The first time we met was in 2019 at a climbing gym in LA. Annemarie was the social butterfly bouncing around the “bouldering” section, while Grant stuck to the tall rope walls with his best friend, Zack. One day, when Zack and Grant decided to venture into bouldering for the day, Annemarie made the first move by talking to Grant and discussing the best way to climb the route in front of them. Despite having an instant connection, the timing wasn’t quite right.

For the next three years, life seemed to keep us out of sync…crossing paths here and there, admiring from afar, but never at the right moment.In early 2020, what we thought was the right timing, ended with the world shutting down due to COVID. So naturally, Grant packed his things up to work remotely from a friend’s cabin in Mammoth sneaking in snowboarding between meetings like the true mountain guy he is. Annemarie couldn’t decide if it was “dreamy” or ridiculous; working remote in the mountains just to snowboard every day, but either way, it got her attention. Life had other plans, though, and a first date never happened. A couple of years (and detours) later, the timing finally lined up. With some encouragement from a classmate, Annemarie mustered up the courange to text Grant asking for “solo hike recommendations” in the Eastern Sierras. Grant caught the terrible “I’m single” hint and asked her out on their first date. From then on, things just clicked.…

We spent a lot of time at “Big Red,” Grant’s infamous Playa del Rey house with his then roomates, Zack and Sean, and of course their girlfriends’ Dani and Melissa, as well as the rotating cast of friends who basically lived on the couch. It was chaotic, loud, and full of memories, until we were finally ready for a place of our own. About a year later, we moved into our first apartment together in Playa del Rey, and more recently into a rental house in Torrance, with a new big backyard perfect for a furry friend. Two months in, we added our favorite adventure buddy: our dog, Zero (shhh…don’t tell our landlord 🐾)!

Now, between Grant’s job as Director of Finance at Breakthrough Properties and Annemarie’s work as a doctor of physical therapy at iAthlete Physio, life is plenty busy. But our favorite thing to do together is escape outdoors; snowboarding at Mammoth, camping, climbing, surfing, hiking, or taking Zero out on adventures.

After a few twists and turns, here we are, ready for the biggest adventure yet: marriage! Thanks for staying for our lengthy “meet-cute”. We can’t wait to celebrate with each of you!