Ashley and Brent met while on a Sydney, Australia city tour bus when Ashley was with her parents and Brent with his mom. The joke was that Ashley befriended Brent to have access to his International Data plan to call Uber. They kept in touch after Ashley went back to Pullman, WA for veterinary school, and Brent back to San Francisco, CA for auditor work. Brent likes to tell people that Ashley "ghosted" him after she made no remark about his comment on how he overcomes jet lag, but got her back after talking about Carolina BBQ. They enjoy traveling, cooking, food and exercising. To date, they've gone on multiple annual trips together: A road-trip through Montana-Seattle-Pullman; Europe, Vancouver and Japan; and they are excited for more to come!

We had finally gotten into our room in Jigokudani, Hokkaido, which was a splurge by Brent and it even had its own onsen. After the onsen, Brent wanted to change into yukata, but I had found these thick and fluffy bathrobes that I wanted us to change into first, just for fun. After finding that the robes were uncomfortable to lounge in, and Brent's continuous asking if it was yukata time, it was finally yukata time. Yukata time...and then TV time! Nothing had subtitles for Brent on local Japanese TV, but I found the Japanese detective show Partners, which I used to watch as a kid on Kiku TV. But then, Brent turned off the TV! I was about to get upset that he didn't ask for my permission first, but when he told me to stand, I thought that he just wanted to explore the hotel. And that's when it happened: In a small, indoor voice, Brent asked me to marry him, and I obviously said, "Yes!"

The whole day during the hike around Jigokudani, I was nervous and excited about the proposal. I wanted the moment to be perfect, so I made sure we could spend time in our private onsen and get refreshed first. I secretly got the ring out of my bag, and waited for the ideal moment. Of course, Ashley suggested to get into bathrobes first and my nervousness continued to grow as the moment drew near. I knew that Ashley was the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, so told her to turn off the tv and I asked her to marry me. When she said "Yes", it made me the happiest man in the whole world.