Recently finding myself single, I was browsing Instagram when a photo of my high school crush "Chase Skopik" popped up in my feed. Of course, I clicked through his photo's and thought to myself, "man... he's just as hot as he was in high school". Doing some general scrolling through his page, it seemed like he was probably single since there were no other women on his page. I think this was honestly the first time since high school we were both single at the same time. I decided I owed it to my younger self to reach out and see if there was any interest at all. The worst he could do was ignore me or say "thanks, but no thanks", right? He was on his way down from Alaska to Utah for a new job, and it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get to know him better anyways. I sent him a message commenting on the gorgeous scenery he was posting on his story, figuring I could keep him some company on such a long trip (even if it was virtual). Within just a couple days, what I assumed may end up as a short virtual fling became a genuine relationship, filled with more laughter and joy than I've ever experienced from another person. In a matter of days, my crush of nearly a decade had became my boyfriend, and we've been inseparable ever since.

Since Chase and I started dating, I'd been out to visit him in Utah several times. We'd been talking heavily about moving in together some day, and the timeline was originally set for end of September 2021. That's a long time to wait when you're long distance dating and you know how amazing things are when you are physically in each other presence. September would have given me plenty of time to get things squared away in Virginia (and give Chase a chance to run away, if he chose to, haha). After several months of both of us operating on nearly zero sleep so we could talk all day, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I was going to move to Utah before the end of July 2021. Of course, because the move was so abrupt and fast, many of our friends/family were concerned (and rightfully so). About two weeks before moving day, I was talking to my grandma on the phone about the move when I was about 98% sure of my choice to move to Utah. During our conversation, she gave me the best words of advice I've ever heard (which she got from my mom many years ago), "the car can always turn back around", and with those words, my 98% sure became 100% sure, and I went full throttle on the move. It was the best (and scariest) decision I've ever made.

Chase and I met in Las Vegas, NV in May 2021 for the first time since we were in high school. We stayed at the iconic Paris Hotel on the strip, which has a gigantic neon hot air balloon sitting on top of it. Since then, we've always talked about taking a trip in a hot air balloon together. For our 1 year anniversary on April 24, 2021, Chase had planned a surprise trip in one for us, but it was cancelled due to weather. The trip was cancelled and rescheduled for nearly a month, and finally we we got our date, May 22, 2022. While up in the hot air balloon, 4,000 feet up above the ground, cruising near the mountains in Park City, we asked a stranger to take our picture. This woman we've never met, took our picture over an amazing view. Pleased with having our moment captured, I turned around to get Chase's phone from her only to hear him call my name before I could grab it. I turned around to find him on one knee, saying all the things I'd been hopeful to hear some day, followed by "will you marry me"? Luckily, the same stranger who took our picture quickly flipped the phone into video mode when she realized what was going on, and now I have a precious video to relive each moment.

My favorite adventure so far was our most recent! Shelby kept bugging me to decide on what I wanted to do for my 30th birthday because "it needed to be special". I haven't done anything special for my birthday in recent years, so for me it wasn't even a big deal if we sat around and relaxed. Shelby however, didn't take no for an answer. We always discussed going to all the major amusement parks in the world. Cedar point in Ohio being in the US, was on top of the list. She goes ahead and books us hotels on the beach (which blew me away, even had white sand!!!) that was also connected to the theme park so we could just...walk in. We spent two days riding rollercoasters, chilling on the beach, and decompressing. I just remember thinking to myself, that I've never had a girl make me feel..so special. She could've just invited over some work friends, got me a cake, and called it a day. But no, She went above and beyond what I expected, and spoiled me for my 30th birthday. This is one of many stories, where Shelby makes me feel like the luckiest man alive #mybestfriend

We've had so many adventures that it's really hard to pick just one.... Our camping trip at Zion national Park was definitely top of the list though. This was one of my first visits to Utah at the end of May 2021. Chase picked me up from the SLC airport around 11pm, and we had a 4 hour drive to Zion National Park. We arrived around 3am, and immediately set up camp in the dark. Admittedly, Chase did all the work, because it was dark and I had no idea what was going on. We took a brief nap, and as soon as that sun was up, we got ready to hike Angels Landing. This was my first hike up a Mountain... but I was not about to let him beat me. So naturally, I did whatever I could to keep up with him. We talked and listened to music from his speaker the entire way up, asking passing strangers to take our picture up the mountain. It was at least 100 degrees outside... no wind... we were dying from the heat... I had of course tried to dress up, hair/make up, etc, so I would look cute for my new boyfriend. 30 minutes into the hike, I realized there was nothing I could do about it... I was going to look like a hot friggen mess. Hair up on top of my head, any make up I had on previously was already melted off, and I was covered in sweat. Not cute at all.... Along the trail he gave me his hat so I could protect my eyes from the sun and we took too many water breaks to count. Getting up the mountain, we killed it! Getting down, I had some help. My bad knee from the USMC was dying, so Chase had me put my arm around his neck, and he escorted me down the mountain safely. Both of us were gross and tired, but oddly energized enough to attempt the Narrows hike after we finished Angels Landing. The cold water felt so good that we decided to jump in multiple times and swim. When we finished we went back to our camp sight and took a brief nap. It was so hot and we were so uncomfortable... (not to mention showers were closed due to Covid protocol). We decided to get in the truck and take a break from the heat in the AC for a while. While sitting in there, we decided we had see all we wanted to see, packed up camp a day and half early, and went back to his apartment. It was one of my favorite memories with my Chazzy, because it proved how organic the chemistry between us really was, even so early on.