While both were attending Saint Joseph’s University, but never actually crossing paths, Gabby & Ross both decided to sign up for a Habitat for Humanity trip on a whim. They were placed in the same group that brought them to El Paso, Texas for a week to build a Restore for the local community. Some of their fondest memories include: -Sitting on top of the mountain and looking at all of the stars (corny, we know). -Hanging out on the balcony every night watching the sunsets (corny, again, we know). -Leaving the place that they were staying to go for late night walks in the neighborhood. (Fun Fact: Apparently, El Paso is quite the unsafe city. Those innocent neighborhood walks were actually quite dangerous. Gabby & Ross didn’t find this out until years later when they were watching Live PD and El Paso was heavily featured.) Gabby & Ross will always credit El Paso for introducing them to each other.

Starting from June 24th, 2020 (the day Rika joined their family), Gabby had been bugging Ross to do a holiday card where they would all be wearing matching pajamas (yes, the dog included). Ross held strong through most of 2021 until he started thinking about what to get her for her birthday. For Gabby’s 25th birthday, Ross gifted her professional family photos for the holidays, under one condition: no matching pajamas. During the session, the photographer instructed Gabby to take individual pictures with Rika, meanwhile, Ross got down on one knee behind her. The photographer then instructed Gabby to turn around, to which Ross popped the question. Gabby was completely surprised, especially because Carly, her twin sister, had mentioned that she would be out of town that weekend. Gabby knew that Ross would never propose without Carly being close by- frankly, Carly wouldn’t allow that either. What Gabby also didn’t know was that Carly, Allie, her older sister, and her mom spent weeks planning a surprise engagement party immediately following the photoshoot. Ross & Gabby (& Rika) celebrated their big day surrounded by their closest family members.