Our story began when we both were in college. I was a sophomore at Mizzou (Go Tigers!) and Tripp was a freshman at Missouri S&T. We met online in October of 2020, exchanged phone numbers and texted for a couple months. When winter break came around, Tripp asked me to go on a date. On our first date we drove around the Defiance area, talking endlessly for hours. We continued on, driving around the greater St. Louis area, never once pausing in conversation. From there, Tripp and I went on more dates through the remainder of December and into early January. When January rolled around, Tripp announced he was taking his first co-op internship at Watlow in Winona, Minnesota. He requested that I stay single so he could make it official when he came back. We then spoke over the phone and texted all the way through March of 2021. I made the impromptu decision to fly to Winona to visit Tripp over spring break. We spent a long weekend together in Minnesota hiking, trying new restaurants, and getting to know each other. After I refused to stand on the edge of a lookout to see the city lights, Tripp opted to make things official with me on his couch on March 28th, 2021. From there we would start our long distance relationship that went on for 3 years and spanned over 4 states. Finally, the long distance ended when we moved in together back in Saint Louis. Tripp landed his job as a software engineer at Boeing and I worked as a postpartum nurse at Mercy Hospital. We both have enjoyed making so many memories together and creating our daily routines with each other. In September of 2025, we set off to Alaska to hike and visit national parks. On September 5th, we spent the morning exploring the Anchorage zoo and planned to do a few shorter hikes to check out the Anchorage wilderness. Approaching the first hike of the afternoon, we came across a few posted notices from locals reporting bear maulings on this trail. Of course, we continued to go down the trail, keeping an extra eye out for any unwanted visitors. I was taking my sweet time taking photos and I noticed Tripp being extremely patient with me. Coming around the bend of the trail, Tripp and I were met with a fifty foot raging waterfall. We had the waterfall to ourselves aside from a lone photographer taking photos of the waterfall. Naturally, l stopped to make small talk with the photographer, exchanging pleasantries and admiring the beautiful scenery. After wishing her well, I joined Tripp in taking photos of the waterfall. Tripp requested that I climb out onto the slippery rocks surrounded by rushing white water. I refused and said that he was going to fall. Tripp made his way onto the rocks and was begging me to come stand with him. This is when I started stressing to Tripp that he’s going to fall (the photographer is watching this entire scene play out). Once Tripp reluctantly made it safely back onto the trail, I turned to ask if the photographer wouldn’t mind taking a photo of us in front of the waterfall. When I turned around to look at Tripp, he was on one knee and popped the question! Tripp pulled off a fantastic proposal, thinking of every single detail.