While Zac and Kyla have known of each other since they were children, their story began only a year ago in the charming, little town of McAllister, OK—home to a state prison, approximately 3 restaurants, and an exorbitant amount of buffalo statues. Zac had texted Kyla out of the blue, wanting to get to know her better, so after a lot of convincing on Zac's part, they decided to meet for sushi halfway between Dallas and Fayetteville in McAllister. It was your average awkward, first date until Zac's card was declined and all the awkward tension disappeared. The planned lunch then turned into a 10 hour date full of llama sightings, puddle-splashing, and lots of laughter. Over the next few months, we went on some pretty spectacular dates and finally decided to make things official on April Fool's Day.... and the rest is history.

After a lot of prayer and seeking the will of God, I finally knew that I was going to get to marry my best friend. Knowing that her dream proposal location was in Guatemala at an orphanage where she had worked off-and-on for 5 years, I had a lot of work to do in order to surprise her by Thanksgiving break when she planned to be down there again. I started by getting in touch with her good friend, Gabby, who was also going to be in Guatemala with Kyla at the same time. With her help, I completed the lengthy application to be able to stay at Casa Bernabe Orphanage. As Kyla was completely unaware of this whole process and believed that I would propose in December, I had the difficulty of gathering her clothes (for our engagement pictures that I planned in Antigua) a month in advance without her becoming too suspicious. Somehow I was able to pull it all off and come Thanksgiving break, I was in Guatemala City waiting to surprise her at the orphanage’s church. When she finally walked up to the chapel and her helpers began taking all of the babies from her arms, I stepped out from behind a corner and surprised her with flowers and a huge smile. She was so astonished to see me, as it was a complete and utter surprise. After service we finally walked out to a mountain overlook where you can see a couple of volcanoes rising up in the distance and sat for a couple of hours until I finally worked up the nerve to ask her the question. I told her she was God’s greatest gift to me and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and then proposed on one knee in traditional fashion. She said yes and the rest of the week was spent memorably as we worked at the orphanage and had the opportunity to see a few of Guatemala’s iconic sights.

There came a point where we both felt that God told us this was not only the right person, but the right time to get married. I was the happiest person in the world knowing that I had found the person I would spend the rest of my life with. Zac knew that I would not last months, without being in the know about when he was going to propose. So to put my mind at ease, he gave me a date. December 15. That’s when he was going to propose. I didn’t know any other information, except for a date and I could live with that. Thankfully, Zac had another date in mind. November 18. Fast forward to November 18. It is Sunday morning and we were taking the babies to church. I am about to walk into the church, when all of a sudden everyone is in a flurry and starts taking the babies away from me. I walk in and see a handsome man in a suit holding a huge bouquet of flowers. It took me a second to wrap my head around who is holding these flowers. It’s Zac. My Zac with a huge smile on his face. It was by far one of the most amazing surprises I will ever have in my life. I got to have two of the things that make me the happiest in the world in one place. Life couldn’t get better, but of course it did. After church, we walked to this overlook that I have been going to for years, where you can see a gorgeous view of both volcanoes in Guatemala City. It was more breathtaking than I had ever noticed before, but maybe that had something to do with the handsome man I got to share it with. Then an hour passes by. Another hour passes by. Poor guy. It took Zac a little while to work up the nerve, but when he did, he said something to me that I will always hold close to my heart. He said, “Kyla you are God’s greatest gift to me and my best friend. I want to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Will you marry me?” Of course, I said yes and as we said before the rest is history.