Matt flew to Pittsburgh from California (he was visiting with friends at the time) to see Katie. We went on our first date to the National Aviary, Kennywood's Holiday Lights (pictured here), & Olive Garden. This is our anniversary!

Matt flew from Albuquerque, New Mexico (where he was residing while working at Kirtland AFB) to visit with Katie again, but this time for Valentine's Day. Pictured here is our date at the Candle Lab (now called Mix Candle Co.) where we made our favorite candle ever.

Our first day trip was to Presque Isle State Park where we spent hours swimming in Lake Erie!

The first (of many!) trips to Dayton, Ohio where Matt was working at Wright-Patterson AFB. We did this once a month, every month until Matt started working at the Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station.

One weekend while coming home from a trip to Ohio, we brought home our best friend, Loki! Katie grew up with dachshunds, & Matt fulfilled her wish of having one of her own. He's the best gift she's ever received.

We took our first vacation together to Virginia Beach! Neither one of us had been before, so we each got to have all new experiences. Our favorite part was going on a dolphin tour boat!

Ever since Katie watched the movie Tangled as a child, she'd always wanted to go to a Lantern Festival. Matt surprised her with tickets to the Night Lights Fest in Abbottstown, PA & it was everything she could've hoped for.

For Katie's senior year spring break, we decided to travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico! This is a picture from our first night there when we were visiting Old San Juan. We will always take any opportunity to hold birds!

In the evening we traveled to Fajardo, Puerto Rico where we got to kayak in a bioluminescent bay. There are only 5 in the world, & 3 of them are in Puerto Rico!

During the day we visited El Yunque National Rainforest which is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Park system! It was incredible getting to experience this, & this inspired us to want to travel to all of the National Parks!

On our last day in Puerto Rico, we spent the day on Luquillo Beach, which we both agree is the most beautiful beach we've ever been to! The water was so warm & such a pretty color blue. It was a perfect day & we both wished we never had to leave.

Matt's first time visiting Ocean City, Maryland! Katie got to show him all of her favorite traditions like renting bikes in the morning, getting donuts from Fractured Prune, walking the boardwalk, & shopping at Ron Jon!

Matt's 24th birthday present from Katie was tickets to Moon Man's Landing music festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Matt got to see one of his favorite artists, Kid Cudi, & more! This was our first music festival.

To celebrate our 3 year anniversary, we took a trip to Shenandoah National Park! Pictured here is our hike to Dark Hollow Falls and we also hiked to Hawksbill Summit! The weather was freezing cold, but that didn't stop us from having the best time & seeing the most beautiful views.

We traveled back to Ocean City, Maryland but this time we brought Loki along! He got to spend some time on Stinky Beach (yes, you read that right!) & Assateague National Seashore.

We started going to comic cons in December 2022, & we just took off from there! We went to Fan Expo Philadelphia where we got to meet one of our idols, Hayden Christensen, a.k.a., Anakin Skywalker!

A week later, we traveled to Sci-Fy Valley Con in Altoona to meet some of the cast of one of our favorite shows, Avatar the Last Airbender!

We were so fortunate to go to the Eras Tour & have such amazing seats! Matt dressed as 1989 (guess the song!) & Katie dressed as Fearless. It was the best concert Katie has ever been to.

We traveled to Gatlinburg, Tennessee with Matt's family. We got to explore the Titanic Museum, Anakeesta, Parrot Mountain, and SO much more!

On our last full day in Tennessee, we spent the entire day in the Smoky Mountains. As you can tell from the picture, they were definitely Smoky! We hiked Clingman's Dome (pictured here). Unfortunately we didn't get to see the grand view because of the rain & fog, but we still made some great memories!

Matt surprised Katie with a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the International Balloon fiesta where Matt gave Katie a proposal of a lifetime! Later that day, we spent some time hiking in the Sandia Mountains! During our trip we also got to see where Matt used to live & several filming locations from Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul.

While in New Mexico, we HAD to see a National Park! We chose White Sands National Park & it is one of the coolest places we've ever seen. We got to walk on the sand dunes & saw an unforgettable sunset. It was well worth the 3 hour drive there & 3 hour drive back!

We took a day trip to New River Gorge National Park for Bridge Day! We got to watch BASE jumpers jump from the top of the bridge down to the gorge below while also stopping by some of the vendor tents, & we even squeezed in the Long Point Trail which led to this incredible view of the bridge.

We spent a few hours exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park while in town for the solar eclipse! It was insanely busy, so sadly this is the only photo we got of ourselves together that day.

We traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to see the solar eclipse since it was in the path of totality. At 3:12 p.m., the moon fully eclipsed the sun & it was the most incredible thing we've ever witnessed!

We traveled to the Outer Banks for the first time. Thank you so much to our friends, Edson & Ky, for inviting us to stay with you in Kill Devil Hills!

On our last day in the Outer Banks, we spent some time visiting Jockey's Ridge state park. It's so beautiful & peaceful here & we're so happy we could experience it together.

We made a quick weekend trip out to Ocean City, Maryland to get our engagement pictures done sine it has become so special to us over the years.

We visited Katie's best friend from college, Jahneek, at his home in Washington, D.C. We had a great time exploring the city & seeing the monuments despite the high temperatures!

We spent a weekend in Hershey, PA to see Post Malone and experience HersheyPark. We didn't get to ride a whole lot or do as many things as we wanted to because of large crowds and incredibly long lines, but we still made the best of it!

We visited our 6th National Park together — Mammoth Cave! Katie was very nervous about the trip because she is claustrophobic & afraid of bugs, but she ended up having the best time! It was so cool to walk past such insane stalactites and stalagmites.

Later that evening, we drove an hour and a half from Mammoth Cave, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee. We spent a few hours walking around the city and enjoying some Nashville hot chicken.

As huge Steelers fans, we decided to spend our Christmas Day watching the Steelers play the Kansas City Chiefs. It was pretty cold, and we lost, but we're glad it was something we could enjoy together.

On Katie's 25th birthday, Matt took her to the Pittsburgh Zoo to be a Grand Marshal in the Penguin Parade. This was a very fun and special moment because penguins have always been Katie's favorite animal!

We took another trip out west & this time we kicked it off in Sedona, Arizona. We hiked the Devil's Bridge Trail which was very challenging but very rewarding as you can see here. It rained the entire time but we didn't let it get in our way!

Our next stop was to Page, Arizona where we got to tour Antelope Canyon - a place that has been on Katie's bucket list for a long time. One of our guides took this picture here at a spot they call "Wedding Arch."

Then we got to see Horseshoe Bend which was extra fun because it's the picture on the loading screen of the Southwest Airlines app that we used for the majority of our trip.

Our last huge stop on this day was the Grand Canyon National Park! This marks the 7th National Park we have been to together so far. The pictures do not do this place any justice, & we had such an incredible time hiking here & taking in all of the views!

Then we visited Las Vegas, Nevada because...

We got to witness our best friends, Edson & Ky, getting married! This was such a special day & we are so excited to have them celebrate with us for our big day!