Sarah and Caleb grew up 1.7 miles apart (1 stop light and 5 stop signs) but it took until freshman year of high school for the two of them to cross paths. They were introduced by mutual friends in the Palatine High School bleachers. Sarah was quickly adopted into Caleb’s friend group and the first time they hung out included sledding and Just Dance! The next 4 years of their friendship included lots of time at Culver's, hanging at local parks, sporting events and probably more flirting than they’ll admit to! Some of the highlights from this time were Caleb announcing one of Sarah’s goals in soccer, a teacher telling Sarah “you make poor decisions when you sit next to Caleb” and a trip to Ecuador where they coincidentally took their first family photo (go check out the gallery to see)! As college started Caleb left for North Park University and Sarah headed to University of Illinois. Freshman year came and went with the two remaining friends but the real magic started the summer between freshman and sophomore year. Their unofficial first date/solo hangout was at Sir Nicks Pizza and ended with running football routes at a random park. A few weeks later, while they were driving together to play golf with friends for Caleb’s birthday, Caleb received a call and put it on speaker. It went a little like “Hey Caleb, just calling to wish you a happy birthday. By the way have you told that girl that you like her yet?” Caleb hung up the phone (shout out Britta!!). An hour or so later, Caleb got his first hole-in-one ever and they started dating (even though Caleb never officially asked Sarah out). Less than a month into dating, they were back to college and what would be the start of 3 years of long distance. Their first college visit was quite ambitious. It started with Sarah taking the train to North Park, then the couple driving to the University of Michigan for a football game (Go Blue!) and then back to Champaign all in a day! 6 months in and a trip to Brookfield zoo led them to saying “I love you” and then celebrating with a Wendy’s 4for$4! Constant texting, endless facetimes, calls and summer breaks made their long distance much more manageable. Upon graduation they both moved home and started the working world! Being a 5 minute drive from each other was a breath of fresh air. The 2 years of dating post college flew by as they developed a new normal with more hours spent together than apart. The years were jams packed with attending 10 weddings together, DQ runs, pickleball, playing Catan, happy hours on their parent's patios and frequent trips to visit friends. After celebrating their 5th dating anniversary, they moved into their first apartment together in Wheeling (Go Wildcats)!! It was 5 months later that in that same apartment Caleb got down on 1 knee and asked Sarah to marry him. We are so ready to start the rest of our lives together. You all have been instrumental in different ways and we cannot wait to celebrate our big day with each of you!