2023

WE'RE ENGAGED!

We had just spent the previous year traveling, buying a home, and welcoming our fur baby into our lives, so this year we decided that we would take a step back, relax, and enjoy the wonderful accomplishments we'd made. However, what better time than the time you're supposed to be relaxing, to start a full garage remodel? Apparently there was no better time; this was it. Although it was a bit of a long process since we both worked crazy hours, it was our first home project together and we had so much fun. We held many late night concerts, had lots of laughs, and at one point told ourselves we probably shouldn't admit to anyone that we were the ones who did this remodel (it's okay, it turned out wonderful).

We spent most of our year with Milo, taking him to the puppy park and Grandma and Grandpa's house where he found his love for swimming. At first he was hesitant and didn't know what to do, but about a week later he became overly obsessed and now thinks every visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house is a pool party. This was also the year that we attempted to make him TikTok famous, that didn't go so well...we're still working on that.

In October, Ryland's family had a halloween costume party, and we thought we would be creative and make our own costumes. Milo's litter was originally named after characters in Despicable Me (his name being Gru) so we thought it was the perfect idea. Ryland was Gru, Julia was a purple minion (a terrifying version), and milo was an OG minion...boy was that a disaster. We had our costumes on, on the way to the party and for whatever reason completely forgot that we were in costume. The looks of the people in the car next to us when we stopped at a red light, snapped us back to reality real quick, we looked absolutely ridiculous. I think it's safe to say we're going to be buying our halloween costumes from here on out.

In October we attended a wedding for one of Ryland's good friends and had such a great time. We spent the night dancing, singing, and celebrating the newlyweds. When it was time for the garter toss, the DJ asked all the single men to step out onto the floor, Ryland got up from his seat and ran to the dance floor...that was confusing to say the least. The best part is, he caught it and began waving it in the air. The conversation later was that he was trying to show that we would be the next couple to get married.

On December 23, 2023 we spent the day at Julia's aunt's house for a Christmas get together. Julia's sister, Danielle, was in town, so we were trying to plan something to do once we left the function. Ryland came up with the idea of going hiking at Tortilla Flat with the dogs, and Danielle was beyond excited for that idea. While Julia wasn't thinking much of it, it was a bit odd that two people who have never offered up hiking as a fun option were now all of a sudden overly-excited avid hikers. Unbeknownst to Julia, Ryland had spoken to Danielle earlier in the day and asked her to be a photographer for his proposal, hence why they were both so excited. We got to Tortilla flat and Danielle asked us to take pictures of her and her dog, Kodiak. She then asked us if we wanted our pictures taken with Milo, which of course we did. She then suggested that we take pictures of just the two of us, and held Milo. Just as we were about to take our photos, a group of sports cars came racing down the mountain. Julia sat there and watched each one of them as they passed, not realizing that Ryland was down on one knee, for probably what seemed like an eternity. The last car drove by and honked, which Julia (unknowing why they honked), took as an insult, and yelled at them. Julia eventually turned around, and saw Ryland knelt down on one knee (his poor knee), with a ring in his hand.

In complete shock, Julia said yes (and screamed of course), and that is when our journey as future Mr. and Mrs. began!

Photos