New years eve 2012: Before Eric & I parted for winter break (he was going to Maryland, me - Jersey), I revealed that I was spending New Years alone since everyone else had plans. A few days later (New Years Eve Eve), I found out that Eric had booked a surprise flight to Jersey to help make ringing in the new year a little more magical. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me, and we weren't even dating (yet!). That night, as the ball was dropping, we talked about the possibility of dating and each other's plans for how we'd hope our lives would go the next 3 years. They were very similar plans, so we decided to give dating a try and make it official.

Fast forward almost 4 years later: We went to visit the spot we first hiked at when moving to California - Purisima Creek in the beautiful Redwoods. It's a hot summer day in the beginning of July and we invite friends to join us on our adventure, so I definitely considered the thought of him proposing but figured he wouldn't with all the people around. Most of the group breaks off except for our one friend (conveniently with a camera in hand) but I still didn't think anything of it. I go to take a photo and when I turned around Eric was down on one knee asking, "would you please, be my wife?". It was the cutest thing ever and I bursted into happy tears. It was the moment I've been dreaming about since that new years eve night. I said yes and after a year of being engaged, we finally have a countdown to becoming Mr. & Mrs. Baukhages!

You can watch the proposal here!