Technically, we met in the summer of 2015 playing on the Pen flag football team on the beach - but neither of us remembered meeting! I only played a couple games with them and then we didn't see each other again until January 2016. I joined the Pen softball team but it still took us a couple months to really start talking to each other. Finally, in March on his birthday we ended up meeting up at a bar with friends and have been together since!
Colorado has always been a special place for Cristina, so when Mike decided to propose there was really only one option for the location. After keeping the ring in his pocket for the entire week while traveling for work, they were finally driving up into the Flatiron mountains to have dinner overlooking Boulder.
Being uncharacteristically early for their reservation, Mike suggested they drive a little further up the mountain to one of the viewpoints. After parking and taking a short walk, they arrived to a spot with a perfect view of the sunset over the surrounding mountains. Once they had a second to take everything in, Mike did the smartest thing he will ever do.
*It should also be noted that during this time the Philadelphia Eagles were the reigning Super Bowl Champions.
If you walk into Cruisers on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon it's more likely than not that you'll find Cristina and Mike in there somewhere, so of course this was the natural setting for their engagement party. Besides being taken care of by the best bar in the business, they were lucky enough to have friends and family come from all over the country to party with them.
With the bar decked out in decorations (thanks to some amazing bridesmaids and family) the whole crew spent the day celebrating with some tacos, a few drinks, and a jello shot or two thrown in for good measure. While it seemed to fly by much too quickly, it is certainly a day that Cristina and Mike will never forget.
A few of Cristina and Mike’s favorite hobbies in and around Huntington Beach include grabbing oysters at any bar, killing it on their volleyball, softball, and football teams, drinking bloody mary’s and 805’s at Cruisers, and spending quality time with their friends and families - and their favorite little munchkins!