In December of 2018, Monika decided to crash (she swears she was invited) Jason Chappell's 40th birthday party in Denver. While we had never met before this weekend, Monika was quickly interested when Chris showed off his cocktail making skills! When we returned to San Diego, Chris asked Monika to dinner in Little Italy. They had a beautiful dinner followed by a concert at The Music Box.

On a weekend trip to Ojai, CA with friends and family, Chris had bigger plans than just celebrating Monika's birthday. Chris had Monika convinced that no proposal would be happening this weekend, but on Saturday evening after getting dressed up for their group dinner, Chris got down on one knee and proposed. Monika was caught completely by surprise and she said yes. They walked to dinner to share the news to the rest of the group before enjoying a wonderful celebratory dinner. Chris had the date of their engagement engraved on the inside of the ring, so this day was his plan from the start!!