How We Met
At the beginning of 2013, Brock was working in Virginia, and Brittany was in Ohio. On April 1st, Brock's boss came to him and asked if he would be willing to fly to Ohio to cover a few clinics where his company had just started providing services, until a permanent Physicist could be hired. After some convincing that this was not an April Fool's joke, Brock went home and packed a bag, for what he thought was a one or two week trip to Youngstown, OH.
Brittany was working as a Radiation Therapist at the time, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Warren, which happened to be one of the clinics that Brock was on his way to help.
Unfortunately, Brittany was already accepted to her graduate school in Chicago, so she would be leaving within a few short weeks after Brock had arrived. Since Brittany's graduate school was going to cover the same material that Brock had experience with, he told her to reach out to him if she ever needed help in her studies (which had nothing to do with the fact that she was cute...).
Several months later, Brock got a message from Brittany that she could use some help with one of her physics classes, and asked if Brock would be willing to help. Brock was, of course, willing to help out the girl that he had a crush on some months ago. The two began to spend time working on homework via facetime, and eventually the video calls would start including personal conversations. After a couple of months of video calls that became less and less about studying, the two decided to start dating, and the rest is history.
How We Got Engaged
Brock and Brittany decided to take a Backpacking trip to Colorado in August of 2017, though only Brock and a few other people knew what was going to happen on this trip.​
A few days before they left, Brock put the ring in a pocket of a backpack and sewed it shut (which later he would have to cut open with a knife, as he couldn't tear open the 9-10 seams he had sewn). On the second day in Colorado the two departed on their backpacking excursion for a few days, leaving the car (with ring inside) at the trailhead for 3 days.
Brock had booked a stay at the Mary's Lake Lodge for the two after the time in the wilderness, as they thought a hot shower and a hot meal not cooked over a campstove would be needed.
The next morning they checked out of the lodge and were on their way to meet some friends that lived in Denver for a day hike. Brock had spoken to these friends just a few weeks before, after the ring had arrived, and they agreed to help with the surprise, and be engagement photographers for the day (Thanks Paul and Heidi!).
After passing a few lakes that didn't feel like the right location, Brock found the spot he had been looking for at Dream Lake, in front of Hallett Peak. After a nod to his friends, and some convincing of Brittany to take another picture, Brock led Brittany over to the edge of the lake, and got down on one knee to propose. She said yes, and now they are on our way to saying I do.