We're Getting Married!

We met like many other people meet these days... the dreaded dating app! Christina was wearing an Oregon Ducks top sitting behind the media desk at the University of Oregon athletics media room. Tyler the ever so loyal Beaver alumni and die hard fan was hesitant to "swipe right"! Cue our first date, it was an afternoon lunch date, after all; lunch is a safe bet. Christina was over 45 minutes late, which I have come to realize is a normal for her!!! We met in person for the first time at the McMenamin's on Cedar Hills; I will NEVER forget Tyler's smile, grinning from ear to ear, and I could totally sense his nervousness! We sat down to lunch and our poor waitress asked us multiple times if we were ready to order, however in our mix of getting to know each other we hadn't even looked at the menu! This leads us to our official first evening date, I met Tyler at the Top Golf parking lot in Hillsboro, I just couldn't make him drive all the way out to Banks to pick me up. He picked me up and we went to The Matador on NW 23rd. It was raining, and incredibly cold but following dinner we proceeded to walk down NW 23rd in the rain, where we met each other under the awning of Restoration Hardware for our first kiss! I knew Tyler was "the one" the second I saw his smile in person! I knew Christina was "the one" the second she gave me a hug on our first lunch date! Four kids, new home, running a business, COVID, Virtual School! Nothing can stop us!

The day before our anniversary of when we first met, Tyler planned a surprise day of events! Our first stop was Resonance Winery in Carlton, OR. Tyler was building this winery when we first met, and it is absolutely stunning! While at Resonance I offered to take this couples photo and the lady had asked if we had just gotten engaged... I laughed and said no but I know the builder; needless to say I went back into the members room where we were relaxing together only to give Tyler hell over what the lady had asked me! The next stop was Durant Vineyards, Durant is the first wine club we joined together and holds a special place in my heart as it has a connection to my Great Aunt who unfortunately left us before I met Tyler. The last stop and let me remind you this is well past the time all vineyards have closed for business, was Oswego Hills Winery in Lake Oswego. This winery was one we spent many a day at last summer as they have a lawn and the kids could run around and have fun and it's very family friendly (a MUST when you have four active kiddos)! We pulled up and I noticed the lights were on in their venue space, continued to walk down and there were all of these candles, all I could think was that must have been from a wedding that just ended... Boy was I wrong! We proceeded to walk to the gazebo, where Tyler mentioned all of the people in my family that he had asked for my hand in marriage... I told him no several times because I was in utter shock, followed by a "yes of course!" That day was a wonderful day and we still laugh about it to this day; the fact that I repeatedly told him no, out of pure shock that he was actually proposing!