We first met during a summer program to prepare students for graduate school at Clemson University. At the time, Alex had long hair, and Kristen did not hang with him. They attended many large-group functions and football games with other math graduate students and began talking after Alex cut his hair. Kristen found him to be a great listener and a comforting, laid-back presence. Alex really enjoyed spending time with her and playing games together. They continued to talk about graduate school, life, and their love of Moe's Southwest Grill throughout the fall semester. As they headed into their long winter break, they met up at Moe's for dinner, and he told her he liked her. During the several weeks away on break, Kristen decided to go on a date with him. On January 15, 2018, she took Alex for a walk on the dikes by Lake Hartwell at Clemson and told him she also liked him. And the rest was history, as they say.

After the spring semester, they were fortunate to have a week of vacation at the Outer Banks with Kristen's family. The first several days were cold and extremely windy, and the beach could not even be seen because of the rough waters. After several days of clouds, the sun started to emerge at the end of the week. Kristen took a cheap kite to OBX in hopes of flying it on the beach and finally got the opportunity on Saturday afternoon. While she was running around flying her kite, Alex knelt down to take a picture of her with her kite flying proudly. She did not notice that he somehow pulled a ring out of his pocket. After she said "yes", they walked down the beach with their kite, admiring the ring and sharing the news with family and friends.

The engagement ring was fully designed by Alex. Wanting to make the ring personal to himself and Kristen, he decided to forego the traditional diamond engagement rings and use birthstones instead. The center gemstone is a ruby for Kristen's birth month of July. The gemstones on the side are aquamarines for Alex's birth month of March.