It all started one night while Caitlin was having dinner with the girls and visiting an old co-worker, Susan. As they continued to talk throughout the night, Susan mentioned that she may have someone in mind for Caitlin to meet. Susan reached out to Silas and told him to call Cait. Silas called that night! We ended up talking Cait's whole drive home. What we soon find out is that we had both heard about each other before... from STUDENTS. Cait's the dance teacher at Oaks Christian High School, and one of Silas's closest friends worked there too - which landed him as a chaperone on two different Oaks trips. During these trips Cait's students told Silas, "you HAVE to meet our dance teacher".... and when they came back they told Cait "you HAVE to meet our chaperone Silas" - Both of us had brushed off their matchmaking (after all, high school) Well, flash forward to two years after those trips, we finally did meet - and quickly fell for each other (shout out to Cait's students for knowing all along!).

As most know, Silas and Caitlin love to travel. So it wasn't that weird when on their shared calendar Caitlin saw that Silas had planned a weekend away to "celebrate the end of the school year". Silas didn't share much information before going, but gave a couple clues - Cait needed to pack a light jacket, athletic shoes, and a bathing suit... I needed to bring a passport.... we were going to eat tasty tacos... and we were going to go zip lining. Naturally for a quick weekend away Cait thought... Mexico? But, Silas surprised Cait when he finally showed that the boarding pass was for Seattle. Silas planned the perfect weekend. We flew to Seattle, and immediately got dinner at a taco spot (one of my hints), and then walked around the downtown area. We ended up at our airbnb that had an amazing jacuzzi with a view of The Sound. We woke up the next morning bright and early to get on a Ferry to Victoria, Canada (Passport needed- another hint). As soon as we got off the ferry we got on a bus to Butchart Gardens - which is like the Disneyland of Gardens- Beautiful! We walked around for awhile and then headed back to Downtown Victoria. We checked into our next airbnb- which had a great rooftop patio with full views of the water and Downtown. So we decided to go grab some drinks and bring them back to watch the sunset, naturally we had to go to Phillips Brewery ;). We ended the night by grabbing dinner and listening to some live music. The next morning we walked around and grabbed breakfast before we went Zip Lining (last clue). It was so much fun, Silas has no fear. When we got back into town, Silas had planned for a driver to come pick us up to take us to our last hotel. The hotel was beautiful and had a pool and spa with spectacular views in every direction of the water. We got into our room and Cait noticed there was a beautiful floral arrangement on the table, and a bottle of chardonnay waiting for them on ice. Silas had surprised her again.

Once we rested with our nap and spent some time at the pool and spa, we decided to head back to the room to get ready for dinner. As we were getting ready Silas suggested we enjoy a glass of wine out on the patio first. So, we did just that. We were sitting there enjoying the views and each others company when Silas said "hey, I brought something" - (side note- for Valentines Day Cait wrote Silas a bunch of "open when" letters") - Silas brought the letter that said open when you are thinking of our future together. Cait immediately knew something was up.... we sat there and read the letter together - Cait feeling very vulnerable. Silas then said he had been thinking about our future a lot as well, and felt the same way I did. He told Cait that although he doesn't always express himself with his words, he hoped that she felt extremely loved and cared for- that the whole weekend was planned specifically for her. Cait immediately got nervous and started talking and making lame jokes not sure how to respond... Silas shifted his seat, got down on one knee and said "Caitlin Danielle, will you be my wife?" - Cait's response "Heck YES!" Silas then pulled out the second "open when" letter that said open when we have something to celebrate! It was full of gold stars and a sweet letter from Cait that said "you pick the place, I buy the drinks" -it was an incredible weekend!