Taylor and Emily both attended UConn, the University of Connecticut, a large college, 30,000 students large that is. Likely Emily and Taylor may never have crossed paths (or realized they had crossed paths) had they not both chosen to study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa in January of 2011. It was during this trip that they met and fell in love. Emily was convinced Taylor had a crush on her and told her friends, but no one would believe her for the longest time. Of course Taylor confessed his love first. They spent their days learning about human rights, swimming in the house pool, climbing all sorts of beautiful mountains in Africa and going on safari. It was a pretty easy place to fall in love with and to fall in love with someone in. When they learned they shared the same birthday, had been born in the same hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, were both Italian (Sicilian to be exact) and both had moms with the names Cheryl Lynn, it really began to feel meant to be. They have been together ever since and have lived together in South Africa, Connecticut, Vermont, Boston and now Colorado. They enjoy the outdoors, snowmobiling, skiing, rock crawling, jeeping, camping, rock climbing, hiking, floating the river, traveling, playing with their fur babies and spending time with friends and family.

Never losing their love for travel, Taylor and Emily traveled to Bali, Indonesia in September of 2018 with several close friends. They met Taylor's brother Jon and sister in law Emma there, as they live and work in nearby Papua New Guinea. Taylor and Emily share the same birthday, September 18th. They were excited to get to spend their birthday together in Indonesia with family and friends. They planned a fun day of heading out to a nearby island, Nusa Penida and viewing some spectacular sites with a local guide. It was a wonderful day. When they returned to the house there were flowers hanging everywhere and there was a huge Indonesian spread on the table and a giant platter of sushi, one of Taylor and Emily's favorite foods. Emily assumed this was all for their birthday and remarked how sweet it was of Taylor to do this just for a birthday. Before they had left for the trip, Emily had asked a close friend if Taylor would propose in Bali and that friend told Emily, "soon, but not in Bali". When Emily walked into their room and saw a heart made out of flowers on the floor she stopped and wondered if Taylor was proposing, but Taylor said, hurry up and shower and get ready for dinner! So Emily again assumed this was just a sweet birthday gesture. They ate dinner and drank some wine in their open air villa. Fireworks started going off on the beach and Taylor wanted to go for a walk. Once they reached the beach Emily knew it was coming. Taylor dropped to one knee and popped the question. Emily kept exclaiming, "are you kidding me?!" and then, "Yes yes yes!" Emily drug Taylor to a street light so she could see the ring as the beach was so dark. They walked back to the house where they were greeted with bubbly and hugs. There were lots of happy tears, as Emily's best friend and maid of honor Nisha was there, as well as family and friends. Everyone else had known what was coming all day long and somehow managed to keep it a secret. It was a storybook proposal.

A newly renovated large mountain lodge with a 7000 square foot deck in rural Crawford, CO. http://www.needlerocklodge.com/