We're two Michigan natives who met on Halee’s birthday through mutual friends. Though we were both seeing other people at the time, we stayed in touch until the universe brought us back together a year later. Jeremy was living in his grandma’s basement, Halee was with her parents—so we took a leap of faith and moved to California together with no friends or family, just love and a dream. We built our life from scratch, and the rest is history!

Our favorite memory together would be getting married. After 9 years of 'taking it slow', we finally tied the knot this April with a small, intimate group of our closest family in the beautiful Dominican Republic. The tropical setting, warm ocean breeze, and the love and support from everyone made it truly magical. We felt so grateful to celebrate our journey with the people who mean the most to us, and we’ll cherish those memories and that special day forever.

With $20,000, we’d love to use this toward a down payment on a condo to finally have a place of our own and build equity for our future. We’d also consider paying down student loans to get closer to a clean financial slate and start our next chapter without that burden. Either way, this prize would have huge impact on our current situation considering we would like to start a family soon!