We're getting married!

We met when Chase sat next to Emma in their high school marketing class back in 2014. After a couple of weeks of friendly flirting, Chase asked Emma to Homecoming with a bouquet of suckers (check the gallery to see this photo!). After Homecoming, we stayed good friends but never dated. We lost touch when Chase graduated in 2015 and went off to college in Iowa while Emma finished her senior year of high school. When Chase decided to move back to Colorado to finish school in 2016, he reached out to Emma, and we reconnected, spending the summer together before Emma left for CU. Chase tried to keep the spark alive, but Emma wasn’t interested in a relationship—she was looking forward to sorority rush, making new friends, and experiencing college life. We spoke on and off throughout the next few years, but Chase always knew Emma couldn’t be the one he let get away. During Christmas break of Emma's junior year at CU, Chase sent Emma a picture of his family's new puppy with the caption, “Meet Zeus!”. Knowing Emma’s soft spot for dogs, she was immediately drawn in and wanted to meet the adorable bulldog puppy. We continued to hang out and talk over the break until Emma had to return to school for her second semester. On January 19, 2019, Chase asked Emma to meet him for a date night in Denver after his internship. When his internship ran late, we decided instead to go to the local Shake Shack. After finishing burgers and fries, Chase asked Emma to be his girlfriend—and this time, she finally said yes! Once our relationship officially began, Chase made an effort to come up to Boulder between work and school. We enjoyed CU game days, pumpkin carving dates, and pizookies at BJ’s. Emma would come home every now and then or meet Chase in Denver for a date night. The summer before Emma’s senior year, she took an internship in Prague, Czech Republic. While Emma lived abroad, we did our best to talk whenever we could—often meaning Emma would wrap up her day at the internship while Chase woke up at 5 a.m. just to catch a few minutes on the phone before his work day began, while Emma was heading to bed or catching a train to another country for weekend travels. Over the next few years, our relationship continued to grow through graduations, starting our careers, and moving in together. We met each other’s extended families, bought a home, traveled the world, and in 2022, we got our mini Bernedoodle puppy, Sadie. After our trip to Banff in 2024, with no other big plans on the horizon, Emma was convinced a proposal wasn’t in the cards that year. However, on December 6—just two days after her birthday—Chase told Emma to hurry home from work because his parents wanted to take her out to a new bar in downtown Castle Rock to celebrate. Instead, Chase popped the question right there in downtown Castle Rock. Emma was completely caught off guard and cried tears of joy and excitement again and again. Later, Chase explained why he chose that spot. When we were submitting our offer to buy our home in Castle Rock, and feeling the weight of such a big decision, he had stopped at a nearby bench to pray to God about whether it was the right choice for us to start our life together there. He felt his prayers were answered—and he knew he wanted to propose in the very place where he had asked for guidance about our future.