Jeff and Lisa got Married 10/17/10: Proposal

Jeff and Lisa became engaged at about 12:15am on Jan 1, 2010. Here's how it happened.

Jeff's Description...
I had the night planned in my mind for a good 3-4 months. I didn't actually buy the ring until a few days before and I didn't set anything up too early either. I was hoping for a total surprise. One of our first dates was exactly 1 year before and we went for a midnight mountain bike ride up Crafton Hills. I figured she'd want to do that again so I let her suggest it to increase the surprise element.
The night started with me picking her up for dinner. I brought the camera to capture moments from the night, but that wasn't really a giveaway as I'm always taking pictures. Lisa brought all her stuff for the ride with her. We went to Hello Sushi and had our own little private room. After dinner it was back to my house to change clothes and play a little Guitar Hero. Lisa realized she left something at her house so before heading to Crafton we had to go to her house to get it. We were already running a little late so this put us even further behind. The goal was to get to the peak by midnight.

Once we got to the Crafton area and parked we were off. I had all kinds of nervous energy built up knowing what was to come, plus the fact that we were a little late, so I was riding like we were in some kind of race. Ordinarily I'm doing well when I can keep up with her on the bike, but this particular night I kept leaving her behind. I was trying to stay calm and relaxed but it was tough. We end up getting to the top about 10 minutes after midnight. We missed our target time, but were still able to see a few fireworks.

After we were there a few minutes Lisa went to get the Hot Chocolate out of my bag. I stopped her and then proposed. The look on her face showed me she was clearly surprised and she quickly said yes. I then pulled out the small bottle of champagne I'd snuck up there in my bag and we celebrated. We then completed the loop down the singletrack on the backside of Crafton. It was an amazing night and an amazing feeling riding the singletrack knowing we'd just gotten engaged (plus it's not often you ride a trail at 12:45am after drinking some champagne).

Lisa's Description...
After working I got home and got ready to celebrate our one year anniversary. Thankfully the cell phone I ordered for Jeff's present arrived the night before. I wasn't too impressed with my ebay special, but figured I could return it if Jeff didn't like it. We went for Sushi at Jeff's favorite place, which was nice. Then back to Jeff's for some guitar hero, just like we did exactly one year ago. I gave him my present and he said mine didn't get here yet.

Letting it get too late we finally packed up to drive to Yucaipa, our starting spot for our ride. I had to stop back at my house for something so our timing kept getting worse and worse. The drive took longer than Jeff estimated as well, so it was like 10 minutes to midnight and we were just getting on our bikes to ride up to the Zanja peak. Jeff took off like he was racing! I was on a single speed that I wasn't that comfortable on so I was feeling disappointed that he wouldn't come ride with me. He seemed nervous that we weren't going to make it for midnight, I was more in the mood to enjoy the ride. We met up with a steep shortcut to the top, and Jeff said we only had a few minutes so we started the hike a bike. Not my favorite activity, it was hard! We saw a few fireworks when we were about half way up.

Then finally at the top we arrived a little too late... oh well. I asked Jeff to get out the hot chocolate we brought up in our new mini thermos. He told me "Just a minute Lisa" that got my interest. What am i waiting for? He was fumbling around with things in his back pack and got something out, even in the bright blue moon I couldn't really see but something was different. Then he got on one knee and popped the question, "You know I want to spend the rest of my life with you..." I started shaking, holy cow. "will you marry me" After some emoting I got the word yes out. Then out came the champagne and a blanket to sit on and cuddle with. Who knew Jeff was so romantic, just kidding he always has great ideas and is very thoughtful. The pictures tell the rest of the story.

Pictures...

Jeff picking Lisa up to start the night.