Sonora, CA Cody and I met at a mutual friend's wedding. I had gone to the wedding with a good friend of mine and the two of us were in line for a drink at the bar. While in line, Dennis, Cody's dad began talking to us. (If you ask him he has a different story!) He asked if either of us were single and I of course, said yes. Sure enough he tells us, “well hey, I have a single son right over there.” When I had seen where he was pointing, I saw a familiar face, Ryan (Cody's older brother.) I asked Dennis if he was Ryan's dad, to which he said yes and asked how I knew him. Well just so happens that Ryan and Kelsey (my older sister) had gone to school together in elementary school as well as high school. Ryan, Chanel (Ryan's fiancé) and Cody were all standing together. Cody and I were introduced to one another, we took a group picture to send to my sister and spent the rest of the night dancing together. Cody had asked for my number that night and 6 MONTHS LATER, he asked me to be his girlfriend.

At the beginning of 2023, I had told Cody I wanted to do a date night at least once a month. I had seen the viral tik tok going around where couples write down two things to do and the other one has to blindly pick one of the activities. So February 4th came around and Cody told me it was date day. He pulled out two index cards that read “Target” and “TJMAXX.” I picked Target. After getting a few things at target he pulled out another 2 index cards that read “Dying Breed Brewery” or “Blaker Brewery.” I pulled “Dying breed.” We got to the brewery and had a beer in the beer garden and played one of our favorite games, Five Crowns. We played a couple rounds and before we left, he pulled out two more cards, both reading “Agave.” This is our favorite mexican restaurant! We had a couple of drinks, ate some dinner and just as it was getting dark, we headed home. But before leaving the parking lot, he pulled out the last 2 cards that read “game night at home” and “movie night at home” I chose “game night.” On our way home we stopped for a Red Bull at the gas station and shared it on our drive. When we pulled in the drive way, it was dark. He had me walk in the house first and when I opened the garage door, I could see out into the backyard. Our patio lights were on, candles were lit and our song started playing. Cody told me to go in the backyard. Before I started walking outside the tears started to flow, I saw red lights from a camera and I just knew in the moment what was about to happen. Cody took me to the back corner of our backyard, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. After a lot of tears and what he says seemed like forever I said YES!! Our family had been hiding on the side yard to watch it all happen, and friends joined us for an after party. It was a night we could relive forever!