Ivory and Nolan first "officially" crossed paths in a shared kindergarten class at Pagosa Springs Elementary School. Their lives continued to intertwine throughout school, as they shared the same 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and 5th grade homeroom classes, as well as many shared classes throughout middle and high school.
After various flirtatious encounters during a shared class their sophomore year of high school, Nolan dropped hints to Ivory about the Sadie Hawkins-style Winterfest school dance. Convinced by her friend Peyton, Ivory asked Nolan to the school dance. The following week, Nolan and Ivory surprised each other with Valentine's Day gifts, further confirming their romantic connection. They went on their first "real" date the following weekend where they went out for coffee, followed by baking chocolate chip cookies at Ivory's house.
A huge blizzard struck Pagosa Springs on February 18th, which meant nearly an entire week of stay-at-home snow days where Ivory and Nolan continued to hang out and discovered a massive shared love for Star Wars. They watched Star Wars movies and played hours of Xbox Lego Star Wars. On the snowy afternoon of February 21st, 2019, Nolan asked Ivory to officially be his girlfriend - she said YES!
The couple dated throughout high school, where they ran track together, and their love survived the global Covid-19 pandemic when they didn't see each other for 4 very long months. Upon graduating from high school in June of 2021, Ivory left for college at North Carolina State University while Nolan started his first year in Fort Collins at Colorado State University. The difficulty of the long-distance relationship inspired Ivory to move back to Colorado where she would finish her undergraduate career at the University of Colorado Boulder and be close to Nolan who was just an hour away. Ivory and Nolan shared nearly every weekend together doing various adventures, such as skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, camping, and enjoying time with friends.
In 2024, during Christmas break of their senior year of college, they visited their hometown of Pagosa Springs. The couple went skiing and snowboarding at Wolf Creek Ski Area (their home mountain) on December 20th, a bluebird day of sparkling white snow. Nolan convinced Ivory to take a pause in the action by enticing her with hot chocolate at the espresso bar at the top of the chairlift. He had secretly hired a photographer to capture the moment when he got down on his knee in the snow and presented her with the engagement ring of her dreams!
Ivory and Nolan are thrilled to officially commit to each other forever on June 6th, 2026, back in Pagosa Springs where their love story began.
