We had been serving together as leaders in our church's student ministry for over a year, yet we had only had one brief conversation during that entire time. Our first real conversation took place after an event at church one night. After that, we met up several times over the following weeks for "study/homework sessions" or "low-key coffee dates"... the description depends on which one of us you ask! Eventually we upgraded to a real date at a local Mediterranean restaurant, where we talked about our lives, upbringing, and families. This led to another date... and another... and another... and the rest was history!

After a successful weekend trip to Chihuahua, Mexico to ask Jessica's father for his blessing in marriage, there was only one thing left to do... put a ring on it. The evening started with the first step in a progressive dinner date: appetizers at the same restaurant where we had our first date. There was only one problem though, and that was the fact that they accidentally brought us a large order rather than the small we had requested. Naturally, we ate it all and filled up on the first stage of the progressive dinner! The original plan was to go out of order and get dessert next rather than an entree, but a last minute audible due to being full resulted in shopping for shoes at one of our favorite stores, REI. The timing was set up such that we left there just in time to make it to a park on the shores on Benbrook Lake right before sunset. Once we arrived, Taylor presented a basket full of memorabilia he had saved throughout the relationship (picture is below). As he talked about each item and reflected on each stage of the relationship, a photographer was hidden behind a nearby bush capturing the entire thing. After emptying the basket there was only one item remaining: a ring box. Taylor asked in Spanish (ask him about this if you want a good story), and Jessica said si! After a brief photo session we ended the progressive dinner date with a surprise celebration with friends at Joe T. Garcia's.