Our story begins at The Flying Pig restaurant in Vista where Mikayla had been bartending for several months and Derek was newly transferred from the Oceanside location to work in the back of house. Over the next few months that we worked together, we began to have an attraction towards each other. We would joke around when we saw each other and made excuses to visit at each others stations every chance we got.

Finally, Derek had put in his 2 weeks and on his last day, the Flying Pig crew went to a local dive bar, "Smitty's" to celebrate a successful Mother's Day service. Realizing this was his last day of work with Mikayla, Derek was feeling the window of opportunity close and decided to secretly sign them up for a duet in karaoke. With no prior heads up, Mikayla heard the DJ call up "Mikayla & Derek, Mikayla & Derek to the stage." Derek grabbed Mikayla's hand and whisked her up to the stage. They began to sing the song, "Picture" by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock. As Derek hit his verses in the song, he saw Mikayla gazing in his direction. Derek turned towards Mikayla and leans in. We ended up sharing our first kiss while the rest of the melody plays on with no more lyrics to be heard. That was when Derek and Mikayla's relationship truly began.

After five years, we have lived in three different locations together, adopted our playful dog, Stitch, and ditched the restaurant jobs for true careers in Plumbing and Recruiting. We have also had a ton of fun traveling together; from road tripping to Seattle, seeing our nation's Capital of Washington DC, and filling our bellies with some delicious Texas BBQ. In total, we have traveled to 8 states together exploring the areas and the cuisine, as we enjoy eating together and cooking together. Cooking together has given us an opportunity to work as a team and grow our relationship, as well as our skills. For us, a great date night is cooking a beautiful meal together and then heading out for some fun from axe throwing or bowling to escape rooms.

Our most memorable escape room has to be when we got engaged. Derek planned to take Mikayla and her friends to the last room that we hadn't done at our local escape room location. The theme was Dracula's lair, and the squad was doing great solving the riddles. As we solved the final puzzle, it was Mikayla's turn to reach in Dracula's coffin and remove a small box from his grip. Derek had arranged with the studio prior to place Mikayla's engagement ring in the final puzzle. Mikayla opened the box and found Derek on a knee. "Yes!!!" We were both so happy to have found our forever person.

We are overjoyed to start our marriage... and live happily ever after.

Registry