Noah and Jena have known each other for almost a decade now. They first met in sophomore year at Torrey Pines High School, having a few classes together and some of the same friend groups. HOWEVER, whenever someone asks how they met, and is expecting some cool or interesting story where Noah totally swept her off her feet, it’s actually that they just had classes together and were going through the awkward years of high school when they became friends. Noah and Jena ALWAYS preface the answer to the question of how they met with “we met in high school, but DID NOT date, so no we were not high school sweethearts by any means.”

After graduating high school, Noah and Jena lost touch. Noah attended the University of Colorado Boulder and Jena attended the University of Alabama, but both ended up back in San Diego not too long after. After leaving their first colleges, Noah transferred to San Diego State University and Jena transferred to the University of San Diego! It was through their very close friend, Lane, that they all reconnected in 2018. Noah and Lane were living in Pacific Beach during this time and they all began hanging out regularly; it had been a few years since Noah and Jena had seen or talked to each other. It was through this that a deep friendship evolved. Noah and Jena found that they were so similar in a lot ways, had the same interests, hobbies, goals, passions, and some of their very first solo hangouts were hikes around San Diego talking each other's heads off about life and what they both wanted in their futures. They both knew there was a strong connection, an attraction, and just more there, they both just didn’t think they could pursue it. It was hard to deny that they wanted to be more than just friends… they made it “official” in March of 2019.

We will try to stick to high-level details because this story could go on! Noah, through the help of his soon-to-be sister-in-law, Alex, and one of his and Jena’s best friends, Chandler, began formulating the immensely difficult task of somehow not letting on to Jena about how or when he was going to propose. Not. An. Easy. Task. Before diving into the details of the day, let’s backtrack to the few complex things Jena always mentioned would be a must before proposing. Her father Scotts blessing, her hair done, she had to have her self-tanner on and had her nails done, and of course, a cute outfit on. Somehow, out of all of those things listed, asking Scott for his blessing was the easiest one! The rest were no easy undertaking. The nails were tricky and, unfortunately, Jena did not want to get her nails done that week, so we just had to push forward! Making sure she had a cute outfit on strangely came down to Noah picking her outfit out and her actually listening to him (for once) instead of spending three hours getting ready and changing through 18 different outfits. Luck was on his side; thank goodness, because they had to beat the sunset! So, on Saturday evening, November 19th, they finally make it to Sunset Cliffs, and are about to catch a beautiful Southern California sunset. The place was PACKED and Noah had no cell service. Noah was slightly worried about the photographer not being able to find them; however, again, with luck on his side, she found them right away. And most comical of all, Jena kept commenting that “people probably think we are about to get engaged” or "we just look like we are getting engaged." And yet, Jena was still oblivious to it actually being the moment of truth, so you can imagine her pure shock when she turned around to Noah on one knee. From there, Noah was trying to get Jena to a more secluded spot where he could ask the most important question up to that point in his life. However, Jena was proving to be difficult and unsure of why Noah was acting weird about wanting to keep trekking along the cliffs to a private spot. Finally, after a long walk, without the photographer being seen, Noah finally popped on one knee and asked Jena to marry him. You can imagine the pure shock Jena felt after she made all those innocent comments and here Noah is actually down on one knee, ring in hand. It wasn't till probably a couple of minutes after that she said "yes" because of the absolute shock. Somehow, someway, it all worked out and she didn’t have the slightest clue that he was going to propose then and there. I'd say it was a success!