Ali and I had our first date at Breckenridge Brewery in Littleton. I got there early so that I could show that I'm punctual. First impressions are important right?! We met at the front of the Farmhouse and I was so star struck that I couldn't remember what she said her name was. Of course I knew that her name was Alexandra, but she called herself by a nickname that I just couldn't remember at the time. We both had a couple of drinks and after a few hours decided to call it a night. I got up to go to the bathroom before leaving and when I came back, Ali calmly said that she had closed out our tab and that she tipped 20 percent. That is such a fun memory for me because my card was the card on file! I went home knowing that I needed to see this girl again because we just seemed to click so well. Fluid conversation, laughs, the whole kit and caboodle..

We talked about going on a hike to see the fall leaves and Tyler showed up in jeans... I made fun of him and with good reason because we ended up going on an accidental 6 mile hike at the top of Kenosha Pass. I didn't have any pictures of him at this point and I really wanted to take one but I didn't want to be the weird girl that asked for a picture with him one month in. Luckily, right before we turned around to head back someone asked us to take their picture and asked if we wanted one too. I obviously said yes and then I was able to show him off to my family and friends ;)

Every year Ali would get a real Christmas tree from one of those Christmas tree lots you see around town. This year her and her friends decided that we should all go up to the mountains and cut down our own trees. After searching around in an allocated area in Jefferson, we found the perfect little scraggly tree. We cut down ours and after everybody else found theirs, we all huddled around a campfire and drank hot apple cider. One of Ali's friends snuck this picture of us just loving on each other. We have since decided that cutting down our own tree is our new Christmas tradition..

For our first New Years Eve together we made dinner and played games with friends - complete with party attire. At this point we reallllly liked each other and had been hanging out all winter break. After the ball dropped Tyler and I went back to my house where he told me that he loved me. Don't worry - I said I love you back!

#covidquarantinesucks #rupturedachilles (Yes, Ali took this picture at a safe distance of 6 feet)

For my birthday Ali surprised me with a 1980s VW Westfalia van rental. Keeper! I had been talking about how cool it would be to have one and Ali was clever enough to find a company that provided a fully kitted out van that you could rent. The two of us took the van up I-70 and camped around in the mountains for a few days. We took this picture at a rest stop off of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park..

For our ONE YEAR anniversary Tyler and I stayed at The Rally Hotel downtown because I'm all about celebrating life at cool places around Denver. We had the best time going to all the trendy spots in RiNo and LoDo. We even took scooters around town because our favorite thing to do is scoot scoot together (Tyler drives, I hold on for dear life).

Ali is one smart cookie! That's one of many reasons why I love her so much. Since she's so smart, I had to keep the proposal under tight wraps as to not tip her off in any way. The biggest questions were obviously how and when. Well, Ali's family had a Thanksgiving Hawaii trip planned and I was lucky enough to be invited. What better place to get engaged than in Hawaii? Ok, so the where was taken care of; check! Now - how do I get it done? The island that our trip was planned for was The Big Island and my sister just so happens to live there. I asked Natalie if she could invite us to her town so that she and her husband could show us around and introduce us to their newborn baby. I also had my sister ask us if we wanted to go to "their favorite beach" to watch the sunset. Leading up to the trip, I did a lot of searching around on Google Maps to find a good spot for me to go down on one knee. When the day finally came all I had to do was try and keep my cool. Long story short, after a great day with my sister and her family, we met at the beach for sunset. The plan worked even better than I imagined. A beautiful sunset and an incredible memory with my now fiancée. Of course, she said yes ;)

A few days after getting engaged we went back to the beach with our parents and took some more pictures together. This is our favorite :) We went snorkeling, read by the ocean, and Tyler even played wildlife photographer and took some close up shots of a turtle. We had the BEST time in Hawaii!