Ana - When I worked at Signature Flight Support (Spokane), we started doing monthly work hang-outs where we would play games, drink, and socialize. It was my turn to host and our mutual friend, Scott, asked if he could invite his friend (Kyle), who was visiting him from San Diego. I figured "The more the merrier!" and said that Kyle could come. Between the time that I said that Kyle could come and Kyle actually arriving, Scott was telling me fun stories about Kyle, which I misinterpreted. I assumed that Kyle was this obnoxious party boy and was getting nervous about him coming to the house for our work get-together. Basically, I hated the idea of him before I even met him. I let Scott know that I had multiple PD contacts and that my emergency contact was the County Prosecutor, so if Kyle got wild, I would trespass him in a heartbeat. The day finally came and when I met Kyle, I realized he wasn't what I thought - he was very much like me instead! Kyle, Scott, Ryan (Scott's roommate at the time), and I ended up hanging out pretty much all weekend. My dog, Lilly, loved him and he loved her - he taught her the trick "knuckles"! When Kyle left back to San Diego, we kept in touch.

Kyle - I flew up to meet with my buddy Scott who moved out of San Diego in 2020. He had a weekend planned that included a game night at one of his female co-worker's house. He said she was cute but wouldn't like me. I fly up a day later, we are at her house and she greets us at the door with her dog. She started with “You can pet my dog, but don't let her lick you 'cause she's getting chemo and her slobber may be radioactive.” Naturally, I pet the dog, but I still thought she was cute, and she became my friend over the weekend. We spent the night with the company playing games all night. The next day we woke up to go shooting, and we met at Scott's house to prepare, and I chose to ride with her. We talked the whole way to the range and back, it was just so easy to talk to her. We talked about an array of topics and it was all easy. We spent the rest of the weekend, Her & I (plus Scott). During this she added me on Instagram (Some debate on who added who but I'll die on this hill).

I returned to San Diego and we talked over instagram consistently for a few weeks. She sent me "Her Phone number." I texted her and never got a text back. I stayed persisitent and kept messaging over instagram. A few days go by and she asks why I never texted, turns out she gave me the wrong number. But after that we kept talking and participating in "Discord Dates." We played video games, watched movies, and just talked.

She visited twice and shortly after the second visit she decided to move to San Diego. After spending a few weeks together and a feel real-life dates we ended up dating. The rest is history. <3

Kyle and Ana ended up talking a bunch while they lived in different states. Their friendship grew and feelings developed. They would play video games online together (New World), watch TV shows together through Discord, send each other memes, watch a lot of Star Wars together (that is one of the topics that first connected the two), tease each other, and message each other. Ana flew down a couple of times to San Diego to spend time with Kyle and his friends. The second time that Ana flew down, they had their first "date" on Kyle's birthday :)

One of Kyle's close friends (Jose - groomsman) tried convincing Ana to move to San Diego. For every argument against moving to San Diego, Jose had a convincing counter-argument. Jose even offered to help Ana move if she were to move down there (and volunteered Kyle as well).

After Ana got back to Spokane, she mulled over this potential life change for a while and ended up going for it!

Ironically, Jose was unable to help Ana move down, so Kyle flew up himself to help Ana drive the U-Haul of her stuff down to San Diego (Kyle told everyone that he was just helping a friend move and got very defensive/embarrassed when questioned about it, haha).

The moving party was Kyle, Scott, and Ana. One person would drive Ana's 4Runner and two people would be in the U-Haul - or two people in Ana's 4Runner and one person driving the U-Haul. Ana ended up driving the 4Runner for the most part because she had difficulty reaching the pedals in the U-Haul (surprising, right?!).

The move took 2 days and 1 night, where they stayed near Reno, Nevada at an Air BnB. The move included walkie-talkies, music, movies, and shenanigans.

They finally got to San Diego on January 18, 2022 and Kyle and his friends were able to help Ana unload her things into a storage unit that week! Hence, began Ana's San Diego life.

Kyle and Ana didn't really define their relationship until they realized that they were basically in a relationship with each other. They never really had a "will you date me?" talk, but ended up choosing their "anniversary" as February 20th (02/20), as it was an easy date to remember.

Things were easy with each other, almost natural, due to Kyle and Ana being "same-same, different, but same."

Kyle ended up inviting Ana to move in with him when he bought a house, which was a huge step for the relationship!

Over time, Kyle and Ana had discussed thoroughly their future together - their hopes and dreams. They knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, have children, etc. They ended up deciding to get legally married via small, immediate family-civil ceremony at the courthouse on February 20th, 2024 (to keep their anniversary date).

Unbeknownst to Ana, Kyle wanted to propose to her before their legal marriage...

Kyle ended up surprising Ana by asking for her parents' blessing in-person and proposed on January 22nd, 2024 at Disney World's Galaxy's Edge in Orlando - in front of the Millennium Falcon!

On February 20th, 2024, at 1:00pm Pacific Time,

Kyle Scott Grow and Ana Meijiao Horinek were legally wed.

This was a small civil ceremony with immediate family and close friends who lived nearby. This was NOT done with the intention of excluding anyone, but with the intention that the upcoming ceremony would be a celebration with everyone!