They met in 2016 while Sara was working the front desk at Embassy Suites, and Cody was working as a barista at Blue Collar Baking in between fire seasons. Sara would frequently come in the mornings to get a bagel and chat with Cody. While Cody was away in Puerto Rico, he got a Facebook message from the front desk girl inviting him a party. He wouldn’t be back in time to make it, but told her he’d let her know when he was in town, and maybe they could do something else. True to his word, as soon as he was back in Portland he told her, and she invited him to a housewarming party, shout-out to Hannah - Matron of Honor. They spent most of the party neglecting the other guests and getting to know each other over a bottle of tequila in the kitchen. The next day was Super Bowl Sunday, and Sara, barely knowing Cody, took a chance and agreed to join him at one of his friend’s house to watch the game. Neither one of them knew right away what that would all become, but from that moment on they remained nearly inseparable.
Cody left that spring for fire season. Throughout the fire season, Sara made the nearly 4-hour drive to Crescent to visit him, and it was there, in the woods of the Deschutes and around Crescent Lake that they began to fall in love.
When Cody returned that fall, Sara became an unofficial roommate to him and Keenan. They did everything together, and began to make plans for their future, which included getting their own apartment, and then, of course, a dog.
In the spring of 2017, Cody and Sara took off for a two-week road trip. Their first stop was Out and About Treesort, where they stayed in a treehouse for the night. After that they headed south to Napa, but not before stopping by Taylor’s Meats in Cave Junction—a favorite spot of Cody’s while detailing there during fire season.
In Napa they stayed with Gary, shout out to groomsman. They spent a few days there, wine tasting, site seeing, checking out the spots Gary suggested, and visiting San Francisco.
The next spot was Yosemite. Unfortunately, there was a closed road, so it ended up being a two-hour drive from their cabin to the park. The original plan was to spend a couple days down their driving to the park from the cabin each morning, but that two-hour drive made it much less appealing… After they got back the first night, Sara casually mentioned how close to Vegas they were. If you know anything about Sara and Cody, you’d know neither one of them has a good track record of ever turning down a Vegas trip. So, as beautiful as Yosemite was, the next morning they loaded up the car and headed to Vegas.
Sara got a free room at MGM Grand through some Vegas app she played. Being free, it was hard to complain too much about the fact that the room had what felt like 5-foot ceilings and looked straight out to a concrete wall. Sara managed to get Cody to gamble finally (he played a whole five dollars), and although the night wasn’t particularly lucrative, it was epic, nonetheless.
From Vegas they drove to Zion where they met up with Cody’s college friend Christiana, and her, now fiancé, Dylan. The four of them found this beautiful spot just outside the park on a rocky bluff where they set up camp and spent the next few days exploring the park. The four of them even made it to the top of Angel’s Landing without anyone falling to their untimely death. Christiana and Dylan left a couple days before Cody and Sara. Zion was amazing, even when it decided to grace the two of them with an epic wind event, which threatened to steal their tent from under them.
Not far from Zion, Cody and Sara hit up Arches and Bryce Canyon next. They had originally planned to camp, but didn’t have great luck finding a site, so opted for a hotel instead, where they could get a shower and sleep in an actual bed.
Reno was the next stop, where they stayed with one of Sara’s closest friends, Heather—shout out to Maid of Honor. They spent the days exploring Reno, and the nights hanging out with Heather, Scott, and their friends.
After two long, but incredible weeks, which, to their credit, didn’t include a single argument, the two of them left Reno and headed back to Portland.
Two weeks and about 3500 miles…Thanks for letting them use your car Sonja.
Taco needs no introduction. He has more Instagram followers than both Sara and Cody, he gets recognized by people who neither Cody nor Sara have ever seen, and he’s, basically, the sweetest and greatest thing to grace the earth since Daniel Tiger.
A 160-pound dog was Sara’s idea, and although Cody was reluctant, he didn’t want to shatter her dreams of having a Saint Bernard. And, let’s be honest, it’s not exactly like he has any power to tell her no… Nevertheless, Taco turned out to be amazing, and Cody and Sara were instantly in love.
Taco was an epic gift from Sara’s parents. He was originally named Shep, and actually came from a family in Minnesota. Cody and Sara weren’t keen on the idea of flying him out to Portland, so they devised a plan to drive out and get him. Conveniently, the family was about to drive from Minnesota to Alaska, so they all decided to meet in Montana to hand off Shep. Cody and Sara drove to Montana, got little Shep at the hotel, stayed the night, then drove back to Portland the next day.
Taco’s laid back and passive now, but he was the cutest, most fiery little fluff ball when he was little.
They get asked all the time about how they came up with the name Taco. So, here it is: they just did.. They started a list of dog names before they found the dog, and the list included what were far more normal names, most of which revolved around booze. But while they were coming up with dog names, they randomly began referring to this hypothetical, future dog, as Taco. It was never the intent to name him Taco, that was just a place holder until they found something more suitable. But, as the time approached to pick little Shep up, they hadn’t come up with anything that excited them, and so Taco stuck.
When you’re lucky enough to meet him, if you haven’t already, you’ll see just how perfect the name Taco is, for their giant baby.
Cody and Sara got engaged on November 24th, 2018. Early in their relationship they began talking about how fun it would be to stay in a fire lookout tower in the winter. They’re pretty hard to book though, because they’re in such short supply, since everyone wants to stay in them. They rent 6 months in advance, and book the second they’re online. Well, one day Sara was looking online for campgrounds and came across two available dates for a lookout tower, the weekend after Thanksgiving. They booked it on the spot and began planning. Cody had been planning to propose, but hadn’t figured out when or where. So, when they booked the tower, it seemed too perfect.
The morning after Thanksgiving, the two of them drove up to the Clear Lake Cabin Lookout on the southern slop of Mt. Hood. There was no snow on the drive up, but they knew there was some in forecast. The cabin on the tower wasn’t anything special—a 14 by 14-foot room with a bed, a kitchenet, and a woodburning stove. But it sat 40 feet above the ground with absolutely indescribable views of the Cascades. They built a fire, and then used a little bucket on a rope to haul the rest of their stuff up to the room.
That night, while sitting around inside the cabin by the fire, it began to snow. And snow… and snow… By the morning, the snow was above the bumpers of Sara’s Subaru. Both of them were a little nervous about how they were going to get out, but that was a problem for the next day. That day they ran around in the snow, made food, and snowshoed. In the morning Cody suggested that they take some cute couple photos out in the snow. His plan was to propose at that point, but he figured he’d give her an excuse to get cute for pictures.
Sara had no idea she was about to get engaged, but she said in retrospect, it was odd that Cody came up with the idea to get dressed up and take “cute couple” pictures.
They found a good spot, and Cody had Sara sit on a bench, while he went and set a timer on a camera. When he walked back, instead of taking a photo, he got on his knee and asked Sara to marry him.
For a while she just said, “shut up,” but eventually she did say “yes.” It was a beautiful day for both of them—the views from the tower, the snow, everything was perfect.
The following day, they were relieved to see the Subaru conquer the snow and crawl them down the mountain and back to Portland. They spent the drive home starting the planning of their wedding and the start of their lives together.