They say to keep a marriage strong, date nights and humor are important things to do. As well as the occasional surprise. For one Philadelphia couple, all three of those things came during a fun painting activity for a date.

Christina Kelley said she and her husband, Ryan, have been together since 2016. The pair met online, she said, and from the moment they first talked they both knew they would end up together.

The pair have been married for two years and just recently began trying for a baby. “I had this super vivid dream that I was pregnant. That Monday, I took a pregnancy test and found out. I didn’t say anything yet because I wanted to kind of confirm it. The next day, I took another, more official test, which confirmed it,” Christina said.

Ryan Kelley patiently painted his wife’s portrait, while Christina worked on a different sort of painting. Photo from TikTok

The happy mom-to-be told only two friends, knowing she wanted to surprise her husband. She had an idea based on something the couple had talked about before.

“We’d already been talking about doing each other’s portraits because it was a big trend earlier in the year for couples. They were really funny and we were always sending them to each other. So when I was thinking of how to surprise him, that came to mind,” Christina said.

“I texted him that day like, ‘I’m going to go to the store after work to pick up the paint supplies and canvases. We should do this tonight.’ He was like, ‘All right, sounds good.’ So I set it up for that night.”

Ryan, completely unaware of what Christina was painting, took his job seriously, his wife laughed. “I had to kind of make up colors to match colors of what he was wearing and stuff, so he thought I was actually painting him,” she laughed. “I had to make up details as I went along because he was being a perfectionist about mine.”

Ryan Kelley portrait of his wife, Christina. Photo from TikTok

After about three hours of painting and laughing, they were done and ready to share their pictures. Confusion, Ryan said, was his first emotion. “I didn’t realize this until I watched the video back myself afterward, but you can tell by my facial expression that I went through it,” he said, laughing.

“I thought she was punking me and just didn’t paint me, so I went from annoyed — because I just spent all this time painting her to surprise her and I was excited. I didn’t process what her canvas said at first, so I thought it was just like a ‘Gotcha.'” “Then I realized what it said and I was very surprised. Then it turned to excitement and happiness,” he said. When it was time to tell the grandparents, the couple kept up the surprise announcement. 

Christina’s finished painting. Photo from TikTok

“We got each of them scratch-offs to tell them. Everyone was super excited. There were lots of tears. It was a really good time,” they said. Once everyone who needed to know had been told, the video was posted on TikTok. It quickly went viral. 

“I don’t think either of us expected that amount of reaction to the video. It’s all been really positive and exciting. Seeing all the different reactions has been amazing. I’m glad that we did post it and have gotten to have that moment,” Christina says.

The couple held a more simple baby reveal. “I’m due Dec. 30. We did an intimate gender reveal cake cutting, just the two of us,” Christina says. “It’s a boy, which is what we both wanted for our first. Our baby will either be the last of Gen Alpha or one of the first babies of Gen Beta. It’s really exciting.”

Source: People