Joey and Kristianne met each other through their involvement in the FFA in high school. Throughout their time in high school and Joey's year of state office, Kristianne and Joey kept bumping into each other and eventually became friends later on. What started out as a friendship, soon grew to more once they had both graduated high school. During Kristianne's first year of college, Joey finally got up the nerve to ask her on a date.

Kristianne and Joey became nearly inseparable, doing everything together. Whether it was galavanting around the farm, or Kristianne dragging Joey around on weird adventures, the two continued to build on their crazy relationship. Kristianne even managed to get Joey to leave the country, not one but three times, which is where this new chapter of their lives begins....

During their third trip to Ireland, the Dowd family decided to mark their second day of the trip by climbing Carlingford Mountain. Kristianne, being the clutz she is, ended up crawling up the mountain on her hands and knees. While Kristianne was taking her sweet time, Joey was growing more and more anxious and started rushing Kristianne to climb faster. As Kristianne is trying to hold back from yelling at Joey to be quiet, she looked up to see Joey on his knee in front of her. Joey pulled out a can of dip and from the can produced an engagement ring, and asked if Kristianne would marry him. And of course the answer was YES!