We met the summer before our senior year of high school. James was supposed to go to my 17th birthday party to keep his friend, Gabe, company but didn't end up going because he was on a 50 mile bike ride with his mom . We still met that night anyway though, because we both showed up at Gabe's house for tacos around a fire pit. When I left to go home, James "called dibs" on me. It's very clear now that he meant it. I knew exactly what I wanted when it came to boys. I never dated because I hadn't found what I had been looking for. But a few days after James and I met, he got my mom's phone number, called her, and then asked her for permission to have my phone number and call me. That was exactly the person I was looking for, and he was well worth the wait.
Once James enlisted for boot camp and there were a few months left before he had to leave for it, we made it a point to pray together before every goodbye and "see you later". Once boot camp began though, I quickly realized that the next 3 months were going to be the hardest months I had ever been through. On every letter I wrote James a verse from the bible and constantly referred to God as the compass in our lives and relationship. At one point during James' training it hit me that although these 3 months would be over soon, James would constantly be hugging me goodbye throughout the next 4 years. I didn't want that. I didn't want to spend the majority of the next 4 years feeling alone and missing my best friend. James didn't either. But we accepted the fact that we would rather spend the smallest amount of time together, than not have each other at all. God really has been our compass. He lead James and I through those first 3 months apart, 9 months apart while James was stationed in Japan, and finally a whole year apart when he was constantly deployed. But that year was worth the wait the moment we got to wrap our arms around each other again. Now here we are, about to truly start our lives together!
After James proposed in December 2017, we were ready to finally get married right away. But there was a risk that if we planned a big wedding before James got out of the military, he could get deployed and wouldn't be able to attend his own wedding! We knew the only way to avoid a disaster like that was to wait to have the big wedding until after he finished his full 4 years in the marines. But July 2018, we had been praying a lot about our future together and even though we couldn't have a wedding celebration until Aug 2019, we were ready to get married. With the blessing of both of our parents, James and I had an intimate elopement in San Diego on August 15th, 2018! We just recently found out that we got eloped on what would have been my great grandmother's 81st wedding anniversary to her husband! We will still be having both a ceremony and reception at our wedding on Aug 31st 2019. We want everyone to understand that this celebration we are inviting you to, is truly our wedding. It's a deep desire of ours to say our vows in front of everyone who have been loving and supporting us as individuals and as a couple these last few years. By the time we have our wedding, we will have been married for just over 1 year. It won't be until this special day though, that we really get to start our life together as husband and wife.
James and I both love to travel, especially together. We had been wanting to go to Europe a couple years ago but it didn't work out because James got deployed twice in a row. He was originally planning to surprise me and propose July 2017 when we thought we would be in Paris together. But since we didn't see each other until Christmas, we never made it to Europe. That dream trip is finally going to happen! Our plan is to fly into London, spend a few days there and then fly to Paris. We'll go to museums, see monuments, and (my favorite part) take french baking classes! In France we will rent a car and drive through the Swiss Alps and spend two nights there, on our way to Italy. We will be spending many days in Italy traveling to different cities, enjoying the adventure, trying out "canyoning", taking Italian cooking classes (again, my favorite part), hiking, and ending our trip with the Pompeii ruins. In the registry section of our website, there is an option to give towards our honeymoon fund instead of a traditional wedding gift. These activities and adventures mentioned above are what those funds will be going to. And we will love to share with you what you made possible during our wonderful trip! Or you can click on "other registries" on that same page, which will lead you to household items we would greatly appreciate, to help us start our new life together. We are so excited for you to be a part of the beginning of this new chapter God has for us.