How we met
I met Ashley in my last class at Baylor University, was Dr. Riley’s Political Science class. I noticed how beautiful Ashley was from the first day of class, I was instantly drawn to her because she had a very unattainable look about her. Unfortunately she happened to be sitting on the opposite side of the class from me and I didn’t really see any opportunity to talk to her and even just getting her to notice me seemed impossible. For the first two weeks of class I didn’t make any attempt to get to know her however on Tuesday of the third week we had a discussion in class that brought up the military and her brothers. Finally this gave me something to talk to her about. After class that day I walked with her down the hall asking about her brothers and just tried to get to know her a little bit. I don’t think I left that great of an impression and in fact she basically just ignored me but I tried anyways. I felt that there was something special about her and I decided that I would be persistent. Later that week we had a test so I sent her a message asking her if she wanted to come study with a group from class. She came, but only because she had forgotten her books in Dallas the weekend before. I got to know her even more that night and became more attracted to her. In fact I even worked up the nerve to call her later that night and we just talked for awhile. After the test on Wednesday Ashley invited me to hang out with her and her friend Alex by her pool. This was the first time I spent any time with Ashley outside of school and around her friends. That night I decided that I was going to ask her out on a date after class the next day. Thursday after class I took Ashley to schmaltz’s sandwich shop and then went to Cameron Park for a hike. We walked for several hours and didn’t stop talking the whole time. We talked about our Mother’s hers being a national level Diver and mine being an Olympic Figure skater. We talked about our dreams, our expectations and just about life in general. We both really opened up to each other which really caused the attraction to grow. After Cameron Park I knew that Ashley was special and I knew that I had found someone who I could be with. I have always been skeptical about the idea of instantly falling in love with someone, but that day I fell in love with Ashley. That day we talked for hours, learning more and more about the other person and becoming increasingly attracted to one another. It continued into the night when we tried to find a spot where we could look at stars. Unfortunately that night was cloudy but it was an incredible night regardless. I knew from that night on that Ashley was the one and I haven’t stopped pursuing her and putting my full effort toward her since.
How we got engaged
Ashley is a very persistent individual at times and when it came to me proposing to her she thought she had me figured out. Ashley would tell me time and time again how she had a pretty good idea about when I would propose. I couldn’t let her win on this issue and I knew that I had to surprise her. I enlisted the help of Stacey her sister-in-law and good friend, her Mother Alysa as well as her brother Brandon. I came up with the idea of flying into Dallas and surprising her a couple of weeks before she was expecting to see me. Stacey and Alysa would take Ashley out on a “girls night out” in order to keep her away from the house while Brandon would come to the airport and pick me up. When she got home I would be waiting for her with the ring. The weekend that I talked to her family about this was right before I had to be in the field all week for training. I made a decision to go through with it and told Stacey to start preparing for it. When I came back from the field the first thing that I did was buy my plane ticket and that weekend finalized plans with Stacey and Brandon. The next week I talked to Josh her youngest brother about taking pictures while I proposed and also unbeknownst to me Alysa had contacted Ashley’s boss and was able to get Saturday off for her. Ashley had no idea why her boss switched her hours and it worked out perfectly. As soon as she found out about her day off she started to ask me if I would fly down to see her that weekend. After all it was one of the few weekends where she wouldn’t have to work. I need to think of something fast and after a day or two of basically staling her I lied and told her that I had to go to the field. She believed me and while she was heartbroken I was left alone to carry out my plan without raising any suspicions. Well finally Friday came and I drove to the airport and waited at the gate for my plane. My plane was late because of bad weather and I began to really worry. I had to call Stacey and tell her I was going to be late so she had to buy time for me. Originally I was going to have enough time to set up the back yard of the house with white Christmas lights (Stacey’s idea) and have a bottle of champagne out on the deck. Because of my late flight and noisy neighbors I didn’t set up in the backyard and instead we placed a bunch of candles all over the living room. I just waited in the living room for Ashley to walk in the door. It felt like a long time but was really only minutes before she walked through the door. When she finally walked through the door I saw her eyes light up, her jaw basically dropped in disbelief and I knew at that moment that I had really surprised her. In true Ashley fashion the first words out of her mouth was “I hate you,” (in love of course) then she proceeded to run and jump on me, punching me as well. I wanted to keep it short so I got down on one knee, asked her if she would marry me, she said “of course I will.” That moment was the happiest of my life and I replay it in my head every day.
