Alex and I first "met" on the dating app, Bumble. I was immediately attracted to Alex's active, outdoorsy pictures and his sweet, black lab puppy so I made the first move. Not long after, we had our first date at Surly in St. Paul. We ate, drank, and laughed the entire night and have continued to do so for the past five years together.

On December 23, 2020, Alex and I were on an early morning hike at Pike Island in Fort Snelling with our dog, Stella. We often do this hike together and were planning on heading to my hometown, Sacred Heart, later that morning to celebrate Christmas with my family. There was a blizzard watch so we knew we needed to get our hike in early. We got to the park and were the first people there. It was so peaceful and the most beautiful morning for a hike. At one point during the hike, Alex was working with Stella on some training and I kept walking until I heard him yell out to me to come back. As I walked back up to them, Stella was sitting and looking right at me with a diamond ring placed on her nose. Alex popped the question and I said, "YES!" We finished the hike and were so excited to tell our families, but the blizzard had different plans. In white-out conditions, we drove as far as Olivia, MN (i.e., 30 minutes from Sacred Heart), but it wasn't safe to continue driving. Our only option was to spend the night in a local hotel (shoutout to the Sheep Shedde!). We spent the rest of the day FaceTiming our families and friends from the "honeymoon suite" while the hotel bar kept us well hydrated. It will truly be a day we will never forget!