Our story starts in 2009 when we were introduced through a mutual friend. We hung out of few times, but didn’t really get to know each other at that point in our lives. We lost touch and didn’t get reacquainted until Fall of 2013 when Emalee found Patrick on social media and befriended him. We chatted back and forth for a few weeks until Patrick got the courage to ask Emalee out on a date. We went on our first date together at Kelcey’s Restaurant. We talked all about our lives, adventures, and aspirations in life. We were smitten. A few dates later, we were already planning our first adventure together – a backpacking trip in the Catskills of New York. It’s hard to say exactly when it was that we fell in love, we both kind of knew from the beginning, and the experiences we shared together just kept reaffirming our love for one another. For Patrick, our Catskills trip was a special building block in our relationship, he finally found a gal that enjoyed (or he inspired to enjoy) all of the things he loved. A city girl smiling the whole way through a treacherous hike really made his heart smile. We both knew we were going to be adventuring through life together for a long time.

We have shared so many experiences together, both good and bad, but mostly good 🙂 Together we have traveled to Canada, Norway, Iceland twice, and all over the United States (even Hawaii!!!). We both love hiking, camping, rock climbing, kayaking, acro yoga, going to flea markets, and doing pretty much anything outdoors. We like to go on spontaneous trips from time to time, this is what led to our engagement. In January of 2016, we planned a long weekend away in Bar Harbor, Maine, which is right outside of Acadia National Park. The weather was not in our favor that week, as a nor’easter snowstorm blew through the area. We started our first day with the most amazing breakfast, afterwards we decided to venture into the national park to explore the beautiful snowy trails. Shortly after realizing most of the roads were closed, we still decided to make the best of it and park the car and wander around the park on foot (even though Emalee was pretty moody over the weather situation). We made our way down to Sand Beach, it was such a cool site to see; what is usually a well populated sandy beach was covered in snow with not a single soul in site besides the two of us. Patrick, being the photographer he is, asked Emalee to go pose near the water so he could set up his camera to snap a picture. After setting it up, Patrick hit the timer and ran towards Emalee to get in the photo. As soon as he got to Emalee, Patrick dropped to one knee and asked Emalee to marry him. Of course Emalee said yes!

A few months after getting engaged, we bought our first home! A cute cape cod in Shavertown. Patrick has devoted many hours renovating our home to make it perfect for us. Home is where we have created and keep creating many of our memories, build our love, and create together.

On August 18, 2018, we will continue our love story by joining hands in marriage and devoting our lives to one another. Our journey of love has been incredible thus far, and we are excited to see where the seasons take us.