We’re getting married!

Brian and Kelli met working at Northrop Grumman in the summer of 2019; Kelli still remembers walking into Brian's office in July of 2019 when she transitioned to the Global Hawk program office; he was wearing his blue suit with a light blue dress shirt and his sleeves rolled up. *heart eyes* We continued to get closer as time went by, Brian cheekily asked for Kelli's personal phone number in the Fall, and at Thanksgiving Kelli asked Brian to run a 5K Turkey Trot. Due to the pouring down rain, Brian had other ideas and instead invited Kelli over for wine, ham, and a kiss at the end of the night. After a few work trips, Kelli in Korea and Pax River, MD, and a couple for Brian in some not so desirable locations - Dayton, OH and Palmdale, CA, a love story began... then COVID hit. Through the madness of the pandemic we found out we loved working from home together! Kelli kicked our English Bulldog, Mel, out of her room, and made herself an office in our home and Brian set up shop in the guest room; to this day we still compete for who can be louder on the phone during work calls. We also found time to completely redo our backyard (Kelli does not do yard work), and we found time to explore California with drives up the coast from San Diego to Big Sur, and trips to Palm Springs, San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma, and Paso Robles. And Kelli convinced Brian we needed a Golden Retriever so we added another puppy to the mix, Duke in 2021! We now have a full house between the two of us, Ethan, Miles, Mel, & Duke!

On a random Sunday in August of 2021 Brian tried to trick Kelli by booking her a full Spa Day. Kelli questioned the intent, but Brian gave a plausible explanation saying Kelli kept whining about her back and she was never going to book it for myself and he was tired of listening to Kelli complain! The very last service at the spa was a 160 degree sauna where Kelli came out feeling like she was going to pass out! Kelli sweatily returned home to a house full of beautiful flowers and candles and our favorite song (Big Big Plans) playing in the background. Brian asked Kelli to marry him and she said yes! We celebrated with a weeks long trip to the island of Antigua a few weeks later!