There was a new kid in town from Pennsylvania named Austin. I immediately had a crush on him. We had a mutual good friend and I was asked to hang out with them at the mall. After the mall, we went to the movies and watched Captain America. The whole movie I could feel Austin trying to hold my hand but he was just too afraid. Literally in the last 2 minutes of the movie he finally did it and grabbed my hand! I was so excited that the new cute kid wanted to hold my hand! I had the biggest crush. The movie ended and my parents drove him home. "Wow would we date now??" I thought to myself. I'm sure I planned our entire wedding in my 13 year old head. We dropped him off at his house and then... we didn't talk again until my sophomore year of high school. We both moved on with our lives after our crazy night of hand holding. But our story wasn't over yet! I was performing a hip hop dance with my drill team during a basketball game. I knew Austin would be at the game so I made sure to bring my A game. This would be my second chance to woo him! After my performance, I went into the stands to talk to him. Yup, Austin was STILL cute after all these years. After the game, he walked me to my car. I figured this would be a repeat of our middle school hand holding and I wouldn't hear from him for a couple of years, but I was wrong. He messaged me on twitter and the rest is history!

Austin woke me up early on Feb 9th because he had planned a surprise day trip. Austin had planned surprise trips for me before so it wasn't TOO suspicious. We made a pit stop at our friend Gabby's house where we picked her up along with our other friends David and Tyler. I had absolutely no idea what was planned, and no one would tell me where we were going. We ended up at Mount Bonnell in Austin, TX. Once we got there, we met up with our friend Brooke. Okay now I was a little suspicious, but she lived close by so I didn't think too far into it. We walked around for a little while before Austin gained the courage to ask me to spend the rest of my life with him. It was absolutely perfect. He talked about our past, present and future and how he couldn't wait for all of our future adventures together. There were plenty of tears and laughter from us and our friends. Of course I said yes with no hesitation! It finally happened! I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend! We celebrated at a local brewery before heading home. Our friends and my family were back at our house planning a beautiful surprise engagement party (shoutout to James and my family for the help!). I cannot wait to be his wife. I have waited for this day since he first said I love you!

Cynthia obviously had her suspicions, I mean at the time we had been dating for over four years. When I finally decided to go pick out a ring for her I had to find a sneaky way to go to the store without her knowing. Luckily, she was having car problems and had to drive from College Station to Houston to get it fixed and that was my only chance to get it! Now it was time to find the perfect opportunity to POP THE QUESTION. I got the ring for Cynthia at the beginning of December 2018 and by the new year I already blew it. It was New Years Eve, and just like everyone else around the world, we were celebrating with close friends and a few drinks (A rather large bottle of Jägermeister may have been involved). When I woke up in the morning, I was told by the girl herself that we had a nice conversation that night. Automatically I thought, "Oh lord, what did I say?" Cynthia told me that I had whispered in her ear, "Hey guess what? I bought you a ring." LOL how embarrassing is that? Now that I had already told her I bought a ring I had to find a way to at least make the proposal a surprise. It was tough considering I have a very busy schedule so there were only certain days that I could make it work with out her suspicion. I talked up some ideas with our friends Gabby, Tyler, David and Brooke. The morning of, I woke Cynthia up, got her dressed up, and met with our pals for a little road trip to Austin. She had no idea where we were going. After our two-hour drive we arrived at our destination, Mt. Bonnell. I'm sure she knew something was up, especially once she realized Brooke had driven to meet us there without knowing she was joining us. After a short hike I pulled the love of my life to the side and got down on one knee. I told her how much she meant to me, and thankfully she said yes! (I didn't realize until after seeing pictures that somewhere during the hike I stepped in doggy doo-doo) We then were welcomed home to a surprise engagement party with friends and family!