The story of Joel and Kimberly

Kimberly grew up in Houston with her parents, two older sisters, and two younger sisters (most people would call the latter canines). Joel grew up thirty minutes south in Rosenberg with his parents and younger dog (most people would call him brother). The following is the account of how their two paths crossed.

Kimberly and Joel had met many times at Houston Baptist University prior to actually dating, but there was one problem ... Joel never remembered her name. (This has been an ongoing joke between the two ever since.)

When Joel was a junior at HBU and Kimberly was an incoming freshman they went on their first date. (Joel figured that then was a good time to remember her name.) Their first date just so happened to be at the ever-popular DSW Shoes. (Yes, you read that correctly. We went shoe shopping.) Joel's ability to shoe shop like a woman sparked Kimberly's interest because she had never had much luck in shopping for shoes. Joel on the other hand was just interested. Nothing had to spark this.

After this date, Kimberly left for a week-long mission trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. While there, she purchased a shirt for Joel. Clothes are the way to his heart, so at this point he really knew she was interested. The two went on a couple of other dates before deciding to become "boyfriend and girlfriend" on July 8th, 2004.

They dated for approximately three years and attended approximately 10 weddings before Joel finally realized that it was about time that he proposed. Joel popped the question in the little town of Sargent, Texas under a beautiful Texas sunset with a delicious picnic from Sonic and thousands of gargantuan Texas mosquitoes. She said yes, and the rest is history.