We met online (thanks, Bumble) in December 2020, the height of COVID. Evan was living at home, finishing his last semester at UofI remotely, while MacKenzie had already graduated and was working in the Peoria area. With the world relatively shut down that December, we decided to grab a cup of coffee at Leaves N' Beans in Peoria Heights and walk around Grandview Drive, because what else was there to do? Even though it was freezing and it was sleeting the entire time, we got to know each other over the next couple of hours. From then on, there would be countless phone calls, making dinners at MacKenzie's apartment and lots of laughter. We got our first cat, Goose, in October 2021, and then shortly after that, we got our dog, Finn, in February 2022. After a couple of years of dating, we made the big decision to purchase our first home together in August 2023 in the heart of Peoria. While the journey to find our house wasn't the easiest, the entire process solidified the fact that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Our third and final fur baby, a cat named Maple, was scooped out of a pond in July 2024 and has completed our little family. After lots of planning and replanning and pivoting, Evan popped the question in a very intimate proposal in our home on Christmas Eve 2024. Thank you to all our friends and family who helped make our proposal so incredibly special. As Evan's dear Babcia rightly predicted in January 2021, I had met my future in-laws. Cheers to our next chapter! We can't wait to celebrate with you.