We met at an ice cream shop! My favorite food in the world is ice cream so I was very excited when Shawn asked me out to get ice cream on the first date. During our first date we spoke for hours while enjoying Blackberry crumble ice cream and discovering our shared hatred for the Game of Thrones finale. We also found out how much we loved board games, playing tennis, and most of all traveling! Our second date was supposed to be bowling, but it was too crowded so we decided to grab dinner instead and ended up chatting for another several hours! Over the course of a few months we went on many dates, ate A LOT of chipotle, and binged countless tv shows. Fast forward to September and we had our first weekend trip to New York with a few of my friends! Then in October, after only four months of dating we took our first international trip to Singapore! Our love for traveling and adventuring together continued to grow. Then COVID hit, so our international travel slowed down, but we instead started to explore all over the United States from Alaska to Hawaii and many places in between! Since that fateful day at Baked Bear we are still eating plenty of ice cream, except now we have moved in together and started a new journey in Raleigh, NC!

After securing the blessing of Trinh's parents, I planned on our trip to Alaska in March of 2020 to propose to Trinh at Spencer's Glacier. With my best friend Jesse and my closest sister Maddy in tow and in the know, we journeyed out to the cold heartland of Anchorage, Alaska. On our first day there we switched from Spencer's Glacier to Knik Glacier. With the uncertainty surrounding the new glacier, I kept the ring with me that day we were going on a hike just in case. We made our way to the Chugach Mountains to start our week off climbing the Mt. Gordon Lyons trail. It was a clear, sunny day, but with the temperature still in the single digits. When we made it to the trailhead, we realized that several feet of snow covered everything and there was no path forward to be found. Unfazed, we began our journey up the mountain side. Each step plunged a foot into the snow, making progress challenging and exhausting. Our many layers of clothes and heavy coats quickly became uncomfortably hot and wasted weight. After many breaks, we finally made it to the peak and were able to look out and see a most gorgeous view of Anchorage, the ocean, and snow blanketed mountaintops all around us. I knew this was it. I whispered to Jesse that I was going to do it, and he and Maddy prepared their phones as they stepped aside while me and Trinh sat by some rocks on a ledge looking outward. We made some small talk, then as I began my speech, Trinh stopped me and pulled out a sandwich. I asked her to wait just one minute, and then as I began my speech again, she saw Jesse near an outcropping of rocks and exclaimed "Oh Jesse that spot is perfect for pictures! Let's do some pictures there!". I asked her again to wait just one minute, and for the third time began my speech and dropped to one knee. Her eyes went wide open as she finally realized what was happening, and when I popped the question she said YES! and then promptly asked me to get away from the edge of the ledge.