We first met our freshman year of college at the University of Oregon. We ended up playing on the same intramural sports teams throughout our freshman and sophomore years. We never hung out outside of sports until the spring of 2012. I insisted that Jake came to our intramural soccer party at a teammates house one weekend. It was two weeks before finals but Jake was actually in his studio workspace working on his final project that night. He ended up coming to the party for a couple hours that night thanks to me pestering him. After that, we started hanging out more outside of just playing sports together and we had a blast growing our relationship that summer in Eugene. Fast forward to October 12, 2012; Jake took me out to Tasty Thai for our first official date. On a side note- that place is still my favorite Thai restaurant and I ended up working there briefly during my senior year of college! His plan was to ask me to be his girlfriend at dinner but he was too nervous. So he decided to ask while we were stopped at a red light on the car ride home in the 4Runner. And I said YES!

Jake and I travelled to Lodi to visit with Jake's family one last time before his sister moved to England with her husband. We would travel to Lodi a few times a year, so I didn't expect anything. My coworkers even asked me if I thought Jake was going to propose that weekend and I said no I didn’t think so... The first night in Lodi Jake's sister-in-law, Viv, brings out a whole basket of press on nails for us to do. We had done this on our last visit, and it was just a fun thing to do, nothing out of the norm (or so I thought). The next day was Saturday and the whole family planned to go wine tasting. This is one of our favorite activities to do in Lodi and we go every time we visit. The ladies were getting all dressed up and I wanted to follow suit, but I didn't have anything to wear. Viv had this perfect white maxi dress she hadn't worn, and she let me wear it. So here I am with my nails done, I did my hair because we were on vacation, and I'm wearing a white dress! But still I had no clue what was going on. Meanwhile, Jake's sister, Sarah and friends were at Viaggio Winery setting up for the proposal. I was told they were out shopping so myself and the rest of the family were waiting at the house. Looking back, I could tell Jake was anxious and pacing around as we waited to leave. We eventually head to the winery and everyone meets in the parking lot. I'm still totally clueless to what is about to happen. We are walking through the winery, and I (finally) start to feel like something is happening! There's cotton blowing through the air and it looked so whimsical. We get to these big steps that lead to a giant lawn and I see rose petals atop a blanket on the grass. I finally figured it out! I start crying, typical, and Jake gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. I said "of course"! We popped some bubbly and spent the rest of the day wine tasting, taking photos, and calling our friends and family. It was the perfect day and the BEST surprise! <3