Summary

• Lily and Marshall's relationship evolves throughout the show, evidencing their dedication and for each other.
• They have their fair share of fights and difficult moments, but it ultimately strengthens their relationship.
• Lily and Marshall consistently prioritize each other's personal happiness and dreams.

While they are hopelessly in love from the first episode, Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall Eriksen's (Jason Segel) relationship continues to evolve throughout How I Met Your Mother. Lily and Marshall meet in their freshman year of college, get married in their 20s, and have three kids in their 30s. While they both have difficult jobs and struggle with fully committing to the relationship at different points, they also help each other find personal fulfillment.

Luckily, Lily and Marshall both do their best to each other's personal happiness. In a series that is all about finding love, Lily and Marshall are the love story that other characters want to have. While their best friend Lily and Mashall's relationship do not just include romantic moments, but their biggest fights and worst days.

10 Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)

Marshall proposes to Lily.

Marshall proposes to Lily in the How I Met Your Mother Pilot, attempting to make her dinner before abruptly getting down on one knee. This prompts Ted to also think about marriage and ask out Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). Meanwhile, Lily and Marshall have a brief "crisis" when their other friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) discovers that Marshall likes olives, debunking the "Olive Theory" that explains why Lily and Marshall are so good together. Yet Lily and Marshall demonstrate right away that they are dedicated to each other. When Marshall confesses to Lily that he likes olives, she simply responds, "We'll make it work."

9 Come On (Season 1, Episode 22)

Lily breaks up with Marshall.

Personal wants clash with Lily and Marshall's relationship for the first time in the season 1 finale. Lily has a real crisis about getting married when she starts to think about the adventures she has not yet had. This leads to her and Marshall breaking up and Lily leaving for an art fellowship in San Francisco. The same day that Ted and Robin finally get together, Ted finds Marshall waiting alone at home. It is a devastating moment in the story where the perfect relationship unthinkably falls apart. Yet it was probably something Lily and Marshall needed to go through for their relationship to be stronger later.

8 Swarley (Season 2, Episode 7)

Lily and Marshall get back together.

Marshall decides that he and Lily do need to figure out who they are outside their relationship, so they do not immediately get back together at the beginning of season 2. Later on, Ted and Barney encourage Marshall to ask out a cute barista since experiencing single life is what he wants. This proves to be the tipping point for both Lily and Marshall. Lily spirals into jealousy and stalks Marshall's date, while Marshall realizes that Lily is the only one for him. It was always inevitable that Lily and Marshal would get back together, but still heartwarming to watch.

7 Something Borrowed (Season 2, Episode 21)

Lily and Marshall get married.

Lily and Marshall want to have a small, private wedding ceremony, but their plans fall apart as family keep pressuring them to invite more people. Their wedding day does not go much better when Marshall's hair is ruined and the flowers and photographer are absent. They run into each other when they both step out to get some air and decide to get married before their official wedding. Barney officiates the ceremony during which Lily and Marshall express how much they love the simple things about each other.

6 The Chain Of Screaming (Season 3, Episode 15)

Lily tells Marshall to leave his corporate job.

Lily and Marshall also each other's far-reaching career ambitions. Despite wanting to be an environmental lawyer, Marshall takes a corporate job to pay off student loans and a mortgage. That is until he yells at his boss in a fit of ion and quits. Marshall promises Lily that he will try to get his job back, but she insists they will figure out their financial problems without him returning to a job he hates. Lily consistently shows herself to be ive of Marshall's dreams, and he later does the same for her.

5 Three Days Of Snow (Season 4, Episode 13)

Marshall picks up Lily from the airport.

"Three Days of Snow" proves that an average episode can become a memorable Lily and Marshall moment. The couple seemingly decides to abandon their tradition of always picking each other up at the airport, only to be left scrambling when they believe the other one will do it anyway. Per tradition, Lily is supposed to bring Marshall a six-pack from wherever she is arriving from. She arrives early and begins searching for beer while Marshall fights a snowstorm to get to the airport.

They both make it, only for the episode to reveal that Lily's flight was delayed, and these events are actually happening on different days. Lily is sitting alone, believing Marshall is not coming when Marshall arrives to reaffirm his love for her while a marching band plays "Auld Lang Syne" (this episode's other storyline follows Ted and Barney trying to hook up with two women who belong to a college marching band). Despite having a mundane married routine, Lily and Marshall still occasionally have grand romantic gestures like this.

4 Challenge Accepted (Season 6, Episode 24)

Lily and Marshall are pregnant with their first baby.

Lily and Marshall talk about having children from the beginning of the series; their first baby was a milestone everyone looked forward to. At the end of season 6, Lily and Marshall have had a difficult year during which they tried to get pregnant without success, Marshall's father ed away, and Marshall subsequently quit his job and is struggling to find another one. Marshall feels especially hopeless after a disastrous job interview when Lily discovers that she is pregnant. It is a tear-jerking moment because they have both always wanted a family, and it comes when they need it most.

3 The Ashtray (Season 8, Episode 17)

Marshall tells Lily to pursue her dream.

Ted is surprised to get a call from "the Captain" (Kyle MacLachlan), who is trying to get in touch with Lily. The gang discusses the last time they saw him at an art show a year earlier. The Captain invited Lily, Ted, and Robin to his apartment to see a painting. He then insulted Lily by saying her taste in art didn't matter because she is only a kindergarten teacher.

Lily then confesses in the present that she stole a crystal ashtray from the Captain's apartment as revenge. Lily and Marshall have a fight where she reveals that she is struggling with being a mother and feels like it's too late for her to pursue her own dreams. Marshall then becomes the one to Lily's career, saying that she can quit her job and focus on art again. As it turns out, the Captain is not at all angry about the ashtray and wants to offer Lily a job as his art consultant.

2 Unpause (Season 9, Episode 15)

Lily and Marshall have a huge fight over moving to Italy.

The final season demonstrates how Lily and Marshall will always have to work on their marriage. The Captain wants Lily to come to Italy with him, which Marshall agrees to do. Marshall is then offered a position as a judge in New York, leading to a huge fight between him and Lily about whether they should stay. Lily runs out in tears, leaving Marshall to reflect on what really matters to him. When Lily comes back, she says it is okay if they stay in New York. Marshall is confused, but they are both just happy to reconcile after their biggest fight since they broke up.

1 Daisy (Season 9, Episode 20)

Lily and Marshall are pregnant again and decide to move to Italy.

A few episodes later, Marshall is still confused by Lily's decision. He and the rest of Barney's bachelor party go on a mission to find out what Lily did when she disappeared for a few hours on the night of their fight. They find out that Lily went to the Captain's house, where she took a pregnancy test. Marshall returns to Lily and insists that they will be going to Italy after all. This episode begins to conclude Lily and Marshall's story on How I Met Your Mother, once again showing how they each other's dreams and always put each other and their family first.