Aaron and Angela met in September 2012 on a Thursday night at Air Lounge in Oakland, CA. It was a "stir" event--a mixer that match.com hosts for members. Aaron had recently moved to the Bay Area from Iowa and wasn't looking for anything serious, and it was Angela's idea to attend the stir event more so for a girlfriend than for herself. After the girls spent time talking to a series of very strange/uninteresting guys, Aaron approached them and introduced himself--Angela thought he seemed normal enough. Aaron shared that he was a former radio station DJ, which Angela thought was cool. Aaron then mentioned he'd recently done stand-up at an open mic at Dirty Tricks Bar in San Francisco. That surprised Angela because her brother's friend, Damon, was a bartender there. Aaron was able to corroborate that he knew Damon so she knew this Aaron guy wasn't a liar. Angela then asked Aaron to tell some jokes and Aaron of course obliged. He also did impressions of Christopher Walken and Arnold Schwarzenegger (which Angela later found Aaron does for everyone!). Aaron was happy Angela laughed at his jokes, and they talked for awhile. Meanwhile, Angela's girlfriend was talking to another guy but came back to check on Angela. Before going to the event, the girls agreed if they needed to be pulled away from a particular guy, they would ask the other if they needed to go to the bathroom. If either girl said yes, it was a way to escape from that guy. Angela's friend asked if Angela needed to go to the bathroom, and Angela said she didn't need to--that's when Aaron knew he had a chance (Aaron later shared he knew about the bathroom test and bragged about passing it!). As the night got late, they all got hungry and went to eat at Gold Medal (a late-night Chinese restaurant in Oakland Chinatown) where Aaron got to show off his novice chopstick skills and curse at his runaway food (haha)! At the end of the night, Aaron got dropped off at BART and asked for Angela's number. The rest is history!

Aaron surprised Angela with a 2-night Yurt getaway to Yosemite for Valentine's Day. He secured the last open weekend in March, which is typically end of winter in Yosemite so weather was a gamble. With fingers crossed, they drove up Friday with their pup, Luna, and arrived to the sun shining with a fresh chill in the air. They were blessed, as the previous weekend AND following weekend it snowed! They settled in, and Aaron made a nice fire outside and while Angela cooked dinner in the yurt's kitchenette. Saturday morning they set out to explore Yosemite National Park. It was Angela's first time visiting! Awestruck by the landscape, the couple set off to capture photos of all the beauty the park had to offer. They started by visiting Bridal Veil Falls (legend says couples who visit end up getting hitched soon after!). Next, they climbed rocks at Lower Yosemite Falls, and then made their way to the famous Ahwahnee (now Majestic) hotel for lunch. After lunch they decided to take the Vernal Falls hike even though it was late afternoon by then with limited daylight remaining due to the time of year. This was one of the few hikes available and they were determined to hike the trail. With snow still on the ground, they trekked past closed camps and roads to finally reach the trail head. With a steadfast pace and time crunch, they made it to the Foot Bridge fairly quick. They decided to keep going all the way to the falls (Aaron thought it would be a nice proposal location!). Unfortunately the rest of the trail was closed due to snow so they were forced to turn back. On the way back, Aaron stopped Angela before the foot bridge, turned her around, and told her how happy he was to have her and conquer all the adventures they had together. He said he wanted to go on the greatest adventure with her next... He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him! She said "Yes!" The next day, since dogs aren't allowed on trails, they took Luna to the valley to play in the snow! :)