It was a couple of weeks before Christmas when Ryan asked me if I would want to re-create our first date since we had been together for almost 5 years (we went bowling, had fries at Denny’s and then watched the sunset). I agreed that would be a fun idea but it seemed suspicious, if you know what I mean. Fast forward to Ryan coming home for Christmas, on December 23rd. He was pacing anxiously about needing to sign for a package… this package also happens to be very small so why would he have to sign for it? Suspicious.. Then on Christmas Eve, Ryan and I had spent the evening with my family and we were going to head back to his parents house. It was dark and it had been snowing but Ryan asked if we could re-create our first date that night. The bowling alley was closed, it was too snowy and dark to drive to where we watched the sunset and who really wants to do to Denny’s on Christmas Eve? I suggested we could go walk through the Christmas lights at Eulalona Park. So we headed that way and we were walking around in the snow looking at the lights. We made one lap and I was ready to go (it was cold) but some other people were still there so Ryan suggested we make an extra lap. We made another lap through and we were admiring one light feature in particular and Ryan was both cold and nervous and I could tell. He kept grabbing both of my hands and hugging me and then grabbing my hands. He finally asked me “is this our 4th or 5th Christmas together?”. So I counted up the years and told him it was our 5th Christmas together. Then he said “well I want to spend every Christmas with you for the rest of my life” as he was getting down on his knee. He said some other really nice things I’m sure but I have no idea what they were because I was crying and asking him if this was real. We then shared the good news with all of our family and our closest friends. And here we are now. Excited to share this chapter of our story with everyone we love the most. Thank you for being a part of our lives and our special day.