If you are married, where did you get married? Big or small wedding?
We got married at the church that my family attended when we first moved to AZ. Troy and I are both Catholic, but do not have a home church yet (we go between my family church and his family church) We had as small of a wedding as an Italian and Mexican American family could have! We wanted it to be celebrated with 140 of our nearest and dearest. It was perfect. We had our reception at a resort in town- it highlighted our unique environment and history, but it was fancy and classy! Love!
Do you have any nick-names that you call one another?Yes... we shamelessly throw 'babe' around a lot. It just sort of rolls out there. I also call Troy, T-Roy (emphasis on the Roy) I have called him that since we first met! There are handfuls of other names that I cycle through, because I am an avid nickname giver.
Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
Troy just gets me. He knows when and how to talk me down from spinning myself into a blanket of worry. I have never had anyone who knew exactly what to say to diffuse me.
I love that we can
always laugh. I am a stubborn gal, so if Troy can make me laugh even when I am hell bent on being pissed... you know he's funny! During the hell bent on being pissed times, this can be a teensy bit frustrating, too. Typically I just end up laughing more at how damn stubborn I am. Endless cycle!
Troy is a dreamer and I am a realist. Troy has lots of dreams. Dreams for our house, dreams for our own business, dreams of a family, dreams of anything, really. When Troy gets set on a dream, I tend to be the one organizing and motivating us to accomplish it. We balance each other out in this regard. He has big dreams and I help him get them organized into reality. He also helps me to have bigger dreams, too. Knowing that I am a realist, he motivates me to have dreams too and he believes in my ability more than I do, which is a pretty fantatsic feeling!
Tell us how he proposed?
It was summer and I had just finished a tough year of teaching and found out my baby brother was moving away. I was stressed and sad and trying to manage all of those feelings with the insatiable heat that had spread over our little city! Troy and I had just moved in together and I was hell bent on removing some
nasty wallpaper border that was disgracing the kitchen. I bought all the supplies, including a spray gel that was supposed to loosen the adhesive. Trouble was, I couldn't have the AC running without it drying up the gel before it could work its magic. Needless to say, I was removing the wallpaper, with a chemical in 100+ heat with no AC on... my brain was boiling. Troy called me one Thursday afternoon and told me that we were going to go out for a nice dinner and

to be ready in an hour. I turned that AC on and started primping. I was in the primp zone when Troy came home. He was sitiing on the bed watching me get ready when he started asking me what I was going to wear
tomorrow. I was thinking, why does that matter? But he kept insisting, so I grabbed the first random thing and showed him, just so I could get back to the primp zone. Fast forward to dinner at a gorgeous restaurant on a resort property in town. We had the restaurant all to ourselves, because we had dinner so early. I thought this was a little strange, but was feeling woozy from all my work, so I was alright with it. Then we went into the resort lounge and there was a pianist and singer performing, who were pretty awesome. I had 2 cocktails and was pretty on fire at this point! We walked around the property (cocoktail in hand) and came to this natural waterfall in the back. We sat there for a bit and talked before heading back and Troy ordering me a 3rd cocktail. At this point, I was thinking, why is he trying to get me drunk?? Our drinks arrived and I took a teensy tiny sip and then he said we had to go! We were practically running throughout the property, up some stairs, through room hallways, until we came to a stairwell. The stairwell took us up to an overlook, that had a bench, some lights and the most perfectly clear view of the stars and our city lights. It was gorgeous! This is where Troy proposed to me. Once I said 'Yes' he took me to a room he had gotten for the night. He had candles lit, chocolate covered strawberries and my favorite champagne chilling. We had some more cocktails (gosh that was a boozy night) and called all our family to tell them the good news, that they already knew! If there is one things about Troy... he has a hard time keeping secrets, because he gets so excited for them!
Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
He is both. Troy gets me romantic things for Valentines and all holidays. One of our favorite things to do together on special events or sometimes just random nights, is share a delicious bottle of wine! Malbec is our favorite!
Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
I tend to be a busy body all the time. I really struggle doing relaxing. So on movie nights I tend to fall asleep! Unless it is an early viewing, which it rarely ever is, you can count on me to be snoozing! I think a sunset dinner on the beach would be so romantic, under the right circumstances... as in no one else is around and our food magically appears and stays warm, same for dessert!
Tell us one thing you’d like to do with your significant other one day.
We like traveling to places together, whether it be a weekend trip, a run to Vegas to see my brother or something more extravagant! We loved our honeymoon so much, because we went somewhere totally new to us- Maui. We went for long enough to de stress- 8 days. And it was the perfect mix of outdoorsy, nature loving stuff and fancier evenings too! So I think I would like to take another extended vacation to someplace new with Troy!
Maui? Yes, please!
Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentines Day?
This year I will be out of town for a conference (boo). The weekend I get back we will be traveling to Sedona for a wedding. We do not have great plans since it will be such a busy time! Our 1st anniversary is about a month after Valentines, so we decided that rather than get all extravagant for both, in the future we would celebrate with dinner (in or out) and save the real celebratuon for our anniversary!
Are you asking for anything this Valentines Day?
I am big on cards and Troy- not so much. But when he DOES goive me cards- they are the BEST! So a nice ard from him would be enough from me!
Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Troy and I have great communication. We feel comfortable enough in ourselves and our relationship to express ourselves. We tend to spend the majority of our time together, because we like it that way! We also understand the value and importance in having time to ourselves and time with out friends. It just so happens that we have lots of mutual couple friends, so typically the girls will meet up for happy hour after work somewhere and then we will head over to our local spot to meet up with the guys afterwards! I would also say that supporting one another is important. Troy and I support each other in our independent and mutual endeavors. Before we got married I was interested in pursuing another position in my field, education. rather than working at the elementary level, I would be working at the college level. Troy and I sat down and talked it through. After understanding the position and details, Troy was my number 1 supporter, even when I started doubting myself!
