It all started as all traditional love stories do - a few swipes on a dating app. Jill and her sister were traveling in Peru, John was at home in St. Louis. The match was made, and soon the conversation went from Harry Potter to Denver Broncos to Would You Rather to eventually meeting for a happy hour at The Frisco Barroom in Webster Groves. The first date was the first day John knew that he wanted to marry Jill. What was supposed to be a quick happy hour turned in to hours of stories and jokes.After their date, neither had made it home before they had made plans to see eachother again.

As their relationship continued, John and Jill spent lots of free time together. They went to happy hours with friends, hockey games with John's brother Nicky, and had bonfires, evenings of grilling, and many games of Yahtzee. John quickly became Fiona's favorite person by means of dog treats and bones. They started going to the Lake of the Ozarks together, camping when they had a free weekend, and discussed in depth plenty more Would You Rather's. It was't long befoe John and Jill decided to move in together in Wentzville, Missouri. Shortly after, they decided to add another pet to their family by adopting Elway. Elway quickly found his place in the home and on the couch, squished between Jill, John, and Fiona.

On August 29, John and Jill were getting ready for Vaughn family dinner. As they drove, John appeared to be overly worried about the weather, but Jill brushed it off. While en route, John decided to visit Laumier Sculpture Park, a park filled with beautiful sculptures and statues near Doug and Jodi's house.Jill and John wandered around the park, following the paved path. While this wasn't their typical afternoon activity, Jill thought little of the impromptu stop. Casually walking through the park admiring the gorgeous day and the statues, suddenly, John started to lag behind. As Jill turned around to see what he was doing, she noticed that he was down on one knee, asking her to marry him. After the initial shock of “Seriously?!”, of course Jill agreed!

Afterwards, they joined their families and a few close friends for a small celebration. They both still talk about this as their favorite day of their lives...so far!