We met on one of the first nights of freshman year at Vanderbilt. We were at the classic freshman karaoke bar, Lonnie's, when Max walked up to Lexi with the very smooth pickup line - "Hey, are you Lexi?" We had a mutual friend who had given us a heads up about each other, and Max had done his (Facebook) research. We quickly became close "friends" for the next two years, though we definitely both had crushes on each other the whole time.

It was the summer of 2015 when Max finally did the brave thing and asked Lexi out, and though Lexi was initially scared to ruin our friendship, she came to her senses and agreed to a date. Because we were already so close, it all moved pretty quickly from there. Lexi remembers texting her friend Ellie "It's scary because if I start dating Max we'll probably end up getting married..."

The beginning of our relationship was a challenge, with Lexi studying abroad 5 months into the relationship, and then us ending up on opposite sides of the country after graduation, with jobs in DC and Seattle. We spent two of the first four years of our relationship long distance, surviving on Facetimes and weekend visits made possible by red eye flights on Spirit Airlines (we do NOT recommend).

Lexi finally made the move to Seattle at the end of 2019. We have loved taking advantage of all of the biking, running, hiking, backpacking, and skiing that the PNW has to offer. Max proposed to Lexi while skiing on Mt. Bachelor in the most beautiful secluded spot in the trees. We can't wait for all of our family and friends to visit our favorite place and experience some of the things that we love about Seattle.