LETS DO THE DANG THING!

Long story short: Mikki & Cody Long story long: We had seen each other in passing every now and then but nothing had happened quite yet. After Mikki’s 21st birthday, when Raq & Mik were roommates, he had mentioned to his buddies that he liked that cute strawberry blonde haired girl named Raq. One night before Matthews mission trip to China we had finally had an intentional conversation at Cody’s house. (Matthews best man) We both had left thinking “dang I would not be mad about spending more time with that person” Matthew even wrote a small journal entry about Raq that trip. The flow of the conversation made us confident we would be seeing each other again soon. They even pinky promised to do something when we turned 80 together. Flash forward to a few months when Raq & Mikki (Cody’s now wife) were working out together, she had mentioned Matthew having eyes for Raquel. Weeks later, Raqs best friend Amy had made the decision to rehome her doggo named Luna (Tuna). Matthew had reached out to Raq about wanting to adopt her and wanting to grab lunch to talk about the “details” *Matthew is totally that guy at the parties that hangs out with the animals in the house more than his friends. We had planned to go to Zooks in uptown that next Thursday. Wednesday comes around and Amy had already rehomed the dog leaving Matthew & Raq to have nothing to talk about ;) Raq’s roommate at the time Andrew (bridesmaid) decided it would be a fun night to take Mikki & Raq to Charlie’s (staple gay bar in PHX) They lied to both Cody & Matthew separately saying that the other person was coming so they both felt inclined to come with. And that was basically their first date… He also brought his sister Stephanie which makes the story that much sweeter. After a couple months as friends, highs and lows, on November 19th, 2019 Matthew finally asked Raq to be his girlfriend. And now look at them now!!!

Matthews goal was to have a day packed full of Raq spending time with the people she loves the most. While Matthew was watching the NFL playoffs, Raq was just wanting to be lazy and watch tv in sweats all day. It happened on January 30th, 2022. The night before, he had planned a hike for Raq to do with his mom & sisters. Raq then had a brunch with her family Everyone was acting odd and they seemed extremely pressed for time and even told me not to get my nails done because they knew I had plans with Amy & friends at 3pm. Raq went to get her nails done anyways where her best friend Abbie (bridesmaid) showed up to her nail appointment and paid for her nails…. (another giveaway) Raq then went back to her house to meet up with Amy, Abbie, Colton & Andrew for a planned dinner. I remember feeling rushed but was told I needed to look cute for pictures they wanted to take later (suspicious) We walk into Pedal House and ALL of Raqs best friends were sitting there waiting for her and started recording her and taking photos. She was stunned and kept asking why everyone was there. Mikki then precedes to tell her that Matthew was just trying to plan a few of these surprise dinners to throw Raq off for when he “actually proposes” which actually threw her off. The night was initially planned to celebrate Cody & Mikki buying a house. Or so we thought. We had reservations at an upscale bar in Tempe, but that was never the real plan. We then head to a rooftop lounge at the Marriott. We walk out and see rose pedals and a picture of us right at the perfect sunset/golden hour. There was a note that Raq started to read (and bawl her eyes out), turns around and there is all of their family and friends standing there with matthew on one knee. “hell ya baby” was Raqs response We then proceed to dinner where Raq rereads the letter and then leaves the note behind on the table which is totally something she would do. An hour later Matthew decided to run and check the trash cans at the restaurant. By the grace of the good Lord the note was there, covered in ranch and now is in clean in our possession!!!