“We met on June 18, 2018, on Sophia’s first day of work at PACCAR Parts. We sat four cubes away from each other.” Chris would make excuses to walk past Sophia’s desk any time he could. Sophia thought he was very handsome every time he walked by. “As we started talking to each other more at work, we discovered our mutual interest in snowboarding and skiing. We each bought a season pass to the nearby Summit at Snoqualamie and were soon scheduling times to head up to the mountain with friends.” After a while, Chris stopped inviting his buddies, just so he could get alone time with Sophia. Sophia cherished those early drives to the Snoqualamie, especially because she got to learn a lot more about Chris. They laughed and flirted with each other on the ski lifts, and Sophia threw caution to the wind on the slopes in attempts to look cool in front of Chris. But then the first ski season came to an end. Chris was hesitant to make any more moves while they only sat four cubes away from each other, so he applied for a new job that would relocate him to another building on the PACCAR Parts campus. Shortly after that, Chris asked Sophia if she wanted to come to a baseball game. Sophia was very excited for what she thought would be a date between the two of them. A day before the game, she learned that all of Chris’ friends would be at the baseball game. Not quite the intimate first date Sophia was expecting. But, it turned out to be a fun night and she seamlessly fit in with the group. “It was only after a few beers, a sneaky bit of footsie, and some handholding on the drive home, that we knew we were on the same page and a week later we made it official.” During that first year, Chris and Sophia made the most of their time together with many date nights and adventures. Chris still found excuses to drop by Sophia’s desk and they would see each other after work as much as possible. The next winter, their snowboarding and skiing dates continued too. “Then in March 2020, the ski resorts all closed and everyone was sent home to work. We leaned on each other a lot during this time of isolation.” Chris moved closer to where Sophia lived and together they spent time taking many walks, on Zoom calls with friends and family, watching plenty of Netflix, celebrating their one-year Anniversary, exploring the outdoors and figuring out the new normal. As the world opened up, Chris and Sophia continued to grow as a couple. “We love skiing and snowboarding together, attending the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival almost every year, rooting for Cougar football and Gonzaga basketball, traveling to see each others’ families and hometowns and trying out new hobbies.” In January 2023, Chris asked Sophie to keep her calendar open for the weekend of February 18th. He was planning a little mountain getaway at Suncadia, a nearby mountain resort. Sophia didn’t think much of the plan, they would have just returned from a crazy weekend in Cabo with friends so a little getaway for the two of them would be restful and relaxing. Chris was up early Saturday morning and suggested they take a walk right when Sophia woke up. They threw on their winter coats and headed outside where they found a lookout point with a view of the whole valley. When they arrived at the lookout point, Chris pulled out a small tripod and set up his phone and pressed record. This surprised Sophia, but she was looking forward to getting some cute pictures. They posed for a few seconds then Chris turned to Sophia an said he wanted to come back to the mountains, where it all began. Chris went down on one knee and asked Sophia if she would marry him. Sophia already had tears of joy in her eyes and she said yes! “We both had the biggest smiles for the rest of the day as we shared the news with our families and friends. We can’t wait for our wedding day and celebrating with everyone!” The photos at the top of this page and below were taken at Alpental, Where it all began!