Erik and Sarah met in the most romantic way of the era: Online. Hinge to be exact. Sarah was intrigued by his tennis interest. Erik swiped for Buster (but stayed for Sarah).

The second and third dates were two nights in a row, where we explored Madison and Erik kept Sarah out past her 9pm bedtime. She fell asleep on the car ride home.

We took a spontaneous mid-week trip up to Door County. A round of golf was a no brainer. Pulling up to the first tee with the older couple we were paired with, Erik hands Sarah a bag with a new golf glove and two balls: one red, one green. The golf glove said “Will you be my girlfriend?” Sarah grabs the green “YES” ball without hesitation and walks up to the tee. She goes to put on the glove and it’s for the wrong hand… Ope. Now she’s flustered, running back to get her old holey glove. She tees up the green “YES” ball (Erik is thrilled) and shanks it right into the trees (Erik is no longer thrilled). After searching, we had to accept the ball was lost. Double Ope. We turn to each other laughing and say “What a start to a relationship!”

2.5 years, many rounds of golf, dealing with COVID every time we travel, and a first home later, here we all are :)

Erik doesn’t enjoy hiking as much as Sarah, but Easter weekend 2024 he suggested going to Devil’s Lake for a hike in order to prepare for their hiking adventures in Hawaii in June. Sarah was thrilled! Little did she know, this was the start of Erik’s carefully planned preparation for the proposal.

A week later he suggested we go again, but this time at sunrise - one of Sarah’s favorite things to do with Buster. Sarah was thrilled again and was starting to feel like she finally converted Erik to a hiker (spoiler: she didn’t). We planned all week and Erik talked about bringing his tripod to get a Timelapse of the sunrise.

On the morning of April 13th, we (Buster included) woke up early and made the drive to Devil’s Lake. We hiked to the top to Sarah’s favorite spot and setup the blanket and tripod to watch the sunrise. There was no one else around and it was a peaceful morning. After sitting for awhile, Erik gets up and says he’s getting breakfast from our packs. He asks Sarah what she wants and she says “Surprise me”. After some rustling around in the bag (the ring was already in his pocket), Erik tells Sarah to turn around. She turns and he’s on his knee with the ring. The sun rose right at that moment.

All of Erik’s preparation worked because Sarah had no idea and was completely surprised! His first words after she said yes were “good, no more hiking for me now”.

The surprises continued as they made their way down the bluff. Tiff and Doua were waiting with champagne and donuts to celebrate! More happy tears were shed.

It was the perfect proposal.