The internet is apparently now where all great love stories begin. We met through the dating app, Hinge, with Jen reaching out to Chris about his captivating smile, and Chris reciprocating with appreciation for Jen's beautiful blue eyes. With cautionary tales of online dating, and 6 months into a pandemic to boot, we decided to meet in a public place for the first time - a local park in Snoqualmie, where we could easily walk to a coffee shop or restaurant. We chose Labor Day as that's when Chris was returning from a trip to Eastern Washington, and he'd essentially be passing right through Snoqualmie on his way home. Well, traffic and weather weren't on our side, so instead of an early afternoon meet up in the daylight, we met up later in that late summer evening, still at the park, but then the power went out so we were quite literally in the dark. Chris jokingly thought for sure that Jen was going to murder him since we were out in the "middle of nowhere" and it was pitch black. Jen assured Chris that she was not going to murder him, and that her well intentioned plans of being able to go out for coffee or dinner were sadly nixed when the hours got later. Needless to say, we hit it off, decided to grab dinner a few nights later at a delicious local diner in Bellevue, and we've been smitten ever since.

Jen and Chris have had many adventures together throughout their relationship, and while Jen is always up for trying new things, she has made her fear of heights abundantly clear. We were spending the week before Christmas in Palm Springs with Jen's family, and had talked about taking the Aerial Tram up to the top of the mountain to get some panoramic sunset photography. Being the photography buff that Chris is, Jen didn't bat an eye, and was actually quite excited about exploring the state park at the top of the mountain. Jen braved her fear of heights, and together we made the pleasant (and somewhat harrowing) 10 minute journey up to the top of Mt. San Jacinto in the rotating tram. The views were breathtaking, and despite it being about 30 degrees colder at the top of the peak with a fresh dusting of snow, (a factor that luckily we had prepared for with a quick trip to the store for Jen to get extra layers, albeit ridiculous looking), we set out to find the perfect spot to set up the camera for some panoramic shots. Realizing that some of the viewpoints were closed due to the ice and snow once we reached the top, Chris played it cool and redirected Jen into the woods to get some snowy pictures instead, which again, didn't cause any alarm because Chris has been known to wander anywhere for a cool shot. We made our way carefully into the snowy woods and finally found a beautiful rock formation that was framed perfectly by two trees, and decided to set up a photo timer to take a portrait of the two of them. Chris set up the camera, and Jen patiently waited for the frostbite to set in. Chris could tell Jen was getting frustrated because of the cold, so he hurried to join Jen between the trees. As she tried to pull him next to her so they could pose together, he surprised her by getting down on one knee, said "I love you, will you marry me?" Chris had to hold onto Jen's belt loop to keep her from backing out of the photo frame he had set up to capture the moment. It took Jen a minute to realize what was happening, and then she burst into tears and of course said "YES!"