We're getting married!

Joe and I first met about ten years ago during our good ole Wells Fargo days. I had just started as a teller and he was a personal banker at the West 11th branch in Eugene, OR. We were just newly colleagues when he took a job at another branch. It wasn't until about two years later that fate brought us together at our best friend Alex's birthday party. We hit it off right away. I knew Joe was a keeper when he came to my rescue from an overly cheesy Tennessee fan at a bar the following weekend. Shortly after, he asked me on our first date, where we enjoyed my favorite food, sushi! We laughed our way through the date as awkward mouthfuls of sushi helped us to get comfortable with one another real quick! Multiple times throughout the date, he jokingly pointed at things behind me saying "oh did you see that" as he quickly popped a large piece of fish in his mouth. On that first date and to this day, Joe makes me laugh like no one else, and there's no one I'd rather stuff my face full of sushi with. From sushi dates, to our shared love for Duck football, wine, and anything dog related, I know that there’s nobody I’d rather spend the rest of my life with!

Let me tell you about the weekend Joe FINALLY popped the question! We were getting packed Friday evening before heading out to Gearhart beach, and I asked if we were planning on going out and should I pack anything fancy to wear. He simply responded no, and to just pack comfy clothes for a relaxing beach weekend away with our pup, Archie. I didn't think anything of it and went along packing like normal. As you may know, I'm quite the early bird and woke up to catch the sunrise which we were lucky enough to see in what was supposed to be a mostly wet Oregon weekend. To my surprise, Joe jumped out of bed to join me. Curious, since we all know that Joe is my opposite in that...let's just say he treasures his beauty sleep! We made our way down to the beach and enjoyed being the only ones out there as we walked along and threw the ball for Archie. Joe recommended I head down to the shoreline to see if there were any seashells we could take home. After a little bit, I walked back toward Joe and Archie and I saw something hanging from Arch’s collar. Thinking he got something stuck to himself from diving into the sand, an adorable antique red shovel came flying off. I exclaimed, "oh we just talked in the car ride about wanting to build a sand castle!" I immediately start digging with it as a joke, not knowing there was a very important question written on the back. Joe said, "hey babe, I think there's something written on the back." I turned it over and saw some numbers on the handle: 12.08.2018 (what would become known as the YES day). At first I thought it was a phone number. The question asked "Will you build a castle with my dad?" and I replied, "I think someone’s dad lost his shovel!" Little did I know that while all of this was happening, Joe was down on one knee! It was the most romantic proposal and through tears and squeals of glee, he asked me to marry him, and... I SAID YES! We celebrated with champagne galore and had the absolute best engagement weekend!