We met in high school and started dating at the end of freshman year on 5/22/2016. Over the years we had lots of fun going to each other's sporting events - Blake watching Madi cheer at football games and cheer competitions, and Madi watching Blake at his basketball games. We went to all of the dances together from Twirps and Snowball to Prom. During our senior year, we both applied to Chico State with the hope of continuing our journey together, and that’s exactly what we did. We moved in together the summer before college and have been living together ever since (kinda)! We continued to support each other throughout college—Blake pursued Civil Engineering, and Madi majored in Cellular & Molecular Biology with hopes of attending medical school. In December 2022, Madi graduated from Chico State and moved to Las Vegas to continue gaining experience in healthcare and research while applying to medical school. Meanwhile, Blake stayed in Chico to finish his final semester. It was the first time that we had lived apart since before college. For seven months, we made it work with weekend visits—whether Blake was flying to Las Vegas or Madi was making the trip back to Chico. In July, Blake finally moved to Las Vegas and started his first full-time job as a project engineer! Shortly after, Madi was accepted to medical school in Henderson, NV. We moved once more, this time from Las Vegas to Henderson, where we bought our first home together. Then, in November 2024, Blake told Madi we were taking photos for Christmas cards. We returned to Bidwell Mansion—the same place where we had taken countless photos before high school dances. But this time, there were no Christmas photos. Instead, Blake had planned a surprise proposal! From two high school freshmen to a decade-long love story, who would’ve thought that ten years and one day later, we’d be getting married?