Ricky was born in Chicago to Liborio & Diane Ayala. At the age of 4, his parents and younger sister, Natalie, moved to Amberg, Wisconsin, where they resided for about 7 years, before returning to Chicago. Ricky enjoyed riding bikes, often in the street where he shouldn've been, and playing football and basketball. When he was 12, they moved to Puerto Rico, where a lot of their family lived. At the time, he did not speak much spanish, but learned quickly as it was all that was spoken in school. Ricky returned to the states after about 3 1/2 years in Puerto Rico, and moved to Dubuque at the end of his freshmen year of high school. During his junior year of high school, October 2001, he enlisted in the Iowa National Guard. In 2004-2005 he deployed to Afghanistan. Upon returning, he went to Northwest Iowa Community College to study to be a lineman. In 2006, Ricky graduated and began his apprenticeship with Missouri Valley Line Construction. In 2007, he was deployed a second time, this time to Cosovo. He returned in 2008, continuing his apprenticeship, til he was sent on his third deployment to Afghanistan in 2010, and returning to Dubuque in 2011.

Ashley was born in Dubuque to Tom & Barb Hinz, the youngest of three. She has her oldest brother, Nick, and older sister, Natalie. They had a lot of fun growing up in Barrington Lakes. Summers consisted of time spent around the neighbor - either riding bikes, playing golf cart tag, and swimming at the lake. If Ashley wasn't around the neighborhood, you could most likely find her at practice either in the pool or on the soccer field. She started competing at the age of 7 on the DASH swim team. She remembers having to do doubles - practicing two times a day, and one of them at about 5:30am at Flora Pool - before the heaters were on...brrrr. She also had a love for soccer. She was part of the traveling Dubuque Hot Shots Soccer Club. Between her siblings and many sports, most weekends were spent traveling out of town for meets and/or tournaments. Some of her favorites were the soccer tournaments just her and her dad traveled together for. Ashley graduated from Dubuque Hempstead High School, swimming on the Varsity team, and captain her senior year on the soccer team.

After high school, Ashley attended the University of Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa Henry B. Tippie College of Business with her B.A in Business with an emphasis in Marketing. In 2011, Ashley moved back to Dubuque, working for American Marketing & Publishing. In 2012, she left AMP, and started at the Telegraph Herald. Currently, she works in the Retail Advertising Department, offering her clients marketing solutions in both print and digital platforms.

Ricky and Ashley met in the late fall/early winter of 2011. Ricky had just gotten back a few months previously from Afghanistan, and Ashley had moved back to Dubuque a few months prior from Iowa City.

They both attended a Comedy Show at the Diamond Jo Casino with friends of theirs, and stopped at the Rainbow Lounge afterwards. While their mutual friends were engaged in conversation, Ashley invited Ricky over to sit with her and another one of her friends. She remembers Ricky saying "I must make you nervous huh" and Ashley just burst out laughing as she is just a talker - not nervous, haha.

Since then, Ricky and Ashley have built amazing experiences and memories over the years. Ricky took Ashley to Puerto Rico for her first time to visit his family and learn about where he grew up for 4 years. They did amazing excursions including the Bioluminescent Bay - Puerto Rico has 3 of the 5 in the world - popular beaches, rainforest and one of the world's longest Zip-Lines - AMAZING! Their trip was complete with picking their own and drinking out of coconuts, Bacardi Rum tour, visiting family, tasting real moonshine and holding baby chicks! To this day, Ashley's favorite trip!

Ricky and Ashley have continued to do a lot of "firsts" together. Building her first snowman, cheering on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, attending the Big Ten Championship for the Hawkeyes, traveling to the Dominican Republic... just to name a few. They enjoy weekend trips out of town cheering on the Cubs, Bulls and Bears. They look forward to warm weather and spending time on the golf course, doing yard work, grilling out, swimming, enjoying a cold beer and any outdoor activities. You can usually find them on the dance floor, with Ricky leading of course ;)

They continue to add to their list of places traveled - Colorado for family weddings, Las Vegas twice, the Dominican Republic, Nashville (also one of Ashley's favorites) and back to Puerto Rico. When not going on longer trips, they enjoy the occasional weekend get-away, visiting friends out of town or whatever they come up with.

Ricky and Ashley enjoy spending their time with family and friends. They both have the honor of being a Godparent, Ashley to Aloysius, and Ricky to Rhett, 2 of Natalie and Matt's 5 children. Their neighbor kids, twins, especially enjoy getting to throw the ball around and play outside with Ricky - he's just a big kid we sometimes hear :)

Ricky and Ashley look forward to celebrating the next chapter of their lives and starting their own family. They consider themselves truly blessed.