They met as they were about to start their first phase of training for Navy flight school. “I had met a friend named Zach, who was a college friend of Erin’s,” Tyler says. “Zach and I had been hanging out quite a bit and one Friday, Zach invited me to a baseball game with some of his college friends. Because I love baseball so much, of course I said yes. One of those college friends happened to be Erin and I immediately thought she was beautiful and I spent that night trying to get to know her a little bit.” 

Tyler claims his dog, Jo, was his wingwoman to get Erin to go on a date with him. “Erin is a huge dog lover and so I told her I was taking my dog to the beach and asked if she wanted to come. To this day, she claims she only said yes because she wanted to hang out with my dog! It didn’t matter to me though. I was just excited to get to spend some time with Erin and get to know her better!”

When asked when she knew he was the one, Erin says, “We had been dating for a little while and going to church together pretty consistently. I got done with a Bible study and we talked about everything I had learned and studied and it was such a great conversation and so easy to have that I knew he was the one.” Tyler adds that there wasn’t an ah-ha moment for him. “There were just a lot of little moments that contributed to me knowing Erin was the one. That’s what most of our relationship has been too; a lot of little moments that make me lover her more and more!”

Tyler proposed a month ago by pulling Jo, his black lab, in to help. “It ended up raining this particular day so we decided to order dinner to go and have a chill night in, which is one of our favorite things to do. After I picked up dinner, I figured out a way to secure the ring box to Jo’s collar and we walked over to Erin apartment. When we got there, I pretended my hands were too full carrying dinner and so I asked Erin to take Jo’s collar off for me. When she did, she found the box, I got down on one knee. She was so surprised!”

Erin describes Tyler as “the kindest human I’ve ever met. He would do anything for anyone even if it wasn’t the best thing for him. He is kind, he loves to laugh, and he’s really smart.”

Tyler says he admires Erin’s perseverance through a very demanding job of training to be a Navy pilot. “There are so many hard days and tough flights that can be very discouraging, but she works so hard and I’m so proud of all she has accomplished. She has such a big heart for her friends and would do anything for them. She loves Jesus and she has an amazing passion for things and doesn’t ever do anything half way.”

We ended their session with a few photos in uniform, freshly pinned with their Navy aviator wings!