one knee, and said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was so so surprised, he got me so good!! We have such great pictures from it as well. Truly the best day of my life and the best trip ever. Gatlinburg will forever be a special place for us <3