We met as sophomores in high school. I was new to El Cerrito High School and Danny had his clique of soccer friends. My one friend at ECHS introduced me to them one day as they passed by in the lunch court. Danny was the only one who introduced himself, while the other two just said "Hey". Later in the school year, Danny introduced himself again leading with a hand shake. I looked at him crazy because no one was shaking hands in high school and we had already met. After we all chatted about the upcoming weekend, he asked my soccer teammate for my phone number to see if he could catch one of my soccer games at State Cup. His soccer team was playing at the same complex as my team. We were texting before our games and he actually came to watch one of my games with his teammate. After that, we talked more at school and texted one another quite often. We started hanging out at The Plaza after school, while I waited for my mom to pick me up. We started dating shortly after and he met my parents. The rest is history!

I vividly remember stressing the night before the proposal because Elyza and I went to the Ice Castle website to buy tickets and it said, RESERVATIONS ONLY. I quickly clicked on the reservation tab and saw there were no reservations remaining for December 29th. My heart sank. Months of trying to plan the perfect proposal, out the door. My eyes began to water and Elyza tried to reassure me by saying, "It's okay, it's not a big deal. We can go next year." However, she didn't know that it was a BIG deal! She continued looking on the website and read, "Walk-ins allowed. Wait time will vary." She looked at me and said "Lets go early, I bet we'll get in". We arrived at the Ice Castles early on the 29th and waited in the freezing cold. I remember the reservation line being SO long and seeing everyone so happy they were going in. Meanwhile, I stood there with my body shaking of nervousness and sheer cold. Finally, they called for us and said it was our turn to enter. As soon as we made it to the tunnel entrance, my heart was pounding, I could feel it beating on my chest. We walked around the Ice Castles taking different photos. After countless photos, I told myself "This is it", but every time I decided it was time, I chickened out. I could tell Elyza was getting frustrated because of the cold. Then she said "Okay lets go!" I kept insisting we hadn't seen it all. We walked around toward the front and spotted a place to take a photo. I told myself its now or never. I asked a gentleman nearby if he could take a photo of us and he agreed. He snapped a few photos and was ready to hand my phone back. I said, "Could you take one more?" He looked confused but agreed. Then it happened, one knee on the freezing ground, my hands nervously shaking holding open the ring box and the words Will You Marry Me came out. Elyza looked at me shocked. She was speechless! I looked at her and waited what felt like an eternity. She looked down at me and said YES!! What a happy moment for us both!