They first met at an acro yoga class Francisco was teaching during a spring festival at UC Davis. Neither of them thought too much of it, but the connection was sealed in their memories. After that, their paths continued to collide. Katie would see Francisco zoom past on his bike, or Francisco would catch a glimpse of Katie just as she was exiting a class. Serendipitously, fate intervened and they finally had a class together. After more formal introductions over sculpin fish and sea stars (they were studying intertidal zones in Bodega Bay), Francisco played the classic move of asking Katie to study with him. Spoiler alert: it semi-worked!

Originally, Francisco denied that he asked Katie out on that first date, even though Katie specifically remembers him saying, "would you like to grab a drink downtown with me?" It only took about six years for him to admit that he was already head over heels and that it was clearly a date. After drinks downtown at University of Beer (an establishment Katie's parents would question her about when seeing her bank statement), Francisco brought Katie to his favorite place on campus: the special redwood tree in the quad. After some persuasion, Katie begrudgingly agreed to climb up the tall tree with Francisco, deciding that she was just a little smitten with him, too. After a long conversation watching over the stars above and quad below, Francisco helped Katie down (imagine getting a cat out of a tree) and Katie biked off, determined to not miss her early morning frog laboratory. They would go on to have many more exciting dates, including but not limited to: breaking and entering into the campus pool, backpacking the Trinity Alps, and many trips to the gelato shop.

Francisco asked Katie to marry him at the very top of a cliff called the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Katie suspected this might be the day when she noticed a box-shaped object protruding from Francisco's backpack. Francisco wasn't sure this would be the day when halfway through the cold, windy hike Katie mentioned she was hangry (hungry + angry) and it was realized that they had forgotten all of their food. Towards the end of the hike, the cold mist dissipated to reveal a sunny, warm view of Skye's coastline. They both knew this was the moment. Francisco said "hmm maybe we should stay here and admire the view a little longer" and Katie, suddenly forgetting her hunger, said, "okay, sure!" After waiting for a tranquil moment, Francisco popped the question. It was a beautiful moment, made even more special by the smell of hot dogs that wafted to them as they finished their hike. A Scottish man in a little painted snack cart greeted them sweetly. As the dark clouds rolled in and the chill returned, they didn't seem to notice for they were too busy eating the best hot dogs of their lives, together.