Leslie & Matthew met in the summer of 2019 while volunteering at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times. It was Matthew's first time volunteering and Leslie's first time back after becoming a mom to Maliyah. Once summer camp ended, Matthew returned to Texas (where he was living at the time) but Leslie sneakily got Matt's number and initiated reaching out. Leslie and Matthew reunited at camp's end of summer volunteer party, leading up to Matt asking Leslie out. After a couple dates, they both knew this was something special...

The day started with a trip to the pumpkin patch with Matthew, Leslie, Maliyah, Kim, and Melanie, followed by a pumpkin carving contest at Matthew & Leslie's house. The rules were specific that you could not see anyone's pumpkin. At the end of carving pumpkins, Mel and Kim told Leslie they wanted to do a Halloween photo shoot of her and Maliyah so they went upstairs to take pictures (the pictures are hilarious), meanwhile Matthew said he would go upstairs after he went to the bathroom--at this moment, there was still nothing that appeared to be off for Leslie. Once the "photo shoot" was done, Kim told Leslie she should go check on Matt since it had been some time. As Leslie walked downstairs she began to hear the song, "Heaven" by Kane Brown and in the reflection of the mirror saw rose petals and candles lining up to Matthew on one knee with the pumpkins they had just carved saying, "Marry Me?" With her knees weak, hands shaking and all sweaty she walked over to Matthew and happily said "yes!" Matthew then asked for Maliyah to join him, asked if he could marry her mom and become her step dad, while offering her a heart shaped necklace...Maliyah also said yes. As if the proposal wasn't a surprise in itself, both of their families shortly arrived after to celebrate with them. ...this is also the night their families found out Leslie was 4 weeks pregnant with Maxine

Since their proposal, Leslie, Matthew and Maliyah became a family of 4 by welcoming their daughter/sister, Maxine Lotus Garcia on June 18, 2023.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our loving and special journey from the very beginning. Thank you to the people who saw us at our lowest and gave us hope we would find something meaningful again. Thank you for celebrating our union, love, and family. We love and appreciate each and every one of you!