One crisp, sunny Sunday in late February Joe decided to take Maddux on a lakefront walk in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. To this day, Joe claims he took a "different route home" and happened to pass by a dog park, where he noticed "a cute girl with blonde hair" standing in the park alone with her dog. Joe made the choice that would forever change his life... Upon entering the dog park, he said nothing to Lauren and Tate. On the same crisp, sunny Sunday, Lauren decided to take her dog Tate, to the dog park in hopes of tiring him out so she could enjoy a leisurely Sunday nap. To her surprise, a tall, very handsome man with an enormous Irish Setter entered the park. Lauren struck up a conversation with Joe, asking him if “Mark the Dog Walker” was their walker, thinking she had seen Maddux in Mark’s pack of dogs earlier in the month. Turns out, Mark took care of Maddux a month earlier when Joe was visiting family in Hawaii. Shortly into the conversation, Lauren's dog, Tate, went and sat on Joe’s feet. Lauren tried to call him off, saying “Tate get over here!” when Joe responded, “You're not going to believe this, but that’s my last name!” Obviously, Lauren was skeptical... Joe was too shy to ask Lauren for her number that day so he resourcefully texted Mark the Dog Walker asking if he could have her number. Mark “forgot” for many days…5 days after meeting in the dog park, they had their first date; a brunch date at Crosby's Kitchen in Chicago! And that is how they become a family of Toedts (pronounced Tate).