We can’t wait to celebrate with you.

Let's set the scene. Anderson High School, Spring of 2012. The last bell had just rung and everyone was already in their classrooms. Braden had just been moved up from the freshman football team to Varsity, which meant his entire schedule had to change. He was studiously taking notes in his last class of the day, Teen Leadership. About 8 minutes into the class, in walks Emma...(If you know Emma, you know if she's only 8 minutes late, she's basically early). Emma walks in and takes the only remaining open seat, which just so happens to be next to Braden. The class FINALLY ends (sorry Ms. Girardot) and Emma has taken a whopping 0 notes. As Emma remembers it, she turns to Braden at the end of class, bats her eyelashes, flips her hair, and asks Braden if he would mind texting her the notes he took. Two birds with one stone - notes and the cute football players number.

We became fast friends in our Teen Leadership class, with not-so-secret crushes on each other. A classmate of ours had a birthday party on January 26, 2013. Braden showed up late to the party and texted Emma to see if she could help him in the house (he was on crutches at the time). Little did she know, she was about to finally be asked by Braden to be his girlfriend. He had flowers and chocolates - of course she said yes:-) This date is what kickstarted our celebration every month on the 26th. From our high school dating anniversary to our engagement anniversary, and now our wedding anniversary!

We had two weddings to attend in Texas during the months of March and April. With the excuse of already traveling from Denver (where we were living at the time) and "being closer to the equator" while we were in Texas, we decided to plan our dream trip to Mexico. It was only fitting that with our trip to Cancun booked and all in place, that Braden's passport would get delayed because his brith certificate was expired (still confused about this!!). Little did Emma know how big of a wrench this was putting in the trip plans because Braden had something more than just a vacation in mind ;-) Luckily we were able to reschedule the vacation without too much hassle (Braden only had to learn Spanish and be placed on hold for 6.5 hours with the airlines). After attending our friend's wedding in Houston, we hopped on the earliest flight to Cancun. Behind the scenes, Braden was frantically working on getting everything perfect - from the upgraded room to organizing the beachfront dinner where he was going to ask Emma to be his forever. Meanwhile, Emma was obliviously exploring the hotel and enjoying a margarita...or two (shocking, we know). The only thing Emma was concerned about that evening was taking pictures on the beach in all white outfits that she had coordinated. About an hour before the big surprise, Emma said she actually didn't want to take pictures that evening and wanted to just order in room service. Braden somehow convinced her that they should at least go take pictures (which was very unlike him) so Emma went along with it. Braden tucked the ring in his pocket with the box sticking out like a sore thumb, praying he could make it down to the beach undetected. He successfully made it down to the beach, where a romantic dinner for two was waiting for us in the sunset. Braden asked his best friend to be his wife, and she said yes!