9 years ago while in college, at a 4th of July Celebration, Eric and Amanda locked eyes from across the room, and as cliche as this sounds, it WAS love at first sight! They began their courtship simply by Eric escorting Amanda to her classes and waiting for her when Track practice was over.  Within 4months of their first meeting, they were already “exclusive” and Eric was pronouncing his love and asking for permission for Amanda’s hand in marriage from her parents! By the following September, they held a beautiful wedding on the banks of the Kings River in Reedley, with their families and closest friends in attendance.  Shortly after the wedding, they moved to Reedley to be closer to family.

     After being married for nearly 10 years and having 2 children (their daughter and son), the couple are still as giddy and much in love (if not more) as they were when they first met! They refer to their little family as “their kingdom” with a King, Queen, Princess, and Prince in their own private “royal court.”  They celebrate two anniversaries a year: their wedding (Sept 14th) and the day they met and fell in love (July 4th).  They are described by their friends and family as the most “in love and fun-loving couple” around!

      Eric and Amanda never go to bed without kissing goodnight and saying, “I love you.”  They never leave each other’s presence without saying, “I love you.” They still always walk-together, hand-in-hand, and catching a quick “nuzzle” or steal a kiss as much as possible! And they playfully tease each other constantly, keeping their relationship light-hearted, fun, and spontaneous!

I went through a bad break up the summer of 2009, and after I felt good enough to date again, I found Omar on Facebook and sent a friend request. He accepted, and wrote me an email saying “Alyssa! How are you? When did you move to LA?” Shocked that he knew my name, I responded “I moved to LA two years ago for school, but am graduating in a year and will be moving back to Reedley.” And after a couple of weeks of exchanging emails and texts, he messaged me and said, “When you visit next weekend, do you want to consume some calories with me?” I was so excited, I texted my mom that I had finally gotten a date with the guy of my dreams.

     It was the weekend of August 15^th 2009, and after church, we headed to Fresno for lunch at PF Changs and Ice Age 3 for an evening movie. I knew leaving my sweater in the car would give him an opportunity to put his arm around me to keep me warm in the cold theater. I kept hinting at the fact that I was cold during the movie, and he not knowing it was a date, looked over at me, lightly punched me in the arm and said “That sucks for you.”

     At this point I thought that was a bit immature, but I really liked him and thought he had good intentions. So I swayed my hips a bit more as I walked throughout the day, and we walked around RiverPark, drove around Fresno to kill time and hang out some more, and as Omar started to figure out that the

day was turning into a date rather than just friends hanging out, he asked me if we wanted to rent some movies and go back to his parents’ house and watch them the rest of the night.

     After sharing our first kiss that night, we then shared a difficult experience of a one year, long-distance relationship from Reedley to Santa Monica. We now live in the same neighborhood in Reedley, and have been inseparable ever since, and are currently planning a future together, with wedding plans in 2015.