About Us

How We Met and Our Story Plus Enjoy the Pictures Below (some pictures are from the Engagement Shoot at the Bad Urach Waterfalls in Germany :) )

Our Background:

Crystal Grijalva was born and raised in the United States in El Paso, Texas, while Klaus Schwachhofer was born and raised in Germany in Stuttgart, Baden-Wuttemburg. Crystal has one brother named Arthur Grijalva and an honorary brother she calls second brother named Patrick Simmons. Her mother, Maria del Pilar "Mona" Grijalva , was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, while her father, Arthur Grijalva, was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. Klaus is an only child. His mother is Simona Schwachhofer and his father is Michael Schwachhofer. 

Crystal works for the U.S. Government as a Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian and an Air Force Reservist. Klaus is an Automotive Engineer. Crystal graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science and commissioned as an officer in the military where she worked as a Scientist and Acquisition Program Manager before leaving active duty to now serve her country as a DoD Civilian and Air Force Reservist. She also completed her Master of Science from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Klaus completed both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (specializing in Automotive Engineering) from the University of Stuttgart.

How We Met:

Crystal had taken a U.S. government job overseas for the first time and arrived in Stuttgart, Germany, on Aug 2014 in order to travel and see where she came from as her grandmother “Oma” was born and raised in Mannheim, Germany. This was Crystal’s first time in Germany/Europe.

Crystal and Klaus met while he was celebrating his birthday with friends in his hometown of Stuttgart, Germany, on July 1st, 2015. They immediately bonded over several common interests to include travel, basketball, and other adventures and sports. They enjoy hanging out with family and friends and go on adventures all around the world. They also love to hike, run, play ball (basketball), and do water and winter sports together. He even taught Crystal how to ski (no snow where Crystal is from) even though he snowboards. :)

Reunion:

Crystal left to work in Hawaii on June 2017 for 2 years while Klaus finished his Master’s Degree. Klaus luckily got to spend time with Crystal each year in Hawaii (some of it even with her parents when they also visited), to include 3 weeks in 2017, 3 months after his graduation in 2018, and a separate visit with his parents in 2019. While in Hawaii, they loved traveling to neighboring islands, snorkeling/diving, going to the beach, hot tubbing, and watching the fireworks every Friday night with family/friends. Crystal took another job in Stuttgart, Germany and arrived Oct 2019 in order to be reunited with Klaus. They got engaged shortly thereafter on Feb 8, 2020, in the Black Forest at Lake Titisee and have been happily together over 6.5 years. Their initial plan of wanting to get married August 1st, 2020, was derailed by the Coronavirus pandemic and had planned to get married on May 1st, 2021 only to have to move it again due to the pandemic to April 30th, 2022 (we are happy to finally celebrate our wedding with you).

Klaus Visits Crystal’s Hometown:

Klaus was able to visit Crystal’s hometown of El Paso, Texas, in the United States for the Christmas and New Year’s break from Dec 2018 to Jan 2019.  The rest of Crystal’s family and friends, to include her Oma, were able to meet Klaus in person for the first time and her Oma approved of Klaus and kept saying he was so handsome, respectful, and so tall (6’5” aka 195cm). It was very important for Crystal to have the rest of her family and close friends meet Klaus and get her Oma’s approval since Crystal’s parents had already known Klaus well and love him (Crystal’s dad even calls Klaus “Hero”) and Klaus’ parents accepted Crystal with open arms and even take care of her as if she is their second child all the time she has known Klaus and lived in Germany.

Crystal & Klaus Adventures Around the World (18 Countries Together, 31 Countries Total)

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