The first time we met, was when we were both at annual training in Texas at XCTC. Alex with Charlie Company where she was a medic, and Ryan with Bravo Company where he repaired night vision goggles. It had been raining for a few days in Texas and at that point there were giant puddles everywhere and no real way to get out of the water since we were staying in tents for the duration of our stay. Because of this Ryan ended up with some really bad blisters from wearing his wet boots for quite some time. He came into sick call where Alex was his medic. She asked him, “ Well do you have extra boots?” Ryan explained that he did, and Alex yelled at him to put them on. Later on when they had both found out they were deploying they went out to Lolo’s in Stillwater, where they talked about their experiences and Ryan explained the story about the first time they met and that story and Alex just laughed cause that definitely sounded like something she would do.

Our first date we met up in February of 2021 to go to downtown Stillwater. We went to Lolo American Kitchen and Craft Bar. We ate and talked about what felt like everything. Then even though it was cold we walked around, over the bridge and under the gazebo because there was still Christmas lights up.

In July 2023, we decided to go on a small trip to Bayfield, WI. We stayed in a small a-frame cabin along a creek about a mile from Lake Superior. On the first night we went to Meyers Beach and collected beach glass along the shore. Then once the sun came back through the clouds while it was setting Ryan got down on one knee and proposed.