We met while both attending UCSD. It was Josh's first year as a transfer and Hailey's last year as an undergrad. While the window for us to meet was small, fate was on our side. Or rather, a mutual friend named Eric was on our side. Eric had tried to set Hailey up with Josh earlier in the quarter. While the initial meet up didn't work out, a fortuitous exchange between Josh's fraternity and Hailey's sorority occurred on October 23rd, 2016. At the exchange, Hailey finally got to meet this "Josh" that she'd heard so much about. We ended up talking for hours that first night we met, and couldn't stop spending time together after that.

After a few weeks of seeing each other, we became an official couple on December 6, 2016. We spent many of our first dates going for hikes and doing photography together throughout San Diego. After spending just over a year in San Diego together, Josh studied abroad in China for four months, which kicked off our two year journey of being long distance. Josh was in film school in Syracuse, NY while Hailey was in nursing school in Irvine, CA. Finally, in February 2020, Hailey and Josh both got jobs in LA and moved in together, excited for all the fun things 2020 had in store for them... Despite everything going on during the pandemic, we grew a lot together: picking up new hobbies like running, reading, rock climbing, cooking, and, yes, bread making. We learned how to live together, and through that experience we both knew that we had what it took as a couple to go the distance.

For our sixth anniversary trip, we went down to San Diego and recreated some of our first dates.. We hiked around Torrey Pines State Park, where we went on first hike together; we walked around some of our old haunts at UCSD; we even walked around and did photography at La Jolla Cove, which is what we did on our first official date. Hailey thought it was just a nice weekend getaway trip, but Josh had bigger plans. After a day of walking down memory lane, we watched the sun set over La Jolla Cove. When we got up to leave, Josh stopped and turned to Hailey and said he had something important to ask her. That's when Hailey caught on to what was happening. Josh got down on one knee, gave a little speech that neither of us remember very well (so much excitement and nerves!), and Hailey said “Yes!” Suddenly, a crowd of people started applauding loudly. Knowing this was a popular place for people to watch the sunset, Hailey assumed it was just a group of strangers cheering for them. But once she looked more closely, she realized that the group cheering for them was their friends and family, many of whom had travelled from out of town and even out of state to be there. Josh had invited all of them to be present for the moment he popped the question, and we spent that night celebrating with them. And now we can't wait to celebrate with all of you!