Our story begins on the evening of July 12, 2019 outside of a tiki bar in Houston, TX. Jon and Anna had been attending a birthday party of a mutual friend. When Anna had forgotten her purse, Jon waited for her while her friend brought it to her. Jon wasn’t in a hurry and was happy to wait and make conversation. He had no idea that this small gesture would mean so much to Anna.

After a few weeks of clumsy courtship, Jon finally convinced Anna to go on a date with him on August 4, 2019. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was enough to convince Anna to give him a shot. Over the next few weeks, things accelerated quickly in what Jon likes to call “relationship chicken.” It started with Anna inviting Jon to a wedding in Texas, so naturally Jon one-upped her by inviting her to a wedding back in his hometown in Delaware. Before the end of August, they already had a GoogleDoc full of fun date and trip ideas. At the end of August, Jon left to go on a Rim-to-Rim hike across the Grand Canyon with his family. On September 8th he returned and Anna offered to pick him up from the airport. Knowing Jon would be tired from his trip and a day of travel, she brought with her all the ingredients to make homemade pizza when they got back to Jon’s house. As they were in the kitchen together preparing dinner, Jon contemplated all that had transpired over the past 6 weeks and the kindness and thought Anna had put into making this dinner. He turned to her and asked “So, are we dating?” To which Anna replied “Sure feels like it.” And their story officially began.

The next few months were a whirlwind of firsts. Jon and Anna attended a wedding together in Texas. Anna came to Jon’s hometome in Delaware and passed an “interview” by family friends (you know who you are). Jon met Anna’s parents on a surprise stop at their house on their way to an A&M football game. Anna traveled to the “far north” to celebrate Jon’s 29th birthday with his parents and spend a few nights in beautiful Lake Placid. The two wasted no time checking off as many milestones as possible.

2020 brought surprise for everyone with COVID 19. However, Jon and Anna managed to fit a surprising amount of trips and travel into the year. They began by hitting their “lowest point” at Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, which also started their goal of visiting all the National Parks together (yes, including those in the Arctic). The year also included trips to Glacier National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park with Jon’s family. Jon also made it out to the Theiss Family farm in Hallettsville, TX where he unknowingly first laid eyes on his future proposal site. The Theiss family had no problem putting him to work on some improvement projects and Jon earned lots of extra credit points with Anna’s dad thanks to his excellent work ethic.

In 2021, Jon and Anna’s parents met each other for the first time. Following in their foot-steps of taking nothing slow, the parents met on a 10-day trip across the state of Texas to Guadalupe and Big Bend National Parks. Luckily, the parents hit it off without a hitch so well that they were lectured by the camp host in Big Bend for enjoying dinner and reminiscing on their past vacations ‘too loudly’…it was only 6 PM. The year also included milestones such as Jon and Anna’s first ski trip together and Anna’s first trip to NYC. The two celebrated Christmas and New Years at Jon’s parents in Northern NY where Jon promptly tested positive for COVID within 48 hours of arrival. Anna got to know the Chamberlain family MUCH better while Jon isolated in the basement. But most importantly, this was the year where Jon truly learned to love Anna’s dog Franky.

At the turn of the New Year, Jon began to make his plans. This was going to be the year that he proposed. The planning really accelerated on his boy’s backpacking trip in June where he confessed his plans to his close friends. Suddenly it was out in the open. It was no longer just a thought in his head. Jon’s original plan had been to propose on the couple’s trip to Washington state in late August where they planned to visit all three national parks. However, after discussing with his friends and describing his alternate plan of proposing at the family farm in Hallettsville, they decided that the family farm was where it needed to occur. When he returned from the trip, Jon had a busy July ahead of him researching and purchasing the ring and working through the details of the proposal.

On Friday afternoon July 29, 2022, Jon and Anna embarked on a usual trip to Hallettsville to escape the city and enjoy a quiet weekend out of town. Jon seemed a little on edge, but “luckily” it had been quite a stressful week at work for him, so this didn’t arouse any suspicion from Anna. At dusk, Jon suggested that the two venture back to the orchard to watch the sunset as they had done many times before. Anna innocently suggested that Jon try to inspect some damage on the roof from a recent wind storm but he patiently suggested that maybe that could wait until tomorrow. Jon set up a hammock for the two (and Franky) to enjoy the sunset as he had done many times before. He had also recently purchased a tripod with the excuse of planning to use it on their upcoming trip to Washington. Anna suggested that he get it out to take a picture of themselves with the sunset and Jon couldn’t agree more with her idea (since this was his original plan) and set up the tripod. Unbeknownst to Anna, he set the camera to record a video rather than take a picture. As Anna fixed her ponytail and turned toward the camera, Jon got down on one knee and shocked Anna so badly that she stepped away from him in disbelief. She did eventually say yes!...And the rest is history.

P.S. Anna had a strong suspicion that the proposal was coming soon but she was 100% convinced that it would happen on their trip to Washington, hence her utter shock when it happened a month earlier than expected in a different location. Anna confirmed that Jon indeed made the right choice by proposing in a place that meant so much to her and her family.