The Slopsema’s 09.26.2026

Ryan and I both attended Ferris State University and were members of Greek organizations. We shared lots of mutual friends and I’m honestly surprised we didn’t meet each other earlier! What’s shocking is that we actually met on Tinder and not through friends or running into each other at a party or Greek event. Ryan invited me to a party with him and, while it was very awkward at first, something about me charmed him and he decided he wanted to keep seeing me. Through the end of our sophomore year in college, we started to do everything together and by the end of the summer in 2021, we were helplessly in love with each other. Flash forward to now, over 5 years later, we are getting married and ready to spend the rest of our lives together!! I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else!

Ryan always gets me a Lego flower set for Valentine’s Day and our anniversary, and he did the same thing on Valentine’s Day in 2024, so I didn’t think anything of it. He came home from work with my new Lego set and I was excited to build another bouquet with him. I set them down and continued to play Monopoly Go on my phone (I had a ton of rolls and double money I had to take advantage!) and put off opening the legos for easily 45 minutes. Meanwhile, Ryan is sweating it out next to me freaking out about me NOT opening these dang flowers! He kept asking me to open them and I remember thinking “dang, he REALLY wants to build legos…”. By the time I finally got around to opening them, Ryan had this look on his face like he had seen a ghost! I dumped them out and starting sorting through the bags when I saw the ring. THE RING! I was SHOCKED!! I kept looking at this gorgeous sparkly ring sitting there amongst the legos and then at Ryan and then back to the ring, then back to Ryan. He had the giddiest smile on his face and I asked “is this real?!? Are you for real?!” And he nodded and said “yes I love you and want to be with you forever.” And I basically tackled him and yelled “Yes! Yes! Yes!” And then our dogs thought it was wrestle play time and joined in! Later that night we went out and celebrated with our friends. It was unforgettable and one of my favorite memories I share with Ryan.