When Rickey first came to Kinetic, he was just another guy. The first time Stephanie met him he was wearing a Seahawks hat and she thought there was no way she would date him. But a few weeks later, they went to the all church retreat and since all their other friends were in conversation, Stephanie decided to talk to him during the annual Cup of Noodle Social. They continued to talk all night and throughout the whole weekend. Even all the people in Kinetic started thinking something was up. Monday morning after retreat they started talking even more. Stephanie at first thought it was retreat hangover. But little did she know, Rickey was already interested. They continued talking throughout the following week, first on FB messenger. then through texts. Quickly they found out they had a lot in common: loved watching sports, movies and little kid shows, and participating in outdoorsy activities. They proceeded to spend the next month going out and spending time just them going on hikes, to the zoo, the Botanical garden, Japanese tea garden, CA Science Academy, De Young Museum and it started to feel like they had known each other all their lives. The conversations felt so natural and just different. A couple of weeks later, they went to the Botanical garden and Rickey grabbed Stephanie’s hand because he was trying to exit but she thought he was trying to hold her hand. So for a whole week Stephanie wrestled back and forth and prayed and asked God if she should say anything. Stephanie finally decided, she should say something because if she didn’t, he wouldn’t know how she felt. The next week they went to Stow Lake and had the Define the Relationship Talk. While on the boat, both of them had the same feelings but didn't know when to bring it up. Stephanie finally admitted how she had been feeling and luckily Rickey felt the same way.

Planning the proposal was fun but at the same had its tiring moments. It all started out with Rickey talking to Steph's parents about the best time for the big moment. After consulting with them, Rickey then started a group text between both sets of parents, Steph's aunt Barbara, cousin Jordan, and their friends Matt and Marisa. The plan was to go to the Japanese tea garden and surprise Steph with both family and friends. Rickey had a fun and easy time planning since everyone chipped in with a different part. However some moments were frustrating, Rickey had a schedule he wanted to stick to but it scheduled things earlier than when the rest of the group was ready. In the end, it worked out better because there would’ve been a lot of extra food had it been planned out according to the original schedule. The day of, Rickey, Matt, and Marisa took Steph to the Japanese tea garden and as they were walking they admired the bridge, the coi pond and the arch: the spot where Rickey planned to propose. As they were walking under the arch, Steph said she was confused. Steph didn’t even realize there were all these people holding a picture of her face on a popsicle stick trying to hide. She thought it was a Chinese tour group. This threw Rickey off because he was now confused of why Steph was confused. He originally had something planned out to say but because of all the confusing moments, Rickey was forced to improvise. Even though it didn’t go as smooth as he thought, it didn’t matter. He got down on one knee and asked the big question, the one he had so carefully planned for and prayed about before it all went to shambles in a matter of seconds. After realizing what was happening Stephanie was completely shocked and couldn’t believe she was asked the four magical words every girl dreams of, but of course after the first OMG, the rest is history...