Our Story
The Backstory
Jake Hamblin
Whenever people ask "How did you guys meet?" I always say: “She’s my old roommate’s sister.” There is so much more to the story. We unofficially met in March of 2018 at her brother's mission call opening. Years later, she was on a FaceTime call with Daniel (the aforementioned brother) and he handed the phone to me. Without warning, she blurted out "Wow, you're cute." I remember it like it was yesterday but she has no recollection of it. My roommates and I made a lot of jokes about Daniel’s sister. "Dude, what if we dated?" was a frequent one. After seeing Julia in person again in April of 2021, she reached out over Snapchat and we began talking. It was very short lived because she was leaving on a mission that September. Long story short, she served her mission and changed her plans to move down to Provo after she finished. I was really excited when I heard she would be moving down here. I contacted her three weeks after she got home, we met down in Provo, and I asked her to be my girlfriend after 10 days of meeting. I’m really glad I did.
The Start of Something New
Julia Millward
Just 18 days after we became official, I boarded a plane to Europe with my family, while Jake packed his things and headed to Irvine California to begin his eight week internship. We called every morning and every night just before the other would go to sleep. I was surrounded on all sides by the most beautiful buildings and landscapes, but I only wanted to be with Jake! I even cried in Paris! Imagine that. That summer I took two trips down to Irvine to visit Jake. Finally seeing him at the airport was the BEST! We rode electric tandem bikes on Balboa Island, went to Islands (a form of Top Golf), saw the Barbie movie, and spent time on the beach. When we were apart, we would FaceTime every night, and every call was so special. We never ran out of things to talk about and I was always so sad to say goodbye. During the second trip to California in August, Jake wanted to take me out to celebrate my birthday, so we got dinner and ate it on the beach. It was a warm night and the moon was so bright and beautiful. We were walking along the cliff trail above the water when Jake turned to me and said "I don't know how else to say this so I'm just going to say it. Julia, I love you." Immediate fireworks. I quickly said it back, and I don't think the smiles left our faces the entire night.
A New Chapter
The Bride and Groom
Since that first “I love you” there have been thousands more, and we knew we wanted this to be forever. We began looking at venues in August and the wedding planning was in full swing by the time January rolled around. On February 16th, we got engaged just after our nine month anniversary. A little bit about us: we love cooking together, being outside whenever we have the chance and it isn’t freezing, finding new TV shows to watch, going on drives, attending the temple, and playing Qwixx. Even though we are so busy with our work and schooling, we always make each other a priority no matter what. We are so excited to begin this amazing journey together and make the move to California, where Jake will start full-time at Deloitte and Julia will continue her schooling. We look forward to the future with hope and happiness and security, and can’t wait to learn and grow together. The gratitude we feel for each other and for all of our friends and family is immense and we are so blessed to love and be loved. We send our best wishes and love and gratitude to all of you! Thank you for supporting us in this new chapter of our lives. We can’t wait to see where life will take us! :) Love, Jake and Julia