If you're both excited about it, just go play (safely) in the mountains! You'll figure it out.
Tangentially related thoughts, not all of them may apply:
An old friend with lots of experience leading groups of people in the Cascades said (paraphrasing), "things work best when everyone has the same kind of footwear." She was more correct than I'd expected at the time.
Skis and snowshoes are efficient at different things, especially when you're just starting out. For beginners in the backcountry, skis can travel long distances through mellow open terrain very fast, while snowshoes can negotiate complex/steeper terrain/funky snow with comparative ease. Snowshoes are comparatively user friendly, when compared with skinning. As you get better at skinning and skiing in the backcountry environment, snowshoes will become comparatively less and less efficient.
Skinning and skiing can take a lot of time - figure 1000 vertical feet an hour climbed and skied, once you've got the logistics of skinning/transitions worked out.
Avalanche knowledge is a great thing for everyone to have. My first experiences with instability came on snowshoes. The more you know, the more tools you and your partner(s) will have to recognize and avoid hazard. Note that effective rescue depends on the proximity of rescuers. The effective range of a beacon is ~50 m. The effective range of a partner depends on visibility/terrain, but it's usually not significantly greater and is often less.
Mixing significant others with backcountry adventures often requires delicate balance. Things tend to go best when everyone's happy, warm, fed, and having fun. Sunny days help. If you want to spend a day together, spend a day together. If you want to ski, go ski (with another partner) and meet up later.
For destinations, keep watching TAY for ideas, but consider picking up a copy of "Snowshoe Routes - Washington" . Many of the routes/destinations in there are appropriate in scale for snowshoeing and have interesting things to do/see. Some of them also have reasonable skiing on/near the routes.
What you've described might work well with another couple/team with similar preferences in footwear/goals. It's not hard to imagine a location that has good slopes to yo-yo along with nearby scenic snowshoeing loops (Edith Creek Basin (and other Paradise environs), when it's stable, for one). At certain times in the Spring/Summer, the trip to Camp Muir is a pretty good way to combine hikers and skiers.
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