Our love story started at a place called Westside Church of the Nazarene. The evening started with a church service, moved onto a dinner, and ended in sparks flying. Ashleigh was brought to an end of summer celebration church service by a friend. The church just happened to be where Ben had gone to church his whole life. After thinking about each other all service, we finally met. We said a few words and headed off to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was an intense ride there as both cars that we were in kept making extra stops, causing them to be late. Each in different vehicles, panicking, we couldn’t stop thinking about how badly we wanted to sit together and get to know each other. And what do you know? Both cars arrived at the same time and we were sat at a table together. It was fate. After talking about school, hobbies, and our favorite olympic events, each of us headed to our own homes to crawl in our own beds and not be able to sleep because of how giddy we were. The rest is history :)
For months Ashleigh had been relentlessly teasing Ben about when he was going to pop the big question. Little did she know he had a plan and she was helping make it happen. A family Christmas vacation had been planned for the first week of December. Ashleigh’s mom (Lindsey) came to her with the idea of having a family photo shoot on the beach. Ashleigh was stoked about the idea and immediately started helping plan outfits. The day finally arrived and the whole family frantically shopped around to find the best outfit they could. Ashleigh was content with her mint colored t shirt, but her mom knew there were bigger plans and dragged her around to every store to find a nicer outfit. The whole family fought with each other about outfits and poked fun at each other the whole way to the beach. The vehicle finally pulled up and a pretty grumpy Ashleigh was one of the first to get out. Once the photographer’s kindness and jokes had the whole family warmed back up and prepared to love each other, the photos began. Everyone walked down to a lifeguard stand to take some more photos. The photographer then pulled Ash and Ben aside for some couples shots. He had a “cheesy nightstand photo” staged perfectly and after he heard the click of the camera, Ben dropped to one knee. At first Ashleigh was confused. She asked “Are you for real?” “Really?” Once she got confirmation her answer was “Well DUH!” The whole family hugged. Some cried. And they all gazed at the gorgeous ring. The photo session went on with Ashleigh in a daze about what had just happened. It felt like a dream. After photos the whole family went to celebrate at Crabby Bills and even got a souvenir photo to commemorate the occasion.