Rick and Allison first met in May 2016 at a conference in Rochester, NY. Later that summer, after Rick brought home April, Allison started commenting on all his cute puppy photos on Instagram, and the two began talking nonstop. Despite Allison teaching in Arkansas and Rick working on his Ph.D. in Kentucky, they started a relationship full of love, dog dates, and baked goods. Their dogs, April and Queenie, became best buds and take all the credit for their parents’ relationship.

Rick, April, and Ginsberg moved part-time to Arkansas in 2018, and the whole crew moved to Muncie, Indiana in summer 2019 after Allison and Rick accepted teaching jobs at Ball State University. They bought their first house in 2020.

During a hike at McCormick’s Creek State Park in October 2022, Rick pretended to stop to give Queenie water and pulled an engagement ring from his backpack. After several “wowwww"s (due to the absolute surprise of Rick being able to guard such a big secret), Allison said yes!