Soccer, Brendan's exquisite sense of "humor", Alyssa's interest in his extensive knowledge of grammar, a mutual love of dogs, and maybe a little bit of fate, seemed to be all it took. After meeting a few times at soccer games, an exchange of phone numbers (thanks to Lacey), meeting up to watch more soccer games, and a little bit of gentle pressure from Alyssa (Alyssa's Note: "No one is surprised by this... Right?!"), we finally had our first official date on 7/16/15 at The Tavern in Tulsa, OK. (P.S. Ask Thiesse to tell you about the ice cream.)

Fast forward a couple of years, many more soccer games, a few round-the-world trips, and A LOT of Brendan's dad-jokes (Everybody's Note: "Ugh") later... to 5/20/18 in Barcelona, Spain, we found ourselves getting excited for yet another soccer game together! Alyssa thought seeing our favorite team, in what was quickly becoming one of our favorite cities, was going to be the highlight of the trip. But Brendan had another idea in mind! A few kilometers into a beautiful hike up Catalonia's Montserrat, he got down on one knee and said, (direct quote) "Do you wanna get married?!" Of course, the answer was "Absolutely!" (Brendan's Note: "She didn't say 'finally', or 'about time', though she probably was thinking it...")

Now, we can't wait to celebrate our greatest adventure yet with all of our friends and family! We look forward to many many years of world travels, dinners at our favorite restaurants, brunches with friends, Zoe snuggles, and more soccer, of course!