Meeting each other for the first time 11/2/19

Matt got an invite from his coworker to a Halloween party where he didn’t know many people. His coworker was dressing up as Colonel Sanders from KFC and asked him and another friend to dress up as a chicken.

Mackenzie was heading to a Halloween party with her main friend group not thinking she would be meeting anyone new that night. Little did they know the rest of their lives would be connected after meeting that night.

An official first date at Bent Brewstillery, then an airport pick up and second date at UpDown, feelings were beginning to build. However, Matt had a 17 day preplanned backpacking journey to Southeast Asia only 3 weeks after meeting Mackenzie. Building the momentum of the relationship would be challenging.

After 24 hours of flying, Matt arrived in Bangkok, Thailand and got settled in by the pool at Noon on a Saturday. Meanwhile, halfway across the world it was Friday night for Mackenzie and she was settling in at home after an exhausting week teaching. With each other on their minds, they both wanted to FaceTime and spent the next 3 hours connecting their hearts while a world apart.

Fast forward to Matt asking Mackenzie to officially be exclusive, a global pandemic, moving in together (Jun 2020), adopting our 2 kitties Bogo and Marlin (Aug and Oct 2020), moving to Chicago together (Jun 2022), moving back to Minneapolis and buying our first place together (July 2023), and getting engaged (Dec 2023).

The Proposal 12/30/23

Mackenzie and Matt were heading to Mackenzie's parents house to celebrate the holidays a little late that year. Mackenzie went outside to show her brother her new car, and when she came back into the house there was something different on the TV screen. "What is this?!" Mackenzie said, confused. Matt said, "It's a Christmas present, let's watch it!" The video began. It was people from all walks of Mackenzie's life; her childhood, her college years, her work life, her soccer days, and even her favorite radio host - saying all the reasons why they love Mackenzie. After one of Mackenzie and Matt's favorite reality stars (Carl Radke) concluded the video with a Cameo, Matt got down on one knee and asked Mackenzie to marry him. She said "YES!" It was a very memorable and perfect proposal.