How we met is really the same ole fashion love story that has now been repeated countless times. We both swiped right....on our phones. That's right everyone, we are a Tinder success story! Our first in-person meeting was at Deschutes Brewing where we shared one beer, and I talked the entire time while Lindsey tried not to pass out after doing Bikram Yoga. Our second meeting was skiing at Mount Bachelor and Lindsey decided to ride on the chairlift with me a grand total of zero times. Luckily for me, (and her?) Eddie Lovejoy proved to be terrific company and I decided to give her another chance. After that, there was a rapid blur of dinners, happy hours, and ski runs. I guess you could say things got real, like really real when Lindsey and Atticus had to move out of their rental. I had just bought my first house and rental vacancies were at record lows. Renting a house with a dog was near impossible. So after a few mere months, we moved in together. Since then we have shared an amazing partnership culminating in the birth of Theodore and the celebration you are about to join.

Least romantic engagement ever. Let's get that out of the way right now. If you're reading this just looking for engagement ideas. Go elsewhere. Now back to the story. I finally, after three years and a positive pregnancy test, called Lindsey's father Steve to announce that I would be asking for his daughter's hand and ask for her grandmother's ring. His next call, naturally was to Lindsey to congratulate her... Now that she knew full well I had the ring she quickly became completely intolerable with anticipation. Let's just say her left hand was dangling out, oddly accessible, an inordinate amount of time. I had some truly amazing options for proposal locations. Elk Lake with Mount Bachelor in the background, Deadhorse Point, Arches, etc.. I, of course, elected none of the above. Instead, I proposed midday in our living room... Which while not necessarily picture perfect was not without forethought. You see Lindsey moved in as soon as I did to my first house. In a short time, she turned what I saw as an investment into a home. Because we moved in together so soon this house is where we fell in love and where it became clear that this partnership we had was going to last. This house is where for the first time in my life I had a family all my own with Lindsey and our sweet Atticus. So you see it really was a special place, and so I got down on my knee told her some mumbled shaky version of the above, and thankfully she said yes. (though to be fair she had limited choice, I'd locked her down for a minimum of 18 years just months earlier ;) )