On September 1, 2022, while visiting her sister in San Rafael after deciding to leave her home of ten years in Arizona and return to California, they matched on Bumble. She opened with a confident “what’s cooking, good lookin’,” and the spark was immediate. They bonded quickly over their love of GIFs and a very respectable foundation of movie quotes. They began planning a first date—until he was sent out on a fire assignment. They kept talking while he was on the fire, promising that when he returned, they’d finally meet. A month later, on October 7th, they met for their official first date at Ruben Ct, the house he had called home for eight years—one that would become an anchor in their relationship. Over the next two years, Ruben Ct was the backdrop for all the big moments. They watched his brother Matt and sister-in-law Hope get engaged, hosted Super Bowl parties and backyard BBQs, and lived together for the first time. It was also where she surprised him on his birthday, after a long day of duck hunting, with a kitten named Sturgill—a shock he absolutely did not see coming. And three years later, he surprised her right back, getting down on one knee and proposing in the exact same spot where they first met.