Like many young people in their twenties, they met through a dating app: Hinge. On the day they "matched", Dylan and Ashley were suggested to each other by an algorithm that thought they were "Most Compatible". Ashley sent him a message, telling him "you have kind eyes and a friendly smile", to which Dylan replied "Thanks! Want to meet up?"

For their first date, they each brought their dogs. They met up at Saint Edward State Park and talked while walking their dogs for a few hours, until Dylan needed to go home and sleep before work (on the night shift). When Korra met Sammy-Jo, she gave her best smile. Both Ashley and Sammy were a bit scared, but trusted Dylan when he said "She's smiling! She's not being aggressive."

Because the year was 2020, dating looked a little different.

Most of their dates took place outside, in less-crowded venues like at the beach, on the river, or up hiking trails.

In many ways, milestones took longer to reach. For example, Dylan didn't meet some of Ashley's friends until they had been together nearly one year. In other ways, their relationship quickly became very deep and meaningful. Because they were part of each other's "pod", they spent a lot of time together. Ashley met Dylan's cousins on the third date! Dylan was invited to the Allemeier-Galer (outdoors) Thanksgiving after a couple months of dating.

Over the next four years, Dylan and Ashley met many milestones and crossed many bridges together.

Dylan moved twice, got 25/25 in trapshooting, and pursued his hobbies with a deep passion.

Ashley started and completed her second masters degree, beat cancer, changed jobs three times, and began her career in teaching.

Together, they traveled, learned new skills, picked up each other's hobbies, became fully integrated into each other's families, mourned the loss of Sammy-Jo (the Allemeier's family dog), moved to Everett, adopted each other's pets, and created a solid foundation for their relationship.

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In late June of 2024, Dylan and Ashley went on an adventure with her family. This adventure was a way to celebrate: Ashley's upcoming 30th birthday, her graduation from her Master of Arts in Teaching program, and her completion of radiation therapy. It was also the first time her entire family would be "vacationing" together since she was in high school.

Dylan had a feeling he could make this trip a little more special.

After parting ways with her family, Ashley and Dylan went to Loch Lomond to celebrate his birthday together. Their plan was to go for a quick local hike before his special birthday dinner.

Unfortunately, they missed the train they had been planning to take from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

Fortunately, in a country like Scotland, the trains run frequently, so this mishap only put them behind "schedule" about an hour.

Unfortunately, their train from Glasgow to Balloch was delayed a few minutes, and they missed their bus upon arrival... the bus that only comes once per hour.

Fortunately, there was plenty to do in town to keep them busy for the next hour or so.

Unfortunately, they had giant rolly bags and it was pouring rain.

Fortunately, the friendly, elderly woman in the information and gift shop offered to store their bags in her car while they walked around town. She even suggested they walk through a park that would take them to an abandoned Scottish castle.

When they finally caught the bus, they were the only tourists riding! It was filled with mums and their wee ones on their way back from the park, teenagers on summer break with their fishing poles, and pensioners heading home with their grocery bags.

Unfortunately, they arrived at their accommodation about 2 hours late, so Ashley suggested they skip the hike. They only had 3 hours until their dinner reservation, and locals had reported that the hike would take 2-3 hours. Dylan was adamant they continue with their plans and go on the hike. Ashley found this a bit odd, but assumed it was due to him knowing he'd never get this opportunity again.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped around the time they reached the town of Balmaha, so their hike would only be windy, not wet.

As they began their ascent, Dylan was moving much faster than Ashley, who kept stopping to take pictures and look at the plants. She told him, "go on ahead, I'll catch up!", but he refused to leave her behind. This was Ashley's first real clue that something was up.

Dylan offered to carry her jacket when she got too hot. He offered to carry her water bottle when she was done with it. He offered her a snack when her energy was low. He kept the pace quick and tried to keep them moving.

When they finally reached the top, it was incredibly windy. They could barely stand straight, and had to yell to hear each other. Additionally, there was a group of young guys hanging out, eating snacks from a grocery bag and sipping on plastic bottles of cider.

Dylan asked Ashley if she'd like to go back down where it was quieter and less windy. She told him, "the view is better here, but yeah, we can go back down to the lower viewpoint." (knowing very well that something was up).

When they reached the lower viewpoint, Ashley took some pictures of the lake and Dylan stood appreciating the view. Ashley walked away to photograph some heather. After she finished, Dylan said, "come look at the view with me."

Ashley scurried back to him and they stood together, hugging while they took in the view.

Dylan said, "so, I've been working on a new puzzle box at work," which is definitely something you say while gazing at Loch Lomond. Ashley smirked and replied, "oh? really?". Dylan reached into his pocket as he said, "yeah, but this one is a word puzzle and it will only open if you say the right word."

Dylan knelt down on one knee, and asked Ashley to marry him. Her answer of "Hell yes" must have been correct, since he stood up, opened the "puzzle box" and showed her the ring.

The anxiety-inducing part over, Dylan began to tell Ashley about the ring: how he was considering two rings that were very different, but ultimately chose this one; how he purchased it from an Etsy artisan; how she gave him a heart attack when she once said "I hate rose gold", and he had purchased her rose gold ring only weeks before (turns out, Ashley doesn't know much about jewelry and she loves the rose gold ring).

Throughout all of this, Ashley was listening, smiling, and patiently waiting for him to place the ring on her finger. She finally interrupted him to say, "so are you going to put the ring on my finger or what?"

He did.

A little PS.

Dylan forgot to tell Ashley a very cute and meaningful detail about the proposal. When she returned from her month of travel, he informed her that the box he made (yes, he did actually make the box- it wasn't a cheesy gimmick) was made from Ash wood.