It all started when we began playing volleyball with some friends. Connor and I were on the same team and man was he a ball hog! I complained and complained about how he wouldn't ever let me hit the ball. “This is MY square” I’d say to him. The nerve of this guy… and why does he have such great eyelashes?! Eventually it got warmer outside and instead of volleyball we started playing pickleball. I had never played before and of course everyone else was pretty good. I again got put on a team with this Connor guy.... but this time he was SO kind to me. So kind in fact that when we got off the court his friends said “Wow, he was really nice to you...which is surprising since he's usually very competitive. Not so subtly telling me I was awful. Ding ding ding, I think the boy with the pretty eyelashes might like me....

Hangouts came and went, and we started to get to know each other. We pretended to be boyfriend and girlfriend at a party and got people to believe us. Then, he asked me to go to a scary movie and I of course said yes. What I failed to realize was that I wasn’t also supposed to invite 3 friends to tag along….he meant for this to be a date. Not a fake date a REAL date. Oops! After talking until about 2am in the movie theater parking lot we parted ways with a mini golf date in our future. Years of memories, and love followed that very date...some memories were with many of you!

We now have our own apartment and have started a sweet, simple life together. One where Connor now lives with cats!!! From not wanting a single cat hair on him to letting our sweet Tinkerbell sleep on his pillow, it's safe to say we've come a long way. So far indeed that Connor pushed for us to adopt our newest addition Calvin, who was our neighborhood stray. We have started our own little family, full of love and LOTS of hair.

Next stop: I get to marry my best friend- the calm to my crazy! Thanks for coming along for our adventure, we can't wait to see you soon. P.S. I'll be the one wearing white!

It's funny to think about how we started. If I wasn’t friends with a guy named Nick whose mom at the time was dating Ana’s dad, Ana and I would have likely never met. While their parents were dating Ana and Nick became acquainted and shortly after Ana started to become more involved in our friend group hangouts. This is where we met.

Our first interaction together was during volleyball at the Arc. I was constantly invading her square because I didn’t trust her to hit the ball. She obviously wasn’t too fond of this behavior but nonetheless, I popped up on her radar. After volleyball one day, our friend group gathered in the parking lot where Ana presented our friend Kole with a homemade cookie cake fully decorated for his birthday. I remember thinking that was so sweet and thoughtful of her. Now, she's on MY radar. From there, we connected again, this time on the pickleball courts. What piqued everyone’s curiosity was why I was being so nice to Ana during our games even though she wasn’t very good. Being a naturally competitive person, this seemed quite odd to everyone.

So, after some more interacting I finally invited Ana to watch a scary movie together. It had just come out in theaters, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Provided I have zero interest in horror movies, the only reason I was doing this was to get some one-on-one time with my unbeknownst future wife. After inviting her, Ana included some other friends to watch the movie with us. I can’t say I blame her since up until this point we’ve always done something together as a group. After the movie, we spoke for a couple hours about who knows what. All I remember was some random person yelling at us to kiss one another since we had been together for so long. This is where we started talking.

After some time, we finally got our one-on-one interaction together which consisted of mini golf at Midway Golf and Games. This is where I had to work up the nerve to tell her i had feelings for her and where she said "I know, I like you too, you don't have to be so nervous! Can we go play golf now?" Well, that was easier than I thought it was going to be.

We have experienced a loving relationship in the time we have been together. We have been living together for over 2 years now where I have learned to not just live with cats but love them too. I can’t imagine my life without Ana (and the cats). Our next big step is buying a house together which we plan to do after the wedding!

If you're reading this, we look forward to seeing you and are excited to share our special day with you!