Our story, like many love stories, began long before we ever realized it. In 2007 Alec joined the Idaho Thunder club soccer team and met Nicole’s older brother, Jake. These two gents went on to play soccer together for another 10 years. For that period of time, it was soley the story of these soccer teammates and Nicole was just on the sidelines watching. It wasn’t until 4 years post the college soccer era that Nicole finally met the man who wore that #13 jersey. In February of 2022, Jake kept telling Nicole she should date Alec. Every time he brought it up, Nicole would simply respond “No, no, no. He is your friend. I don’t need to date your friend.” Four months later, Jake brought Alec on the annual Kraut Family Priest Lake Trip. This was the first time Nicole and Alec had officially spent time together. Morning after Alec left the family trip, Nicole walked into the kitchen and found her dad and sister Jenna sitting there eating breakfast. Jenna piped up and said, “Nicole, “I’d ship this!” With a confused look, Nicole asked Jenna for clarification on what she meant. “You and Alec, I’d ship that.” For those who don’t know teenage girl lingo, that saying translates into, “I would support the idea of you and Alec being in a relationship.” Brian concurred with Jenna in agreement that Alec would be a good match for Nicole. And in the back of her mind, Nicole also agreed but had to wait for Gods timing. 2 months post the family trip, Nicole found herself going paddle boarding with her brothers, sister-in-law and. . . Alec. Somehow along this paddle board excursion, the topic of our love for Cheez-it crackers came up. Little did we know, this was the start of our shared obsession of this very unhealthy, cheesy snack. Shortly after that trip up the CDA river, Alec got Nicole’s phone number from Jake and sent her a text. This text was not a text to ask her out, but a text to inform her that he found a box of Cheez-it Duos! Nicole just had to laugh and the theme of Cheez-its only continued throughout the relationship. A couple weeks into us dating, Alec was working on a shed framing project and fell from the roof. This accident left him with a broken left wrist and right elbow. For the next 6 months, Alec would be out of work and recovering from the accident. Despite the challenge this was for Alec, it in return was a huge blessing, because Nicole and Alec got to spend lots of quality time together and their relationship only grew deeper in faith and in love. To this day, Nicole says it was Alec’s ploy to keep the nurse around because he knew she would take good care of him. In July of 2023, Alec had obtained a sparkly diamond ring and took the time to ask each of her four siblings and both of her parents for Nicole’s hand in marriage. Of course, they all said yes! Labor Day weekend came, and Nicole had a good idea that Alec was going to propose. Alec had planned a hiking excursion to an alpine lake for Nicole and her sisters. Once we got to the lake, we walked over to a quiet spot away from the other people camping on the lake. Nicole casually just kept taking in the view but out of the corner of her eye she could see Alec rummaging around in his backpack. When Alec started walking towards her, she saw he had a box of cheez-its in one hand but what really caught her attention was the tiny white box he was attempting to hide behind the cheez-it box. Nicole with a big grin on her face said, “what you got there buddy?!” Immediately Alec’s body language changed, and Nicole could tell she had thrown him off. Alec responded with, “You KNOW?! Of course you know!” Out of pure awkwardness and not knowing what to do to help the situation, Nicole proceeds to stick her hand into the cheez-it box and shove a handful of cheez-its into her mouth. At this opportune moment, Alec proceeds to profess his love and ask Nicole to marry him. Once Nicole was able to clear all the cheez-it’s from her mouth she happily exclaimed “YES!”