We're getting married!

We met at a car meet hosted by Cody, known as CJBUILT in the car community. The car meet was located at the Steak n Shake in Kendall, FL. Cody was in a silver right hand drive 2004 Toyota Altezza, Kristy was in a 2018 blacked out Dodge Challenger RT, both cars were manual. CODY'S POV: I was messing around with some friends when someone mentioned the Challenger that just pulled up was manual. My friend, Vince, said it was lady driven and pointed to Kristy. I said "no way that's her car," prompting Vince to loudly call to her "Hey, is that your car?" Kristy said yeah and started walking over. We met at the passenger door of her car and I asked "Is it manual?" "Yeah." "Can I see your stick?" I asked. She awkwardly opened the door and pointed to it. When I asked if the clutch was stiff, she said she didn't know because it was her first manual car. I said okay, turned around for a second and when I turned back around, she was gone. KRISTY'S POV: I was at one of my first car meets ever! I was super nervous that people would judge me or ask me questions I didn't know the answer to. I was hanging out with my cousin, Kathy, when I heard someone ask about my car. I went up, then he asked to "see my stick." It was a weird question so I quickly showed it to him and hurried off, proud the car had gotten attention. Cody and Kristy did not talk again until weeks later, when Cody replied to Kristy's story on Instagram showing off the cars in a Fast N Furious museum she was in. The conversation sparked from there.

Cody and Kristy had been getting to know each other virtually for months, but hadn't made any plans to hang out. They were just friends- Kristy was going to Boston for college and Cody wasn't looking for a relationship, especially not a long-distance one. They decided to meet up with each other and their best friends, Nicole and Mike, at Dave N Busters for a fun night out. At the last minute, Mike couldn't come, leaving Cody at Dave N Busters with Nicole and Kristy. CODY'S POV: I don't know why I went. Something drew me to go, even when Mike bailed. Call it fate or divine intervention, but I went. I didn't know that I liked her, but I knew that I felt drawn to her and wanted to go. She came out of the car, and she was so pretty. The time at Dave N Busters was so fun and I felt like I could be myself around her. We were goofy and competitive. She challenged me in the best way. I couldn't stop laughing and smiling. At the end of the night, I knew that I wanted to see her again. KRISTY'S POV: This guy was cute. He had me giggling on the phone for hours! I couldn't wait to meet him. When I came out of the car, I hugged him as a greeting, and the words "Woah, you're so tall" kind of slipped right out. I wanted to hang myself. I was so glad Nicki was there! The time at Dave N Busters was fun, but Nicki and I kept noticing that Cody would stand really close to me. Like, creepily close. Could hear what I'm thinking, close. He even slammed into me when I stopped walking! Nicki started mentioning that he might like me, and I couldn't help but to start feeling giddy. Could he really be into me? These thoughts filled my head and I almost kissed him at the motorcycles machine, thank God he didn't notice! I'm the world's biggest prude! I would never in a million years do that! Why did that thought even pop in my head?!? My mind was swirling and my heart was full. Oh man.... I think I like this guy!

Tropical Park was one of Kristy and Cody's first dates. They went back to walk Dominic, a German Shepard they bought together as "their first baby." They went back again to host their real first baby's gender reveal (psst..it's a boy!). Now, they were going again to allegedly take family portraits at the site of the gender reveal to commemorate a year of being parents. CODY'S POV: It is virtually impossible to surprise Kristy. I found myself sneaking around at 10 PM to ask her parents for her hand and going crazy erasing texts in the case she got nosy and started snooping. I had the ring in my possession for about 5 months at this point and was waiting for the perfect moment to ask. I knew I wanted to propose at Tropical Park and that I wanted everyone from both sides of the family present. It took a while for me, because I'm a perfectionist, but at one point I decided to set a date and make it happen. I talked to Ethan and Helen to solidify a plan. They were going to reserve the table of our gender reveal, place a speaker behind a tree with the song "I choose you" by Mario ready to play once I got down on one knee, and hide once Kristy and I arrived. Going into it, I was exciting telling everyone my plans and as the day grew closer, I felt the nervousness start to set in. I really didn't want to give anything away. The day of, we went to church and I felt my brain completely preoccupied with the thought of "in an hour I'm going to propose." I'm not even fully aware what the service was about. We went home afterwards to change and I was running around getting everything ready: tripod, camera, ring. I almost forgot the ring. We start heading for the park and it starts raining. Great. This NEEDS to happen today. Everyone's already there! We went to park and everyone's cars were in the parking lot. I really hoped she hadn't seen. Helen and Ethan had let me know the gender reveal spot was taken when they arrived earlier that morning, so we had to adjust plans. I'm a perfectionist so this was stressful and disheartening. They had let me know the speaker was set up at a trash can near the lake, but I couldn't figure out which trash can it was! When I was getting out of the car, I kept trying to find things to throw away while Kristy changed the baby. I texted them again, got clarification, and started the pretend photoshoot. I slowly guided Kristy and CJ near the speaker/trash can. I told them to take a picture facing the water and got down one knee. I prayed it was the right trash can, and that I didn't fumble my words. KRISTY'S POV: He's going to propose today. There's no way he's THAT invested in my hair, nails, and outfit. He even laid three outfit choices on the bed! I made a short video for my future daughters, then got dressed. Despite the gloomy sky, he stayed uncharacteristically positive about going to Tropical Park. When we arrived, I saw an F150 with a Dolphins license plate and a Durango with an Air Force decal. Hello, Miyar and Jimenez family! Okay, so this is it. He's going to ask me to marry him! His face is filled with worry as it starts to rain. I see he needs to check his phone so I busy myself with changing the baby. All the while I'm thinking "Jeez, how much garbage did we have in the car? He's gone to the trash twice now." He comes back and starts directing me to take a bunch of pictures. Each time I turn around, my heart's full of anticipation. Finally, I see from the corner of my eye that he's digging into his pocket. I take one last look at the lake, and grip onto CJ a bit tighter. I turn around and there he is, on one knee, holding a box with the shiniest ring I've ever seen in it. The next two hours feel like ten minutes. My family rushes to meet and congratulate us. My best friend I haven't seen in over a year is here! My head is spinning. Where did my boyfr- fiance go? Where's our son? There's cake?