NOVEMBER 2, 2024
IT'S A CELEBRATION
OB and Ashton met in September 2020 in what they both would consider happenstance. Ashton was in her first semester of her senior year at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas and modeling for Marnie Ellyse photography as one of her TCU Spokesmodels. OB had just so happened to see a photo of Ashton from one of Marnie's posts and decided to message Ashton and ask her on a date. (WTG OB!!!)
Days after connecting on social media, OB and Ashton had their first date at HG Sply Co in Fort Worth, where they essentially closed the restaurant down. Near the end of their date, a lady approached their table and asked if they were on a blind date, to which they confirmed. She shared that she and her husband had also met on a blind date and wished the two of them well. (Pretty crazy right?!)
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Ashton and OB officially became a couple on September 25, 2020. In their first year of dating, they met each others families, celebrated their first Thanksgiving together (while all four of their parents were sick with COVID), marked Ashton's 21st birthday in Houston, and supported each other as they graduated with new degrees -- a B.S. in Kinesiology from TCU for Ashton and an M.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Southern Methodist University (SMU) for OB. They topped off their season of graduations with their first trip together in Palm Springs, California, which remains one of their favorite vacations.
Over the next two years, their love, understanding, and appreciation for each other grew, enabling them to celebrate the best times and overcome challenges together.
If you asked Ashton, one of her favorite memories from their early courtship was visiting El Paso for the first time for Thanksgiving in 2021. There, she fell in love with the people and the city that shaped OB. They explored OB's favorite sites, attended an El Paso Rhinos hockey game, dined at Carlos and Mickey's, joined a family fiesta in Socorro, hiked in Franklin Mountains State Park, and took a trip to New Mexico to visit White Sands National Park.
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For OB, one cherished memory from the early years of their relationship was his first Svensk Hyllningsfest experience in 2021 in Ashton's grandparent's hometown of Lindsborg, Kansas. OB was inspired by Ashton and her family's love for and celebration of their Swedish ancestry. It was there that OB knew this was the place where Ashton was most connected to her family, her childhood, and her heritage.
On October 13, 2023, OB proposed to Ashton during Svensk Hyllningsfest weekend in front of Bethany Lutheran Church, where Ashton had grown up attending with her grandparents. This moment symbolized the full circle of their love. Though they joke about their unlikely pairing - a boy from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and a girl from Wichita, Kansas - they're grateful to have found each other and eagerly anticipate merging their families as Mr. and Mrs. Baro.