Rachel and Alex originally met at a St. Patricks Day party in Chicago in March 2020. The day that the world shut down because of Covid. Alex was living in Chicago at the time and Rachel was finishing her last year of dental school at Southern Illinois. Rachel had always planned to move to Chicago after dental school and did so in July 2020. Though it was a hard time to be in the city, Rachel and Alex still found ways to cross paths at various parties and gatherings. It was finally at Louies Pub in Wicker Park that they expressed their feelings for each other! (Rachel won Alex over with her beautiful karaoke voice). Alex officially asked Rachel on a date to The Perch restaurant in West Town and the rest was history! They made it offical on 12/12/2021 while ice skating in Millenium Park. They then moved to Denver in September 2023 and have been there every since! In July 2024 they got a golden retriever named Bleu and moved into a house with a yard!

One early morning in February 2025, before leaving for work, Rachel casually asked Alex if he wanted to go on a hike this coming weekend. Alex very quickly and firmly responded - “Yes! We’re going on a hike Friday at 2pm”. Rachel was immediately suspicious as #1. Alex never plans that far in advance and #2. It was a very odd time for us to usually go on our hikes. Friday comes around and Alex gets off work early, showers, shaves and puts on one of Rachel's favorite flannels of his. Something was definitely up. They drove out to the mountains and parked at the trailhead - Alex checking his phone the whole way. They walked a bit out onto the trail trying to find where it goes - not realizing it was just a lookout with a very steep cliff. When they finally hit the perfect spot, Rachel turned around and Alex is on one knee! A photographer was hiding behind a boulder captuing it all! Even though it wasn't a complete surprise there were still lots of happy tears shed! It was absolutely perfect!