Hayden and I have enjoyed hiking together on multiple occasions so it wasn't exactly a surprise where he chose to propose. We drove out to Matthiessen State Park in Oglesby, IL the last week of March (on one of the only nice days we had that month). Matthiessen is not a very large park so we were able to cover all of it in probably an hour and a half. We went off exploring and saw waterfalls and streams and talked for a long time about the different rock patterns carved out by the water.

When we made it back to where we came in, Hayden pulled me away to keep walking because we forgot about our tradition! We pick a tree and carve our initials into it whenever we go hiking together. After walking another half mile, we find a spot off the path where no one could see us and Hayden began finding the best way to carve into the tree. When he was finished and we admired his handy work, he made sure we were alone and dropped down on one knee to propose and I, of course, said YES! It was a wonderful moment that we will both remember forever :)