How we met
Jake and I both grew up in Arizona but had no clue who the other was. We attended separate high schools and were two years apart in both school and age. Come the summer before my junior year of high school, jake and i went on our very first date. It wasn’t just any date – a blind date. A date i swore i would never go. All i knew was his name and that we were going hiking in the middle of summer. If you know anything about arizona, the summer’s can get up to 120+ degrees…miserable. And he was about to take me hiking in the middle of the day?!! Leading up to him arriving to my house to pick me up i was so nervous. As soon as i heard the knock at the door my little sister hollered “olivia!!! your boyfriend is here!!” with both my dad and jake hearing her. I opened the door and holy crap. He was perfect. Perfect height, smile, hair…but i thought it was too good to be true. I guess i would wait and see how the rest of the date would go.
Our first date was definitely what started it all. We hit it off and couldn’t be separated. Not only did he catch my eye, it felt as though we had known each other for years past. Conversation and laughs came so easy. At the time, jake had a mission call to serve a mission for our church in argentina. He was to leave 4 months after we met. We spent the whole summer having picnics by the lake, enjoying our vacation to newport beach where he told me he loved me, country dancing, watching an unlimited amount of movies, going on too many late night dairy queen runs and taking far too many pictures. It was the picture perfect summer.
When the time came for jake to leave for two years we both knew we would see eachother again. Although it would be really hard, it would all be worth it in the end. While jake served his mission in argentina for two years i was back in arizona writing him letters and finishing up high school.
After two years of only being able to write letters and emails, jake returned home to me august 4th, 2016. It was the happiest, most nerve racking day of my life.
how they asked
After not being together for two years, jake and i both knew we wanted to get married. We just knew we didn’t want to be apart for longer than we already were. For a solid week, Jake had me convinced that the weekend of October 29th we were to go camping up at Big Lake, AZ. One of my favorite places in Arizona to relax, fish, and not worry about doing my hair nor makeup (hah!) I was excited to get away and spend time in the mountains.
The night before we were to leave, Jake came over to help me pack. I was throwing flannels and old jeans in my bag, ya know, the essentials for camping. Not to mention I may or may not have thrown in a few hygiene containers that definitely exceeded 3.4 fl oz and I think that’s when jake knew he had to tell me the ACTUAL truth to where we would be traveling, or at least HOW we were planning on getting there. Then, while he was sitting right next to me, sent me a text with a picture of a plane…and put “hint hint” as the caption.
Stinkin’ boy had me convinced we were going camping! I repacked and quickly replaced my 3.4 fl oz liquids with smaller containers because, you know, airport security. 4 am rolled around, we loaded up the truck and headed to the airport, still clueless as to where the heck we were headed. “Stockton Metropolitan Airport.” I had no idea where that was…
Turns out Stockton is in Northern California, 30 minutes outside of a small town called Oakdale where we would be staying with his aunt, Janet. The whole time, Jake had me convinced that his aunt had invited us to stay at their home to enjoy a little time away from home. He had me thinking the whole time he hadn’t “had time” to plan the proposal. I had zero expectations and was ready to enjoy a little time away with Jake and his cousins. The few days we had there were spent exploring and enjoying the rainy weather.
Then Saturday, October 29th rolled around. Jake woke me up and told me his aunt wanted to be our tour guide for the day. We quickly got ready and headed out the door by 8am. From Oakdale, we drove an hour to the most stunning place I’ve ever seen, Yosemite National Park. We drove 30 minutes to the falls and made numerous stops off the side of the road to snap a few pictures. I still can’t believe how beautiful the trees were. How often do we see seasons in Arizona?! never.
After finding a place to park and venturing through the park up to the falls, we found this stunning, quiet spot next to a creek with a breathtaking view of the falls. As I was minding my own business not even paying attention to Jake or the crowd behind me, I turned around to see that everyone had vanished and heard J asking me, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” I realized then what this whole trip was about!!! Janet was standing to my right tucked somewhat behind a tree with a camera facing us. Then he made the move and dropped down on one knee…from then on I was on cloud nine.
We were FINALLY engaged. The ring was perfect. He is perfect. The whole proposal was perfect. When we returned home, we were welcomed with hugs and a congratulatory cake. It was delicious and we were just so grateful for our hosts. Jake couldn’t have pulled it off without them! Basically, it was the best weekend of my life. It all seemed like a dream.
