We're getting married!

Zach and Sarah were in the same Algebra class when Sarah was in 7th grade and Zach was in 8th grade. For those who have not met Zach yet, he likes to drum. A lot. All the time. During math, Sarah needed to focus really hard during the lecture and would prefer silence. Meanwhile, Zach's brain had already processed every piece of information necessary and had moved on. Because of this, he was constantly drumming on the tables and talking to his neighbors. So for the first year of knowing each other, Zach and Sarah's interactions consisted primarily of Sarah turning around and glaring at Zach in efforts to end the constant drumming and talking. Zach would be silent for a moment, say, "Soooorry....," and stop. Five minutes later, the story repeats. Luckily, the two would have a little break from each other when Zach moved on to high school the next year- the later interactions were a little more positive!

During high school, Zach and Sarah shared many common activities- band, cross country, track, academics. They were friendly throughout, but started talking more during Zach's senior year and Sarah's junior year. When Sarah told Zach she was struggling in AP Calculus (this time we can't blame it entirely on Zach's drumming), he offered to tutor her for the test. They met up at the park and went through a few problems from Zach's workbook. When they were done, Zach told Sarah he had one more problem for her to do and flipped to another section of the book where he had slyly written, "Prom?" on one of the pages. Needless to say, she said yes! Moments after that, Zach looked down at his phone to read a text from his dad and then said, "My dad wants to know if we're going out to eat now." Sarah said, "I don't know... Are we?" And that there is how Zach asked Sarah on their first date. They went on to have a great first date at the Blazing Onion, and about a month later on May 25th, 2013 they made it "official" and became boyfriend and girlfriend.

On September 2nd, 2017, Zach popped the question! Sarah knew he wanted to go on a date that day, but he hadn't specified what he wanted to do. On that day, he asked Sarah what she wanted to do, and she said, "Suprise me." The "surprise date" began at the Blazing Onion- the location of their first date. After a tasty meal, they headed over to Dairy Queen for some ice cream to eat at their favorite park- Centennial Park. The park is often times very quiet and has a nice little trail with a view of some of the beautiful mountains of the PNW. When they arrived at the park, they started walking towards the entrance when Zach said, "I forgot my jacket." Sarah thought this was a little odd considering it was sunny and 80 degrees, but just said, "Ok," and began walking back to the car with Zach. However, Zach insisted that Sarah go claim a picnic table and not come to the car with him. Despite the fact that there wasn't another living soul at the park, Sarah reluctantly agreed and just thought Zach was a weirdo. It turns out today's jeans just aren't ideal for concealing a ring box in the pocket. After eating their ice cream, Zach and Sarah began their walk on the park's trail. To lead into his question, Zach asked Sarah if she was excited to move in together next week (they were moving into an apartment with friends near school). Sarah ruined it with, "I'm gonna miss my dogs." After another loop on the trail and a few minutes of conversation, Zach began to talk about living together again. At the top of a small hill, the sun was starting to set, and shining very bright at one small spot under a tree. It was in that little spot that Zach made his very sweet, heartfelt proposal. And of course, Sarah said YES.