Philip and I attended elementary school together at Victory Baptist School. His sister, Rachel Machen, the Matron of Honor, and I were in Girl Scouts and often talked about how she and I mutually hated the color pink and pretty much all things girly. In high school, Philip and I were in the same youth group. I always thought Philip was the coolest thing ever. My sister Carley, also the Maid of Honor, looked up to him, and he played a huge part in her life at that time. We never dated, just friends, until my Junior year, yes I, not Phil, asked Phil if he would like to go on a date... he said yes. Our first date was actually on his couch after he got his wisdom teeth removed and I had brought him his favorite kind of ice cream, Butter Pecan. We went on a couple of dates after that, one including me spilling my whole entire ice cream cone 5 seconds after getting it, but Phil didn’t mind. Then he went away to college and that was that. Years passed, unfortunate things happened, I hit the rock bottom of life... and then, things started to look up when I happened to see him on Easter Sunday morning at church and I thought, hm, I’m gonna date that guy. We went out to see a movie (he wore his lucky purple shirt) and we have never looked back. Phil and I saved each other from one of the darkest times in our lives. I will forever be thankful that I saw his face that Easter morning.

My family and I go to the beach each year, it is a very special thing for us, considering when Reece was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, we didn’t do much traveling for a long time. Philip has come along with us on every trip after we starting dating. One night each trip Carley, Phil, and I go out to eat and shopping, also a very special thing. Well we got all dressed up and ready to go, and on our way there Phil wanted to stop and take a picture at one of our favorite spots down there. Right before you get to Fort Morgan, there is a stretch where you can see nothing but the water and right in the middle of that stretch, is a bench. Every time we pass it we talk about how we need to sit on that bench and watch the sunset. Well he said we just had to take a picture there for his mom and Nene. In true Phil and Morgan fashion...we accidentally passed the bench and just about went all the way into town. Phil said, we have to go back... we have to take a picture by this bench. Me, not thinking anything about it, because this is typical Phil behavior, agreed. Well, we finally made it to the bench. We were taking pictures, all was normal and then we turned to leave, and Phil said wait!! He then got down on that one knee, said some sappy Phil things, and asked the question. And of course I said yes.