As we all know, the world turned completely virtual in 2020, including dating. After meeting on Bumble, we discovered we both have a love for The Office, Friends, Formula 1, and most importantly our dogs. Oh, and each other. So we decided to start adventuring together.

Ziplining Lake Travis.

Exploring the Valley of Fire.

Hiking Zion.

Bryce Canyon to ourselves with the exception of the raven Ryan befriended.

Watching the Bellagio fountain from our room in Vegas.

Jumping large waves and exploring hidden gems in O'ahu.

Venturing to the much less blue Galveston.

Sipping our way through Oregon wine country.

Chasing waterfalls despite TLC's advice.

Wearing jackets at the Oregon beach in June.

Catching crab in Seattle.

Occasionally venturing to the outskirts of Fort Worth.

A never ending fixer upper house in White Settlement.

After a non beach trip year (or at least a beach that didn't require jackets), we decided to go to Galveston for a long weekend in September 2022. Since we were road tripping, we brought the pupperonis with us to see what they'd think of the beach. Leia loved everything about it - sand, open space, water; Harley loved to run in circles around the tent pole and tangle himself up with his 15 foot leash. Both pups had a grand time.

On the way to Galveston, Ryan made a suggestion that he would like to get there by sunset. Clara thought nothing of it other than just wanting to get situated by dark. We stopped at Clara's high school best friend's (Erica) house outside of Houston on the way down, where Clara and Erica slipped right back into nonstop chit chat, resulting in missing Galveston sunset. Whoops. To be fair, I asked Ryan if we needed to leave but he knew how much fun I was having and allowed me to continue to ramble to Erica. Turns out, I missed my first attempt at the proposal.

The next morning, we headed to the beach with the pups after Ryan returned from morning tide fishing. After getting the pups situated and our beach site set for the day, Ryan headed back to the truck to "grab his fishing gear." While he did grab that, he also grabbed a 1978 ring box with my mom's Tiffany ring in it. (Side note for those unaware, Clara's mom passed away from brain cancer in 2014) Ryan set up his fishing gear, changed the song on our speaker and started asking questions about what my mom would think of him. Of course she would love him and be completely overjoyed as long as her daughter was happy. As Ryan grabbed my hand to help me up from my beach chair, I knocked over my seltzer in true Clara fashion, spilling it all over the blanket. Also in true Clara fashion, I got sidetracked and tried to clean it up before Ryan refocused me on the moment at hand. He proposed on the beach where I grew up every summer, one of my mom's favorite places, with my mom's ring that my dad gave him in front of just our dogs. The best proposal possible.