[By Bobby]:

My first introduction to Leanna came back in the fall of 2019, during a weekend stay at my friend Michelle’s apartment in New York City. Michelle was a good friend from the Philadelphia YSA ward who moved up to the Upper West Side in Manhattan several months before.

One weekend I took the BoltBus up to NYC to attend a friend’s engagement party. with plans to stay over at Michelle’s apartment. While there, I was genuinely impressed by the collection of refrigerator magnets, learning that nearly all of them belonged to a girl named Leanna, who was out of town that particular weekend. Seeing a Steve Irwin-themed magnet really caught my attention, since I was myself a big fan of the Crocodile Hunter. (RIP Steve!)

I returned up to NYC a few weeks later and met Leanna for the first time, who provided the world's best tour of New York at Christmastime. We toured all the best places, including her favorite window displays along 5th avenue, spent time people watching at the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, and a trip to the 'giving machine' outside the Manhattan LDS Temple.

I recall how easy it was to talk to Leanna and how much we laughed together. After our first 'impromptu' date, we planned a date to see a train display at the New York Botanical Gardens, on New Year's Day. Later Leanna visited me in Philadelphia and we toured around some of the historical sites, enjoying some melting chocolate at Shane's Confectionary, among other popular Philly destinations. We traded trips between Philly and New York for several weekends, but as the pandemic was beginning, the timing didn't feel right for me at that point to move into a more committed relationship.

Fast forward a few years later, I saw a post on Instagram from Leanna while she was visiting Disney World with her family. Unfortunately, a hurricane spoiled her Disney experience, so I texted her to make sure she was doing ok.

A while later, Leanna reached out to me and said she would be in Philadelphia for a work trip and wanted to know if I would want to meet up with her. I met her at her work's happy hour, then we grabbed dinner at Barbuzzo in Center City Philadelphia. We enjoyed a delicious meal together, albeit in the loud and dimly-lit restaurant. During and after dinner, something just felt different about Leanna than it had before. We finished dinner and I had planned to catch a train back home, but didn't feel like ending the evening yet, and thankfully Leanna did too. We talked for a long time, eventually needing to Uber home because I missed all of the trains back to the suburbs :)

After her trip/dinner in Philly, we started spending time together in person again, including a long-promised visit to Lancaster/Amish Country, a trip I had promised Leanna we would do those couple years prior, but never did. We spent most every weekend together after that, deepening our relationship mile by mile on either the Megabus, Amtrak, or other transit between New York and Philadelphia.

During the following months, Leanna and I shared many weekend adventures, exploring favorite places in Central Park, eating delicious food all over the city, and checking out amazing museums and festivals. I came to appreciate how many things we shared in common and how easy and fun the time we spent together always seemed to be.

I came to love and appreciate Leanna's friends in New York as my own, and I just became more and more excited to see her and share so many fun experiences together. From playing chip n' putt golf in Queens, to eating soup dumplings in Chinatown, or eating more pizza from Made in New York than anyone probably should, I began to really fall in love with Leanna. After getting to know her family as well, I knew Leanna was the one I wanted to marry.

I ordered a beautiful ring (Leanna had actually tried it on before and it was amazing), and just barely got it in time to bring along for a weekend trip to New York. Leanna's sister Bethany and brother-in-law Zak were in town with some friends for a food tour, so I had worked out a plan to propose sometime during that trip, which was St. Patrick's Day weekend. After a brief hiccup in my plans, I asked Leanna to marry me in a quiet corner of Central Park, her favorite place in New York City.

Every day since with Leanna has been nothing less than wonderful. She's a beautiful, caring and driven person who is loyal to her friends and loved ones. Each day, I've appreciated and grown to love Leanna even more, and I'm excited to have her by my side for eternity to come!

We are so grateful for the love and friendship of everyone in our lives and look forward to celebrating with you soon!

Photos