We both attended the University of Denver for our undergraduate degrees, however it wasn't in class or at a party or even through mutual friends (which we had a lot of) that we met. Parker was the first to pick up a part time gig at Jimmy John's delivering sandwiches to the drunk youth of DU and in September 2011 Emily joined the team. During a shared "in shop" shift, Parker asked Emily if she'd like to grab a drink after work at the bar next door. She agreed, not realizing at the time that this was Parker's way of asking her out on their first date (she was neither 21 nor single at the time...). Drinks became a weekly occurrence and we got to know each other over the romantic glow of C&G's dim sports bar lighting. It wasn't until February of 2012 when the timing worked out for the relationship to move from friendship to love. We spent the next three years in Denver skiing as much as possible in the winter and watching polo just about every weekend in the summer. This is how most of our "remember when" stories from Denver begin. During this time we moved in together, adopted our four-legged children, Chukker, Murphy, and Ellie, and most importantly: watched the Patriots claim their fourth Super Bowl title. At the end of 2015 we closed the Denver chapter of our story and moved to Boston. We have fallen back in love with the East coast and have made ourselves at home in Charlestown....that brings us to the proposal...

We had been talking about getting married for a while and both agreed that we wanted to be engaged sometime around the end of 2017. Emily's mom offered a family ring, so Parker knew he just had to pick the time and place. We had a family vacation planned in California and Hawaii in June, so he knew that would be the perfect place. The first half of the trip was spent at Disneyland, which could have been perfect, but Parker had bigger plans. Emily's birthday happened to fall on the day we were arriving in Hawaii, so the first night on Oahu, he proposed. At sunset. On her birthday. Emily's younger brother Jonathan was taking pictures of the two of us on a balcony off the lobby of the hotel before dinner. It turned out to be the perfect spot, because as Jonathan kept taking pictures, Parker knelt down and pulled out the ring. It wasn't written in prose or overly-prepared, but it was a sweet moment in a beautiful place. Emily blacked the whole thing out, so it's a good thing there is photographic evidence to back up Parker's memory of her saying "yes"