Our parents, David and Linda and Steve and Cheri, are very good friends and one night they all got together for a St. Patrick's Day celebration dinner at mutual friend Carolyn's house.  Mike and I both just happened to be there as guests of our parents.  From the beginning I thought this was a clever plan to get Mike and I in the same room, but both parties deny any involvement :)

From there Mike and I went out a few times casually with others to sushi and movies and such.  The weekend of July 4th we went to a Chicken Wing Cook-Off in Downtown Reno and that is when we shared our first kiss.  The rest, as they say, is history!

We enjoy each others company so much!!! We have many shared interests such as going to baseball games and we love to tailgate and attend the University of Nevada, Reno WolfPack football games.

We spend lots of time with our families in town and both have new hobbies of photography and beer brewing.  We also love dining out together, going to the movies, driving up to Lake Tahoe and recently we share a love of XBox :)

On Christmas Day 2011 Mike and I spent the morning sleeping in and drinking coffee.  When it was time to open gifts we exchanged back and forth.  I got him XBox games and an online subscription to XBox Live so that he can play with others that don't live close by.  He gave me a lovely sweater, earrings and a Blue Tooth (so I don't get pulled over and ticketed).

After this exchange he told me that he had a big gift for me and to not go in the back of our house.  Little did I know he was setting up a little scavenger hunt for me.

When he came back out he handed me a folded note and off I went on the hunt for my big gift, which I thought was a Dyson vacuum...silly me!  The notes had stanzas of a beautiful love poem and by the time I got to almost the last note I was in tears.  When I got back into the living room he handed me the last stanza and got down on his knee!

And of course I said YES!!!!!

So far planning is going slowly but surely.  We have booked our venue, D'Andrea Golf Club in Sparks, Nevada.  We have had engagement photos taken and I have been to a Bridal Faire, which was completely overwhelming.

My mom, my sister Linda and I are going dress shopping together and looking at invitations.  It's a very exciting time!!!  But most of all, I'm thrilled to be planning on being Mike's wife!