Blake and Kimmie met in the spring of 2015 during their freshman year of college at Lewis University. This marked the start of an incredible journey filled with love and laughter. Upon graduating college, Blake and Kimmie began traveling together and making even more memories. The couple made trips to Nashville, New York City, Cincinnati and Louisville and have some pretty great stories from along the way. In the Fall of 2021, Blake accepted a new job that would have him move across the country to Washington state. Kimmie made sure that Blake knew that she would follow him wherever the job took him. As long as she had Blake and their puppy Lily, Kimmie would feel like she was at home. In the summer of 2022, while away for training for the new job, Blake flew home for a quick weekend from Georgia to celebrate their 7 year anniversary. The date was August 6th, 2022 and Blake took Kimmie out for a romantic dinner in downtown Chicago. The two of them went for a walk after dinner to Buckingham Fountain. To Kimmie's understanding, this was just a nice walk after dinner, but to Blake this was when he would (finally) ask Kimmie to be his wife! After a few blocks of walking, they arrived to a crowded Buckingham Fountain. Blake proposed to Kimmie while the sun was setting over the Chicago skyline and she said YES without any hesitation. In the winter of 2022, the newly engaged couple packed up and brought their love to their new (hopefully temporary) home in Washington. Blake and Kimmie look forward to celebrating their love with all friends and family on October 4th, 2024 in their home state of Illinois!