Nicole and C.J both started working at Illumina in fall of 2015. While they worked in the same lab it was not till a company wide happy hour in June of 2016 that the two started talking and got to know each other outside of work. A week later they went on their first date to see Finding Dory.

In April of 2017 Nicole's lease at her apartment was up. After introducing C.J's dog Noah and Nicole's cat Skull Crusher and confirming everyone got along, or at least could tolerate each other, the couple decided it was time to take their relationship to the next step and got an apartment together in San Diego.

While Nicole's parents lived only an hour away in Orange County and were easier to meet, C.J's parents lived in Florida and required a much bigger and planned out trip. In May of 2017 C.J's sister Ashley was graduating from college so it provided the perfect opportunity to both celebrate Ashley's huge accomplishment and to finally introduce Nicole to the family.

Cruises are C.J's preferred method of vacationing and in December of 2018 he brought Nicole on a family vacation that went to St. Marteen, Puerto Rico, and Hati on her first ever cruise. The two made a lot of memories during that week with C.J's family and he managed to partially convert Nicole to a cruise lover.

After almost two years of casually looking, Nicole and C.J's dream starter home came on the market in August of 2019. In September of 2019 and one day before Nicole's birthday, the two closed escrow on their first house together.

Nicole and C.J had planned to add another dog to their family after buying a house. May of 2020 brought about the perfect opportunity for this as not only did they have their own house with a small backyard, but given the pandemic and state of the world both found themselves having more free time at home to train a puppy. In May of 2020 they brought home their new Mini Aussie Jax into their home and their hearts.

Around their 5th anniversary, C.J took Nicole and a close friend of both of theirs, Kayla, to dinner on Coronado at a place they had gone on one of their first dates. Before the dinner, the three decided to walk along the beach together. Kayla took a few pictures of Nicole for her own wedding website and partway through C.J stepped up and got down on one knee. With Kayla recording C.J proposed to Nicole in front of the downtown San Diego skyline.