Many people say that soccer brings people together, and for our love story, this is 100% true. Jesus and I met through pickup soccer. He was fast. I was fast. A good start. We were always cordial, but our friendship truly came to fruition in the great outdoors. After a few hiking trips with mutual friends, our friendship naturally fell into place. He was funny. I was silly. The interest was building. We quickly realized we loved spending time with one another. It was easy and just felt right. There was never a dull moment between us. As I got to know Jesus more, I came to admire how respectful, kind, and selfless he was (and still is). He was an incredible friend from the beginning, always looking out for me without expecting anything in return. A few months later, Jesus officially asked me on a date. A true gentleman. Even more intriguing. Cut to our first date to see the Christmas lights in Sacramento's Fab Forties. Jesus prepared Mexican hot chocolate for us, and, remembering that I have the worst circulation known to mankind, brought hand warmers for me. That attention to detail and intentionality struck me. We walked the Fab Forties for hours, but it felt like minutes. I got home from that date with a million butterflies. I fell hard. And he did too. Needless to say, we made things official shortly after this date. And here we are now, preparing to make it even MORE official through the covenant of marriage in front of our dearest family and friends.

I knew I wanted to propose outdoors because we got to know each other while hiking with friends when we first met. I knew I wanted it to happen during the Fall because it so happens to be both of our favorite season. We like the colder weather, the changing color of the trees, the outdoor walks while drinking a warm drink. I also knew that I wanted it to happen with no one around, no digital evidence, just Jenna and me in nature. A memory that only the two of us will forever share. We had plans to go up to Tahoe this fall of 2025 on a weekend trip to visit and have dinner with Jenna’s cousin and his girlfriend that Saturday. We decided to go up early and walk around before meeting for dinner. Little did she know, we were trying to find the perfect place to propose. The first hike was a bust. Little to no fall colored trees, and way too sunny and hot. After driving around trying to find a decent hike, we decided to go on the other side of Donner lake. There we found a shaded, secluded path that had a few beautiful trees on the side. On the way back to the car, after checking that we were the only ones on the path, I got down on one knee next to a yellow tree, and finally asked the question. Jenna suffers from a self-diagnosed condition that she calls “sausage fingers”. When her fingers are cold, they tend to swell up. After she said “yes”, we had some trouble trying to fit the ring on her little sausage finger. We were both very excited. Jenna shook from all the adrenaline only for a few minutes, and for the rest of the day she showed off her new ring to every car that drove past us. Needless to say she loved her ring.