In the most practical sense, Amelia and Peyton met in January of 2019 when Peyton moved from the local public high school to Crosspoint, where Amelia had gone since 6th grade. However, they didn’t truly meet until senior year of high school, through common classes and even more so through common friends. After this, they couldn’t believe it hadn’t been sooner. The two of them and the friend group that developed grew to do everything together, and felt so grateful for their friendship. JUST friendship. Although theories of more-than-just-friends were put forth (credit goes to Amelia’s mom and Peyton’s dad for spotting this from the beginning), there was *supposedly* nothing more than seeing each other as friends, and this was insisted (although not very convincingly). However, after starting college in two different states, at Letourneau University in Texas and Seattle Pacific University in Washington, and a series of unexpected life events, they found themselves impulsively visiting a best friend from high school at Grand Canyon University in Arizona for a long weekend. Here, Amelia immediately found herself in a realization of feelings for Peyton, as if they had always been there (which really, they kind of always had), and Peyton quickly caught up too. Before the weekend was over, they knew. This was where we should have been, this is what it all led to, we were always on a path towards each other.

Close to the end of Christmas break, Peyton flew from Texas to Washington to spend New Year's Eve and the end of break with Amelia and her family. However, Amelia thoroughly believed that the proposal would not happen while they were together in Washington. Peyton is very convincing- and Amelia was completely surprised when on a hike together around snowy Gold Creek Pond in Snoqualmie Pass, he got down on one knee and proposed. In the initial shock, she replied, "No way!" out of surprise, followed by, "Wait wait wait wait wait.. Yes! Wait. What!". It was a perfect moment, which they feel lucky to have the memory of forever.

Amelia will finish her senior year at Letourneau University and graduate in May of 2025 with a Bachelor's in Counseling Psychology. Peyton will graduate in May of 2026 with a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. After this, they plan start a new adventure back in Washington state, where they met. They're so excited to see where the future takes them!