Jake and Kristin met in late summer of 2018. Coincidentally, it happened to be on Kristin’s twenty-second birthday - drenched in sweat and panting heavily from a set of deadlifts in the gym, she watched from the corner of her eye as a good-looking guy approached her, and like a true gentleman, extended a hand and introduced himself. Several months later, a close friendship flourished into romance.

When they began dating, Kristin was a senior at Scripps College and Jake was a sophomore at Claremont McKenna. As the summer of 2019 drew nearer and Kristin’s dream of attending veterinary school in New York was about to become realized, they nervously shared a discussion on what a long distance relationship would look for them - and they decided to give it a try. They promised to revisit their thoughts on continuing the relationship when the summer came to an end and Kristin officially started veterinary school. They ultimately never had that conversation.

Four years later, Jake completed his master’s degree in Data Science at Georgetown University, and Kristin walked away from Cornell University with a doctorate degree in hand. Years of nightly FaceTime calls and periodic flights or long drives across upstate New York transformed into them moving in together in a southeast suburb of Denver, Colorado. They adopted their black cat Luna(tic), and have enjoyed weekly hiking rituals and intermittent excursions into the mountains.

On April 21st, 2024, roughly six and a half years after Jake first approached Kristin in Roberts Pavilion, Jake popped the question during a hike at Red Rock Canyon Open Space - and they are so thrilled to make it official on September 27th, 2025.