It started with a wink. He walked into medical one day and it was all over. Taylor immediately noticed the great hair day that Rob was having, and also noticed that there was an insanely attractive Ensign asking her where he needed to go to complete his physical. Taylor's answer to him was returned with a wink, and the cat and mouse game began. Although life would keep them apart for a long time after this, they eventually reconnected. It was a cold drill weekend when Taylor decided that she finally just had to talk to the handsome Lieutenant that had been winking at her for months. She was struck when she walked into the reserve center to see Rob standing there right in front of her mid conversation with the Commanding Officer of the reserve center. It was meant to be! There he was! He was finishing up his conversation and was about to leave, so Taylor used her critical thinking skills to quickly write a note and her number down and made sure to hand it to Rob before he left the room. Yes...everyone saw what she did, and knew what was going on but whatever! Later that evening, when Rob finally got her number correct and Taylor googled his phone number to make sure she had his name correct, he picked her up and they went on the most amazing first date either one of them had ever had. It was the best birthday present Rob could have ever wished for. Amazing conversation, food, wine, pickleback shots, Fleetwood Mac, and Ma's doughnuts were the ingredients to our amazing evening. Even more important, they both knew that the search was over. It was meant to be. Stoffel and Hammy for life. Newport has been everything to our story. It is where we met, dated, and fell in love. It is also were we both first served as Navy Officers, and it is where someday we both hope to end our Navy careers. We cannot wait to get married in Newport and add another reason to our list of why Newport is so important to both of us.

This day was the best day of my life for so many reasons! I just returned home from deployment on leave and had just seen Rob for the first time in 4 months! After a great dinner and losing our car in the parking lot (we found it), we spent some time just hanging out and unpacking. Later on that night we were on our way to his sister's house to hang out, when the Rocky song "Gotta Fly Now" came on the radio. I remember being super excited and I was like don't change the channel! I love Rocky so much and so does Rob. Although he didn't know that I love Rocky! Being so close to Philly, Rob suggested we go to the Art museum and run up the steps like Rocky did. It was a gorgeous night, so we headed up there! Once we got there, I took a picture with the Rocky statue and then off we went to the front steps. We started running up the steps and in my head I was like "jeez I didn't realize there was so many because Rocky makes it look so easy." Once we got to the top I just couldn't stop hugging him. I had missed him so much. It was then that Rob got down on one knee and asked if I would spend forever with him. Of course I said yes and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with the most amazing man I could ever imagine!