We are so excited to celebrate with you!

We actually, believe it or not, met on Tinder. A mutual swipe right gave Chad his chance to try his corny jokes on me--and out of three, none landed. A mutual friend reached out to me saying that Chad was her friend, which gave me the courage to actually go on the first date with him! We went to Ruby Tuesday in Kirksville, MO, and from then on, we were inseparable. ~Ally

During our first summer, Chad went to work on staff at H. Roe Bartle Scout Camp. It was our first taste of long distance. We had lots of texts, calls, and Skype calls to help keep us connected. At one point I went to visit, and it was awesome being able to see each other in person again! Then within one year, Chad moved back home to Kansas City, MO. The distance continued. Shortly thereafter, I moved home to Saint Louis, MO. Then, the distance finally ended when Chad moved to Saint Louis circa October 2019. ~Ally

I started going to UMSL. The drive between Arnold and UMSL was challenging for a night owl! We searched for an apartment near school so I could sleep in more. We found Suburban Heights in Saint Louis, MO, and when we toured, fell in love. We were able to find an apartment that was affordable and within 10 minutes from school! It was perfect. ~Ally

Shortly after moving into our new apartment, things were going really well. Then COVID hit. We both lost our jobs. We both had to go onto unemployment. It was a weird change, but a great time to spend with each other!

When I still lived in Kirksville, she went to the opening of the cat sanctuary at the humane society, hoping to pet some cute cats. Little did I know, the perfect cat was waiting. When I found Maggie, the bond was immediate. The lease I was currently in was not pet friendly, so in a frenzy to be able to adopt Maggie, I called and begged my parents to let her keep Maggie at their house until I could move into a new lease, and they obliged! Thus, Maggie entered the family. Then, after many months watching Maggie become more and more inactive, we decided we needed to bring a kitten into the mix. We were in our lease at Suburban Heights when we could finally make this a reality. Luckily for us, Paige was fostering two momma cats and was looking to rehome the kittens. Then Aladdin joined the family! Maggie was NOT a fan at first. But I think she has finally accepted her fate to be a sister and loves him after all :) ~Ally

On our three year anniversary (2/16/21), Chad popped the question. We both had a snow day--mine was from work at Learning Lodge West, and his was from the police academy. We got to spend the day relaxing together. Chad went out to get some groceries while I got ready for our date. When he came home he surprised me with flowers, Valentine's chocolates, and a balloon. We went out to Texas Roadhouse for a hearty dinner, and in the car he surprised me with a cat Squishmallow (a really cute stuffed animal) and made me so excited! We both had steak, of course. After we wrapped up dinner, we went to the movies. We saw WW 1984 (it was very good and made us both cry). I was hoping he would ask me there, but he didn't. I wasn't sure if he would that day or not, but there were some hints that were leading up to it! On the way home from the movie, I was being difficult (as usual). He kept offering to stop at nice places to stargaze/hang out, but I needed to use the bathroom and just begged him to take me home. When we got home, I got to finally relax. He asked if I wanted to go play in a huge snow bank from where the plows cleared our parking lot. OF COURSE I said yes!!! We got up to the snowbank and played around a little bit... then he got down on one knee. He asked me to marry him while we were playing in the snow! He later confessed he was running out of time to ask and running out of ideas. Well, I sure thought it was perfect. ~Ally

We decided we were tired of renting. We knew we wanted a place of our own. We decided to look in Warrensburg, MO. We found a wonderful house! With 3 bedrooms and a basement, we have plenty of space for our little family. We love the area and we love our house! We are working to make it our own little by little.