Ryan grew up on 40 acres in Central Pennsylvania with his sister, Claire, parents, Tim and Kate, and exceptional next door neighbors- his grandparents, Peggy and Terry!

I was born and raised more than 2,600 miles away from my future husband, in Northern California with my older brothers, Scotty and Jeff, and parents, Scott and Jo. Similar to Ryan, I lived next door to my grandparents, Sue and Fred. I've had the honor of becoming an Auntie to 6, with one more on the way (so yes, SEVEN) nieces and nephews. I don't think that Ryan expected to gain a small army with a simple: "Will you marry me?".

Yet another Lehigh Love Story! I left the nest and went cross-country to play Softball at Lehigh, while Ryan had his mind made up about the prestigious Wrestling and Engineering programs that Lehigh had to offer. Although our paths may have crossed a few times in the dorms of Drinker while yelling at each other during heated games of Mafia, we didn’t hit things off until Ryan showed up to a True -American (New Girl reference) themed party that the ladies of 216 4th Street were hosting.

Convinced that Ryan was a San Francisco Giants fan based on him saying that his favorite baseball team was also orange and black, I was immediately intrigued. Oh, was I wrong! Ryan promised me that night that he would take me to a game at Camden Yards- to this day, we have yet to go.…

We ended up dating toward the end of our undergrad and luckily both did our Masters programs at Lehigh, too. I was able to be a grad assistant for Lehigh Athletics, which allowed me (& forced me) to be at all of Ryan’s matches. Ryan still had a year of eligibility left for wrestling, where he casually became a DI All-American, placing 4th, but he doesnt like to brag about it, so I will!

(Ryan was adamant about me using our Lehigh Athletics headshots...)

We were sad to leave Lehigh, but were excited to start our lives together on the Jersey Shore, in Asbury Park, NJ. Bruuuuuuuuuuce!! I followed my dad's footsteps into IT sales and Ryan carved his path into commercial real estate due diligence (you'll have to ask him what that means). We've stayed in Asbury Park and since welcomed our fur baby (cringe, we know), Maple, into our home!

Ryan went full rogue and asked my dad for his permission (Mama Jo said "well how come he didn't ask me?!" ~so classic~) while we spent some time in CA. Less than a week later, Ryan bent the knee while we were taking Maple for a walk on the beach.

Tears were shed, zoomies were had and the celebration commenced! I looked over to the boardwalk and shore enough, Ryan had invited some friends to join in on the festivities. We capped the night with copious amounts of free pizza from Johnny Macs (iykyk)!

Since getting engaged, weve been keeping our heads down at work and enjoying our well-deserved PTO, traveling the world whenever we can. Over the past few years, we have travelled to Scotland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Brussels, France, Portugal (wink-wink), Sweden, Poland, Germany, and The Czech Republic.

Next stop: Lisbon, Portugal for the best day of our lives!

After that: Quick stop in Barcelona before heading to Italia for our honeymoon!

P.s. Youre probably wondering who watches Maple when were traveling... lets just say that Maple is extremely happy at Camp Grandma! Thanks, Tim & Kate!