It’s been seven years. We’ve lived in three cities (Houston, Seattle, and now, San Antonio). In Houston, we first found each other and saw the first flickers of what our lives could become together. In Seattle, we found the freedom to pursue our wildest whims—finding solace in the trees and the lakes and the mosses and the mushrooms, and in many many precious friends. Now, in San Antonio, we’ve been able to reconnect with the state that was our first home and enjoy a slightly slower pace—raising chickens, growing seeds, and seeing where it all leads. We’ve done more school than is reasonable to take on (Will we ever know what it is like to not be in school??). Lord knows we’ve enjoyed more than a few new hobbies. Most of all, we have gathered an amazing community around us that has pushed us to become who we are.

One thing we’ve learned in our seven years together is that we love throwing a backyard party. Orchestrated with many of you—we’ve done backyard grill outs, piñata parties, Halloween parties, graduation ceremonies, barefoot dance offs, oyster shucking soirees, cook offs, and, most recently, a goat roast and a crawfish boil. Gathering folks we love outside in open air and around good food is our happy place. In thinking about how we wanted to celebrate the hard launch of our life together, it was clear a very large backyard(ish) bash was the best way to celebrate.

Turns out, there are a few too many folks on the list to fit in our actual backyard. So, we have found event spaces that will enable us to get as close as we can to that feeling.

You all our are people, have helped make us who we are, and have been the threads that have enabled us to build our lives together. It’s time to toast to that.