The last big event before the pandemic! Ryan was a Graduate student at Central Washington University, working in their athletic department. Regan was a Graduate student at Ithaca College and working as an assistant coach with their volleyball team. We both were hand-selected to attend the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar, located in Indianapolis, and flew there for the three day conference. On the first day, we sat next to each other at the very first meeting in a room with 500 other graduate students - we immediately hit it off and spent a lot of time together, with other friends, over the few days.

Regan moved over to Washington to live with Ryan 5 months after their first "official" date in October 2020. Ryan transitioned back to working for the family farm full-time, and Regan got into the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Graduate Program at Gonzaga University. We fully renovated an old farmhouse in rural WA where we reside, and after lots of convincing, we got a puppy, Indy, named after Indianapolis where we met! We love spending our time together going on combine rides during harvest, enjoying sunny lake days in the summer, attending live sports games, and going to as many concerts as we can. We also enjoy time with each other's friends and family, especially when the majority of them span vastly across Canada and the US.

Our third Christmas together! Ryan's family each year has a tradition of hiding a pickle ornament in their Christmas tree and the person who finds the ornament first gets an extra little present (apparently this is a thing?!). This year was our first year in our house with our own Christmas tree and we also got a pickle ornament so we would be able to carry on the Maley tradition. We ended up hosting everyone for Christmas Eve and Ryan planned a pickle hunt for that evening. Excitedly, he hid the pickle and then we were all told we could go try and find it in the tree. To (almost) everyone's surprise, there was no pickle ornament in the tree, but there was an engagement ring ornament hidden instead, followed by a proposal with the real deal! It was such a special engagement, surrounded by the immediate Maley family, and at one of Regan's favourite times of year.