It's Finally Happening!

We were both raised going to Wooster United Methodist Church. The first recalled time spent together was youth group. For years simple friendship developed. After a while Laura took an interest in Murphy....he was rather unaware of this. It took some pursuing or as some may call it stalking before Murphy reciprocated the interest. Eventually he caught on and asked Laura to be his girlfriend

We starting dating on September 18, 2008. Our first "date" was the Triway high school Band-O-Rama with our parents, because we're cool like that. Go to date nights have always been movie nights. It's pretty common to find us curled up on the couch or at the movie theater watching a movie. We also have a bit of a competitive streak when it comes to Putt Putt golfing and bowling. At least in putt putt Laura has a chance at winning, not so much with bowling. Long distance phone calls, skype dates and cross state drives were a large part of dating life while Laura was away at college. We survived it, not that everyone seemed to think we would. We are still going strong and fall more in love all the time. Wedding planning has been the latest adventure and it has been fun to work through together, most of the time

It was a lovely October day. Laura's college fall break. Murphy took her to Mansfield to eat at Fazolis. After lunch and a short drive later he pull in to Kingwood Center. It was a chilly day around 40 degrees but both enjoyed walking through the beautiful gardens. At one point it was sunny and snowing at the same time. It was beautiful and a bit magical. There were peacocks roaming the gardens. After a good while of wandering the couple arrives at the rose garden. To the side is a small gazebo and fountain. Laura, blissfully unaware of what is about to happen walks up the stairs straight kneed like a dork. After being told to come back she turns and hugs Murphy. He gets on one knee and pops the question. Becca hid nearby and freezing in a bush to take photos. Unfortunately the camera stopped working (oops) and all of the photos we have were reenacted and taken on Becca's phone. Kingwood center will forever hold a special place in our hearts