The proposal was Star Wars theme of course, because he is Kevin Gamez and I am Brielle Rodriquez and THE FORCE IS DEFINITELY WITH US and also why the heck not!?!? & appropriately enough that night of all nights was the opening day at the box office of “Star Wars THE LAST JEDI” which was almost exactly a year from our first date when Kevin asked me to accompany him to see “Rogue One A Star Wars Story”. Kevin popped my “Star Wars” cherry and I haven’t been the same since! I immediately fell in love with the story line and amazing plot of the “Star Wars” franchise, along with falling deeply in love with the man who introduced me to these amazing films. So that Thursday night we had planned to have a low key intimate date night to celebrate our one year anniversary, we made dinner reservations and pre ordered the tickets for “Star Wars THE LAST JEDI” at AMC6. I was so excited and looked forward to our kid free date night since finding out about the release date of the film! We both were super excited about our night out on the town; little did I know that date would change my life forever and begin our beautiful new chapter as a newly engaged couple. So with our Star Wars Disney official red and blue light sabers in hand we set out for what would be a monumental day in the story of our relationship. We pulled up to the restaurant and Kevin opened my car door for me per usual, chivalry is not dead ladies and gentlemen…at least not for me! The restaurant of choice was none other than the delicious Uricchio’s Trattoria located in the quaint heart of downtown Bakersfield. If you haven’t been there I urge you to go and eat there it is the most delicious Italian restaurant in Bakersfield. Uriccihio’s is very dim and has a very romantic sort of ambiance. We were seated right away. However, after a hellish long week of waking up at five am for dental school I was ready to get my cocktail on! So you guessed it if you know me then you know I spared no time before ordering my classic long island, and let me tell you they make a smooth mean sassy long island at Urichio’s! I highly recommend their long islands, if you’re an island fan, if you’re not you can’t sit with us! As the date went on we talked and laughed, Kevin always cracks me up, & then I noticed he started acting peculiar. Kevin started checking his phone and key word “TRYING” to text “secretively”. I said “Muffin what are you doing? You’re being weird…” he just looked at me anxiously and said “Oh I’m checking my emails”. Suddenly from the corner of my perfectly winged lined eye I could see our server bringing something big to our table. Now it was all clear to me she was bringing a legit R2-D2 Star Wars Bot to our table. I looked at Kevin with a weird look on my face because I was still confused I asked him “Kevin what is going on?”, I honestly thought he had just ordered the cute smart phone controlled R2-D2 robot for me. I also thought he was gifting it to me on our date because of our Star Wars movie date that was soon to follow after dinner. However, as I looked down at the bot it began moving towards me and on top of R2-D2’s head was a beautiful cushion cut split shank white gold diamond ring! It was the most beautiful and perfect ring I had ever seen. After I realized what was going on I looked up and Kevin was kneeling down on one knee and after taking the ring from the bot he then gazed into my eyes & said “Brielle Lauren Rodriquez I Love You More Than Anything Will You Be My Wife?” & I without hesitation said YES MUFFIN! At this point I was holding back tears and trying to not Kim K ugly cry, he placed the ring on my finger and it fit so perfectly. Everyone in the restaurant got quiet as this all seemed to happen in what felt like slow-motion to me. As soon as people heard my ecstatic and emotional “YES!” everyone began to clap & then I kissed my new fiancé, my beautiful soon to be gorgeous husband. As I look up I see that Kevin had my Mom and good family friend Carrie video recording the whole proposal on their iPhones. It was truly a magical night that I will never forget and I will look back upon that evening so I can relive those raw authentic moments over and over again in my head and in my heart.

xoxo Future Mrs. Gamez

Funny story… *que in nervous laugh…

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like to sugar coat, & I almost always lack in the discretion department…I know I could’ve made this whole meeting my future husband thing so cute and light, however that’s not how it was at all. I know what you’re thinking Mom as you're reading this you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Oh Lord” what is Brielle going to say next?" Well the thing is my beautiful handsome Fiancé, Kevin Todd Gamez, & I met 4 years ago. I worked for Kevin's family as a hostess at Mexicali West. Kevin was married at the time & we honestly didn’t even really care for each other much. There was zero physical attraction for either of us, because hello people he was a married man and I was engaged. We all know how both of our past marriages ended up, and if you don’t know, well, that’s an entirely different type of story that we don’t need to get into…or do we?... Just kidding MOM & family! Thus, years went by where Kevin and I didn’t talk, and then one cold December day after having a horrible week to say the least, Kevin happened to message me that particular day asking me how I had been, and I told him everything. I needed a friend and Kevin was there to listen. I poured my heart out to basically a stranger, whom I hadn’t spoken to in 4 years and even before that we were barely acquaintance’s. Being able to open up to Kevin about basically everything that was going wrong was the strangest & most amazing thing. I just felt as though I could completely and comfortably open up to him. Kevin and I talked for hours at Pin Oak park. Kevin showed up right on time and he brought with him an organic bottle of wine, just as best friends would do if their bestie was having a bad day. We sat on the swings and drank wine and talked. I was able to tell him everything that was on my mind and everything that had been troubling me. When it was finally time to say our goodbyes I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t want the night to end. We hugged and I felt a swarm of butterflies, and something inside of me didn’t want to ever let go of that feeling. Walking away back to my car I remember thinking, “What? Really KEVIN?!?!? NO WAY YOU JUST CAN'T CATCH FEELINGS THAT QUICKLY FOR HIM! NO BRIELLE Don’t you dare! SHUT THAT DOWN NOW! ABORT THAT MISSION REAL QUICK!”. Thinking all those things was not because he isn't an amazingly gorgeous guy, it was because I was still healing from a toxic past relationship. Days went by and Kevin and I couldn’t stop texting one another. I started seeing Kevin in a completely different light. That man had become the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Nobody else can or will ever compare to my Kevin. It's as if our souls knew each other, and there was a sense of familiarity every time I was around him. Being around Kevin & in his arms felt like home, a feeling I had never felt before. We clicked so well. The chemistry was so apparent and a bit overwhelming in the best of ways. We shared the same unique sense of humor, it was so easy for me to fall in love with him and it happened almost instantly. I’m so glad I fell in love with such an amazing and extraordinary man. He motivates me every day to be the best version of myself possible, he loves me for me and he is so kind. Kevin is the most loving and patient dad to our two princesses. Being a new dad came so naturally to him. The girls and I are so beyond blessed to have Kevin in our lives. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect man to spend the rest of our lives with. I never knew what true, romantic, unconditional love was until I fell in love with Kevin. I tell him almost weekly that days and nights spent with him never get boring. There is truly never a dull moment. We are always laughing & evenings always feel like never-ending slumber parties with my best friend. Above all Kevin is my best friend. He is my soulmate and the love of my whole life. Kevin Todd Gamez, I can’t wait to be your wife! I’m so proud to call you mine! I can’t wait till you’re my husband, MUFFIN! I waited all my life for this & I am so glad it was YOU, MUFFIN!

XOXO, your future Wife Bree Bear

Want to hear a funny story? Okay. So Brielle and I met in 2014 at Mexicali West. I was a server and she got hired as a hostess. And if you had told either of us back then that 4 years from then we'd be engaged, much less even friends, we would have laughed ourselves to death. We were very different people. I was very religious and conservative. Plus I was married. She was engaged and we just didn't really click well. We had virtually nothing in common. Believe it or not we didn't even find each other remotely attractive. I had gotten divorced not long after she quit Mexicali. Years went by in our own separate lives and through Instagram we talked a tiny bit here and there. But our conversations were always completely platonic. One Friday evening I had messaged her because we had been talking about going out for drinks with a group of friends. But that night for some reason she poured her heart out to me about the struggles of life she was going through and I had always been a good listener when people needed someone to confide in. She just felt comfortable with me even though we hardly knew each other. It wasn't strange to me, though, because throughout my life people have always told me that there was just something about me that made it easy for them to talk to me. That night marked the beginning of a huge change in our lives that neither of us in a billion years would have thought could have happened. But from that point on we started texting every day and we realized how much in common we actually had. We became best friends. And over a short period of time, we fell in love. The most important thing for a happy and successful relationship is to have at the heart of it a friendship and bond that cannot be found or kindled any other way or with anyone else. We are soul mates. And that's exactly what we found with each other. We found love in a hopeless place. We had both given up on love because of our pasts. But after all, aren't the best things in life the most unexpected?

It was the 14th of December, the premier of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And it was a glorious day. I had been planning for this day for weeks because I wanted it to be perfect. And let me tell you, it couldn't have gone better. Ironically it didn't even go according to plan. So I guess plans can be overrated. By now you're probably wondering why it was such a glorious day that was in the works for weeks. It was the day I'd ask the love of my life to marry me. And she said yes! I had wanted to propose on the night that marked a year from our first date, which was seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in theaters. I thought that it was the perfect night for it. And it was. The whole evening was filled with magic, along with a side of severe anxiety and nervousness, not because I thought she might say no, but because I truly did want it to go perfectly. It had to be a special night to never forget. So as we always do before seeing a movie, we went to dinner. I chose Uriccio's, a fine dining Italian restaurant in Central downtown Bakersfield. It has a very romantic atmosphere and ambiance, which is why I chose that restaurant. It was one of the key ingredients to a perfect night for the proposal. I had asked Brielle's mom, Dorene, to be at the restaurant to record the proposal and to help secretly deliver the R2-D2 remote-control robot that I was going to use as a prop for the proposal. The ring was to be attached to it so Brielle would have the honor of having her ring personally delivered to her by the famous R2-D2 himself. Dorene and her friend Carrie got to the restaurant first and sat in the room off to the the right of the entrance. And when I made the reservation I had requested for them to sit in that room and for Brielle and me to sit in the main dining room in order to avoid crossing paths. After we parked and were walking towards the restaurant I realized that we were going to walk right by the windows where Dorene and Carrie were sitting. I tried to discreetly suggest walking around the other way by pretending to not know the way. But Brielle was too smart and said to just go the shorter way. So as we approached the windows I had to distract her vision away from them, and let me just say James Bond himself might have been impressed as I kept her eyes locked on me the entire time. I said "Puffin, look at me. Look into my eyes and just know how much I love you." So we finally made it into the restaurant and our table was in the perfect spot, dead center in the main dining room with plenty of space to kneel down at the side of the table to ask the question that would change our lives forever. We sat down and ordered our drinks as we looked over the menu to decide what to order. I waited til after I had paid the bill to do the proposal, which allowed for more time to pass by, showing my inconspicuous behavior. Brielle picked up on it here and there but nonetheless, she still never suspected that that was the night I'd ask her to marry me. So I queued Dorene for the delivery of the R2-D2 with the ring attached. The server brought it on a tray and set it on the table. As I saw the server approaching I got even more nervous because the moment of truth was fast-approaching. Brielle was so confused at that point. She said, "Kevin, what's going on?" She thought I got the droid as a gift for her, little did she know then that that wasn't even the half of it. As the server got to the table I had opened the app on my phone to control the droid. The ring was attached to the back. So I reversed it to her, grabbed the ring, got down on one knee and said, "Brielle Lauren Rodriquez, I love you more than anything. Will you be my wife?" And with a great big smile on her face, tears of joy in her eyes, and butterflies in her heart, she said yes, marking the beginning of the next chapter of our lives together