Noah and Alexis met at the first ever South Dakota State University's Honors Camp. Alexis was at camp for a veterinary seminar and Noah was there for aviation seminar. Noah quietly joined the loud group of students that Alexis was with and slowly started hanging out more throughout the week. Sitting in a science show, Alexis had Noah put his number in her phone so they could meet up at meals and free times.

When it came to the end of the week, they went their separate ways back home. Alexis had next a camp without her phone for a week, and then went to Italy for 9 days and Noah was sure that was the last he'd ever hear from her. Obviously that wasn't the case.

Noah invited Alexis to his senior prom. When Alexis asked her mom, Grace, if she could go her mom responded with, "Sure. You can go to prom and I'll have an excuse to go shopping in Des Moines!" So Alexis said yes to a prom that was 3.5 hours away and she had a vocal concert the next day!

Grace, Kaitlin, and Alexis showed up to the hotel, the only one in Polk City, and we were surprised to find little goodie bags awaiting them! Grace opened it up to see mint gum and chapstick and she says, "Why do you need these? What do his parents think you two will be doing at prom? Lol."

Noah finally got to introduce the girl he'd been talking to to many of his friends, and most importantly, to his family.

On her way to her 9am lecture, Alexis got a text, yes you read that correctly, a text, from Noah asking if she would be his girlfriend. She opened it and didn't respond. She went on with her day and left Noah on read. She contacted Brooklynn about it, nervous about dating, and Brooklynn called Alexis immediately. Brooklynn's mom was also on the phone telling her that she needed to date Noah because he seems like a good guy and Alexis needed a good guy.

Alexis avoided Noah's text the entire day. Noah, Alexis, Kaycee (AC's roommate), and Tyler (Kaycee's boyfriend) all went to dinner with each other and Alexis didn't answer Noah there either. Noah 100% thought he ruined the relationship.

Alexis texted Noah back at 12am that night with, "Sure, I'll be your girlfriend."

Alexis and Noah started dating officially Oct. 11, 2017.

Alexis is always planning a vacation, so conveniently spring break was a perfect week to travel. Noah had never been to the Pacific Ocean and Alexis had grandparents in California at the time. Grandma allowed Noah to come along for the trip and they stayed at her house for the week. They got a rental car in Las Vegas and drove 4 hours to the Palm Springs area. They went hiking, to an air museum, a zoo, whale watching, and many ice cream shops!

Ever since this trip, they've decided to go to 1 air museum in each state and 1 zoo in each state. They have many states to go, but luckily they have forever ahead.

For their 4th year at SDSU, Alexis and Noah rented a house together with one of Noah's friends and a random roommate. Alexis also got a little kitten right before they moved in and he became the house pet and quickly the boss of the house.

In May 2021, Alexis moved down to Texas for about 10 months. Noah moved Alexis down in her dad's van and her car. Noah came down every few months to visit her. In November 2021, Alexis was home for about 3 weeks and Noah came down to Spirit Lake as often as he could and then drove her back to Texas before Thanksgiving so she could still work the holiday on-call shifts that she previously signed up for. He came for holidays if he could and even came for spring break with Brooklynn and Cassidie.

In February 2022, Alexis got invited for a working interview in Arizona and asked Noah if he could come out to check out the area with her. He, of course, came with. In March 2022, Alexis moved out to Arizona all by herself (her, 3 pets, and a car full).

While Alexis was in Arizona, Noah and her made many trips back and forth to see each other and family. In March 2023, Sabrina came with Noah to visit Alexis for a week.

Just over 5.5 years later, Noah finally proposed! Alexis was back home for Sabrina's graduation and, of course, went home to Okoboji for a bit to keep cleaning out mom's house. Prior to her trip, one of her friends at work, Melissa, asked Alexis to get her nails done with her. Melissa had asked a few times previously, so Alexis finally gave in. At Sabrina's graduation party, many people asked how long they'd been together and every time they'd get an, "oh wow, that's a long time!" response.

On Alexis' 24th birthday, May 23, 2023, Noah and Alexis were busy cleaning out a room at the house. Noah was at the farm all morning "fixing a dock" ... or at least that's what he told Alexis. He was actually planning out his proposal with Brooklynn.

They drove around for lunch, and ended up at A&W. Afterwards, Alexis thought they were just going home. Noah mentioned before leaving lunch that he needed to use the restroom, but it wasn't available at the restaurant. So obviously, they were headed home so it wasn't a big deal. Wrong. Apparently he was just stalling so Brooklynn could get to the farm.

As they headed out, Noah said they needed to go somewhere first, but he wouldn't tell Alexis where. They continued driving, and surprise surprise, ended up at the farm. Alexis saw a car parked by the upper/windmill pond, and eventually someone sitting across the pond on the other dock. She asked Noah if he knew who it was and he replied, "You know who that is." And Alexis argued that she did not because she can't see that far very well.

As they got out on the dock, Noah proposed to Alexis. Being her, she said, "Yes, I suppose I'll marry you. But if you drop the ring in the pond, I am not going in to get it."

She quickly realized that the person on the other side was Brooklynn, who was recording the moment.

We called our families after and everyone was very excited! Ended our night with a birthday dinner, that also ended up being a celebratory dinner as well.

Noah finally graduated from SDSU and moved in with Alexis. Tawnya and Noah drove from Polk City, IA, with a short night in Santa Fe, NM. Noah didn't have a job lined up when he moved, so he got to play the part of a stay-at-home pet dad. Felix, Misiu, Natasha, and Herbert seemed to enjoy having him around 24/7 finally.