Back in 2011 we were first introduced at a backyard get together of a mutual family friend. Unbeknownst to us at the time, our parents knew all the same people but never had met before so in all likelihood we probably crossed paths at some point as little kids. Amanda went off to finish her degree at SF State while I flipped pizzas back in Redlands. When she came home, we reconnected through friends and house parties. Becoming of legal age to enter a bar without a fake ID(sorry mom!) we started to see more of more of each other. I became affectionately known as the “21 year old” to Amanda’s friends and her being a couple years older than myself, was obviously robbing the cradle. Having extensive knowledge in cake decoration I made our relationship official in the summer of 2013 with an ice cream cake. Soon after we moved in together to our Buena Vista back house apartment with the ugly green carpet. We made it a home by welcoming a tiny rescue kitten, Bernie who soon became a terror, but that’s a story for another day. We spent around 4 years in our little home and filled our time with friends, music festivals and Friendsgivings. Oh what we would give to pay that low rent again… With my office closing in Redlands in 2018, I jumped on the opportunity to continue my work in LA. We took the plunge and even brought Amanda’s sister, Brooke, along with us for the ride. By this time, I had made Amanda a true Dodger fan, to the detriment of her mental health, so we spent a ton of time(and money on micheladas..) in Blue Heaven watching baseball. Combine that with countless shows, hockey games and nights out eating amazing food, I don’t think we could have lived much better than that. So we come to May 2022, almost a decade of dating..,and no proposal?! I know I know, we are getting there. We had a camping trip to Mammoth planned with my mom and stepdad John so I thought this would be perfect, perhaps a little predictable, but this is a place we both know and love. I had already had a ring made at this time and told just about anyone who would listen and keep a secret since I was so excited. May 16th, the day was finally here. I had my mom make up some excuse that her dog Bodhi needed to go to the vet so we had a reason to go without them. I asked her to marry me while taking in the views of Convict lake(a favorite spot of her grandparents). She thankfully said yes after I had been dragging my feet for years. And to my delight, she was actually surprised! She had scoped out my gym short pockets before the hike and thought there was no way a ring was in my pocket. Little did she know, I had a slim custom ring box made just for the occasion. Thanks Landon! The fun didn’t stop there, we met up with my mom and John at Mammoth Mountain brewery to toast the incoming nuptials. Amanda was feeling bad about her family not being included but I luckily was able to plan for her parents and sister to be there when we arrived. I think she was more excited to see them than the actual proposal! We spent the rest of the day laughing and drinking and spent the following day on the lake. Success. Since then, Brooke ditched us to move to Austin, Amanda has been thriving as a teacher and we brought a wonderful dog, Freddie into our lives and we are so excited to continue our journey together. We love all of you and cannot wait to party with you 😊