We met on Christina's first day of work at Nuvasive, where Taylor had already been working for a couple of months. We were on the Contracts & Pricing team together, and quickly became friends. We would chat on IM every day, get breakfast in the cafeteria together, and eventually began spending time together outside of work at happy hours or sporting events with friends. Friends would separately make comments to each of us about how they thought we liked each other (really how Taylor liked Christina), but neither of us really agreed. Until after almost 2 years of friendship, our friendship evolved into much more!

Christina's friends held an annual Easter Beer Hunt, and this year (the 3rd annual) Christina invited Taylor to join in on the fun. After our team came in a respectable 3rd place of the hunt, we spent the day with everyone bar-hopping around Pacific Beach and having a blast. We shared our first kiss at The Local, or so we think...

The proposal happened in Wang Saphung of the Loei Province in Thailand, where Christina's mother and family is from. Taylor had never been to Thailand, and Christina's family was hosting it's last possible fundraiser for the local temple, which Christina's mom, sisters and brother-in-law were flying in from Texas for - so they decided it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to join and all be there together! On the last day with Christina's family, Taylor told Christina's mom he planned to propose, and she quickly talked to the rest of the family and they arranged a very special traditional Thai wedding and blessing ceremony that evening at the house where the whole family was already planning on gathering. That evening, to Christina's surprise, Taylor got on one knee and asked her to marry him while her entire family watched, filmed and took pictures. Luckily only a few of them spoke English, so that helped Taylor's nerves! Of course she said yes, and the family began the Thai blessing ceremony where they each took turns, beginning with the eldest relatives, tying a string bracelet around both Taylor and Christina's wrists and saying a special blessing for their marriage, future, and family. The bracelets were for luck, and Christina and Taylor kept them on during the rest of their trip in Thailand exploring Chiang Mai and Phuket. We both still have the special red and beaded bracelet Christina's mother tied to our wrists during the ceremony.