December of 2022, Julia and Carson traveled to Aptos, CA for a quick weekend trip. Carson had been pestering Julia for a while to go to Aptos for a weekend. Julia was a little suspicious because Carson is not much of a planner! The weekend was stormy and windy, but they decided to go to Julia's favorite breakfast place, Little Swiss Cafe, in Carmel. When they arrived they were surprised to see that the restaurant was closed. Julia and Carson drove around for a while trying to find breakfast but everything seemed to be closed. It finally dawned on them that the power had gone out for the entire city of Carmel. They finally settled on Carmel Bakery which was open because they had a back up generator. After breakfast, Julia and Carson made the decision to go down to the beach despite the rain and wind. They could barely keep their eyes open as the wind was blowing so much sand into their eyes. After about 15 minute they gave up and Julia suggested they go to a bench overlooking the water. The overlook was not any more protected by the wind and Julia wanted to leave. Carson all of sudden got very nervous and asked if they could stay five more minutes. Soon enough Carson was on his knee proposing with a gorgeous ring he had kept in his jacket pocket the whole time. Julia immediately said yes!

Julia transferred to UC Davis right in the middle of the pandemic, and was living on campus. Julia was taking online classes, with only one science lab that was in person. Carson had moved back to Davis after graduating from Cal Poly SLO and was living in an apartment less than a mile away from Julia!

In October 2020, Julia's roommates pressured her to create a Tinder profile. She originally made the profile out of curiosity, but eventually landed on Carson's profile. Carson was cute and Julia thought he was over six feet tall (Carson is not). Julia and Carson joke today that his tinder profile picture cat-fished Julia! Carson's first message to Julia was that she had a beautiful smile. Carson was intrigued that Julia was majoring in Plant Biology. He quickly secured a date and suggested they meet at the Davis arboretum to walk around. On the date, Julia was immediately shocked by Carson's deep voice. They ended up walking for four hours that day! According to Carson, Julia was very awkward and reserved, but he kept wanting to hang out as he was curious to get to know Julia better. They continued seeing each other until finally in January Julia asked Carson to be her boyfriend. Carson obviously said yes!