We're getting married!

It was a warm October day. I had been slaving away ever so hard at work. Worrying about the upcoming month end and all. Upon going to see HR for help with one of my tedious projects, one of our Customer Service Representatives (Rachael) was sitting in the office. After I finished discussing the project with our HR assistant, Rachael spoke up and said, “I think I know someone that would be good for you?!”. A bit puzzled and was taken back from the statement for a second, I chimed in with, “Oh yeah, show me a picture.” Rachael pulled up a picture of Caylee that she took the previous weekend during a photo shoot. Once I viewed the beauty of the woman in the picture, I quickly responded, “OK! I’m interested!” We both chatted for about 10 minutes on how we could meet up and it not be awkward or how to prevent any pressure for either Caylee or I. We came to the conclusion that the next outing they (Rachael and Caylee) went on, I was to be invited to and see how we meshed. We both left feeling confident this would work. As soon as I got home for the day, I checked my Facebook account. And to my surprise, I had a friend request from a Caylee Cascio. Puzzled, I screen shot the request and sent it to Rachael with the caption “WTF?!!”. I was confused. Not 4 hours earlier, Rachael and I talked about how our introduction would go… and this was not it. Her response was, she couldn’t wait to tell Caylee about me. And as soon as she did, the FBI investigation process began. Unfortunately for Caylee, in order to see my profile, she had to add me as a friend. We began talking through messenger and eventually to phone text messages.

It was move-in day at our home we just purchased together. Matt woke up that morning knowing he sure had the day cut out for him. A good 8 hours to clean our new home, take over a couple of loads, and what I was totally unaware of was finding our perfect puppy. Y'all, I have wanted a puppy so bad for like ever but Matt & I decided we didn't want to selfishly adopt without having a yard we could provide for our pups. Truly, while on the hunt for our perfect home, our number one requirement was that we have a large enough backyard for our future 2 or more fur-babes. Matt checked with several rescue operations all over Dallas to find that they all had a 5-7 day waiting period which obviously wasn’t going to work well with what he had planned. All of this while I was eager to get off work to help clean and get moved in. While options became extremely slim, Matt decided to check at the local animal shelter here in Rockwall where he had already filled out an adoption application for a pup that had already been introduced to his new home. When he got there, he started off by letting them know he was looking for a puppy he could take home that day** very important ** and he needed to be a large/ extra-large breed. Luckily, 4 puppies had just been released for adoption and Matt fell in love with our now favorite little guy who was a little timid at first but then gave lots of kisses straight to the face! Once Matt found our perfect pup, he called Rachael (#thanksrachael) to be at our new home around 1 so that he could finish his to-do list before I arrived home at about 4. His plan was starting to get some traction while all of our close loved ones were to arrive shortly after.

Fast forward to around 3:30 (I couldn’t help but to get home at least a little early) I met Matt at the apartment in Dallas to load up both of our cars before heading to our new home. I noticed there was still quite a bit to be done while Matthew decided he needed to shower and get changed out of his sweatpants in which I questioned because we were in the middle of moving… and just suggested that he wait to shower and stay in comfy clothes until we finished this load. I could tell he was a little stressed (which never happens -- he has such a calm sense literally all the time) so I decided to just let it go and let him do his thing. After showering, changing into a nice polo and some shorts, and also shaving… we loaded everything up and got ready to head to our new home. On the drive from our apartment in Dallas to our new home in Rockwall (literally just a 25 minute drive), Matt felt the need to call me three different times to make sure I parked in the driveway and follow him in. On the drive, I tried to call Rachael and my mom to see what they were up to and neither of them answered my call which wasn’t too totally out of the ordinary because they were both still at work or so I thought… I checked both of their locations and noticed they both were turned off which I thought was weird but hey, my phone has glitched before. Matt made sure everyone parked around the corner so that when I pulled up, I didn’t see any strange cars sitting in front of our house.

As I pulled in our driveway (behind Matthew because he wouldn’t let me forget -- lol) we both got out and I went to grab Milla (our kitty) to bring her in. Matt suggested I run in first and shut all of guest bedroom doors to be sure we keep her out of those areas while he grabs her. I realized that was a good idea and opened our garage door to find that the laundry room door was shut which is super weird because our laundry room isn’t huge… then I turned to see how far Matt was behind me and he was right behind me without Milla lol. I continue to head in opening the laundry room door and get weirded out super quickly because I saw phones propped up literally everywhere; the bar, the mantel, and some floating around the corner. Then, Rachael (for those of you who don’t know, is my cousin/sister/best friend/also the Rachael in the #thanksrachael and photographer) came out around one of the corners and started snapping pictures. At this point, I was very aware that something was up but still didn’t have a clue. Then around another corner came running the cutest little puppy ever along with my parents, brother, and Matt’s parents. I bent down to love on the very lovable puppy who loves kisses straight to the face (but hey, me too) to read his collar to find out what his name was. Instead, his collar read, “Will you marry Daddy” and the back said “Please say yes” insert the full-on crying emojis right here. Then I turned around to find my dream guy on one knee asking for me to spend the rest of my life with him. I couldn’t have even dreamed of this perfect moment. I still find myself questioning if this all really happened because it was the. Most. Perfect. Moment. Ever. With the most perfect man and puppy. Of course, I said yes and here we are!!!