Maddie & Alex met online in August of 2021. Maddie was working her fourth season in Medora and Alex was in his third year of working at WBI in Glendive, MT. Maddie distinctly remembers sitting with her friends, Sara Michael & Kaelee Wallace, in their Medora house when Alex's photo popped up. She showed them his profile, and in spite of him posing for a dreaded fish picture, her friends encouraged her to swipe right.

Alex has limited memory of swiping right.

Their first date was in Wibaux, Montana, at Beaver Creek Brewery, the midway point between their two towns. Maddie pretended she drank IPAs and Alex read the restaurant times wrong and no food was being served. With limited options on a Monday night, they made their way to the classiest establishment in Wibaux, the Shamrock. (If you have not had the pleasure of visiting Wibaux, MT, you're really not missing much.)

Even with all the mishaps of their first date, Alex and Maddie enjoyed getting to know one another and were desperate to see each other again, thus beginning their love story.

Maddie & Alex fell in love in the Badlands. While living an hour apart created challenges, it made them value the time they had together even more. They spent their time hiking the Badlands, and when the weather became too cold, they watched A LOT of Spartan Football & Marvel movies.

In their first year of dating, they traveled to Denver, CO, Yellowstone National Park, Red Lodge, MT, Big Sky, MT and visited each other's family homes in Minot, ND & New Baltimore, MI. Through each of these trips and their coveted weekends together, they grew closer and began to imagine their future lives together.

Towards the beginning of their relationship, Maddie and Alex confided in each other that they one day hoped to move out of the MonDak area. Maddie yearned for a more progressive city life with access to more live events and opportunities. Alex wanted to be closer to the mountains where he could easily access the activities he loves such as skiing, hiking and fishing. They took the leap together and moved to Denver, CO in the fall of 2022.

Alex planned a weekend getaway to Steamboat Springs, CO. He booked a hotel at a ski resort and got tickets for them to ride a very large gondola to the top of a mountain.

The second day of their stay, they took the gondola ride to the top and found a beautiful nature hike. The hike ended at a lookout where suddenly Alex started acting very nervous. He insisted they stay at this lookout for an extended amount of time.

Maddie knew what was coming and was equally as anxious. Part of her wanted to enjoy the moment and go with the flow and the other part of her wanted him to hurry up and ask.

Alex was waiting for hikers to clear the area so he could ask the Big Question.

When the hikers moved down the trail, Maddie turned around to find Alex on one knee where he asked her, "Will you marry me?"

Maddie responded with a "yes, absolutely, yes".

And now, here we are!