Xavier and I met in seventh grade at City Middle. We were seated at a table in Mr. Mirandette’s science class and I had a crush ever since. Xavier remembers forming a crush around eighth grade. Then Señora Castillo partnered us in our tenth grade spanish class, so for a semester we sat next to one another and were assigned regular phone calls to practice speaking spanish together, which was when we began talking one-on-one. I was thrilled! Before we ever dated, I remember confiding in a mutual friend that I could imagine marrying Xavier.

I wasn’t allowed to date until I turned 16, so on my 16th birthday he took me to dinner at Brann’s (lol) and we went to Prom together that year. We had a joyful, respectful, caring relationship through our senior year of high school. We truly became best friends! However we chose to separate after graduation based on faith and lifestyle differences. It was heartbreaking for us both! Coincidentally, we both attended Central Michigan University in the fall of 2008 and resumed hanging out with other City High friends who attended. 

After Xavier surrendered his life to Jesus through a campus ministry and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, we decided to date again and never looked back! We dated long distance for two years when he proposed before his deployment to Afghanistan in August 2010. After spending our engagement across continents, we were married on August 12, 2011 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We enjoyed five years working and settling into our careers before having kids. Xavier started a landscape curbing business and then sold it in 2015, when he was hired as a Grand Rapids Firefighter. I enjoyed working in a variety of positions in the hospitality and event industry, until choosing to stay home full time after the birth of our third child. We welcomed our daughter, Jonah Grace, to the world in September 2016. And our sons Gabriel in 2018 and Silas in 2020. In addition to Xavier’s work at the fire department and my work as a homeschool mom, we enjoy renovating homes and our cabin in northern Michigan, camping, gardening, hunting, spending time with family and friends, and learning alongside our kids.