We met at a Mexican restaurant in Chattanooga in May of 2015. Any relationship that starts over a love of Mexican food is bound to last, right? A few weeks later, it was a random last-minute road trip to Atlanta to hear Jimmy Buffett on a Tuesday night that made us both stop and think that this might be something special. We spent the next year and a half falling deeper and deeper in love: We each moved once, went to countless concerts, got to know each other's families, played lots of kickball, trained for and completed a marathon together, probably watched a little Netflix, and definitely continued to eat too much Mexican food.

In October 2016, we were in California for the wedding of our friends Mark and Ashley Holden. In typical Will-and-Christina fashion, we decided to fly out early and road-trip across the state, including as much in our California adventure as possible: starting in Long Beach, then driving up the coast and through wine country, with a pitstop in Yosemite National Park, and finally up to the Shenandoah Valley outside of Sacramento for the wedding--all in about a week! During the pit stop in Yosemite, Will planned a hike and a big surprise.

What was supposed to be a 9-mile roundtrip hike ended up being more like 12 or 13 when we parked in the wrong place, but we wore our Chacos and packed a picnic, so we knew it would be alright... or at least that's what we said before 3,200 of elevation gain. Once we made it to the top and enjoyed to majestic views from Glacier Point, we settled in for our picnic and Will began anxiously piecing together the last segments of his big surprise. He suggested that we take a picture with Half Dome in the background before we headed back down and when I looked away during the pictures, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!