Alyssa and Ryan saw each other for the first time at Cal High in the English department staff lounge when Ryan came in and asked for water. Alyssa had no words for Ryan because she was star struck by the good looking man that just walked into the door. She would later be described “as red as her top” by fellow co-workers, that soon nick named him, "hot sub." Towards the end of lunch, Ryan came back into the staff lounge to return the cup he borrowed. As Alyssa was washing her dishes, he kindly said, “hey, I like your shoes.” Months would pass before they had their actual conversation, at no other than a Cal High fire drill. A mutual friend was talking to Alyssa when Ryan came up and joined the conversation about Lab puppies. Once the fire drill ended, Ryan promptly walked Alyssa back up to her classroom, both enjoying the conversation. She would later gush to co-workers that she talked to “hot sub.”

After the awkwardness that is Alyssa when she first starts dating, Ryan wanted to take her out on a first date. She was given three choices to choose from: Off The Grid, the 49er museum, or a bike ride and lunch. To no surprise, Alyssa chose the 49er museum. Dressed to the nines in her elementary size Jerry Rice jersey, Alyssa awaited Ryan’s arrival. He picked her up right on time with flowers in hand and they headed out to Levi Stadium. They went through every room in the museum with excitement and curiosity; about each other as well the exhibits. After seeing every inch of the museum they decided the date must go on, with some Mexican food, one of their favorite foods. The conversation flowed like they’d been on dates so many times before. As the meal wrapped up and handful of mints were taken, it was off to the next adventure. After a stop at Target for a little errand, Alyssa and Ryan spent two hours in Target’s outdoor furniture section just hanging out and chatting! After the realization it had been so long, both agreed it was time to head back home. Once at Alyssa’s driveway, she did not want the date to end, so she just never got out of the car, and they just kept chatting. Catching on to this, Ryan suggested cheesecake. Off they went to the Cheesecake factory for their fair share of dessert. As the night came to a close, Ryan took Alyssa to a park he knew that overlooked the valley. There, they just hung out, laid on benches and talked more about their life, childhood and dreams. When a date last 12 hours, that’s a pretty good sign that you might be able to put up with each forever.

The couch is very much part of the big moments in Alyssa and Ryan’s story. Early in dating, Alyssa was over at Ryan’s house one evening watching a movie. They had been dating for a while now but still had not had their first kiss yet. As the movie was playing, Ryan decided to go for the first move and kiss Alyssa. He got her attention, slowly lifted her chin up and they had their first kiss on the couch. Months, later, on the same couch Alyssa and Ryan were having in depth life conversations where all of a sudden Ryan went quiet. At the time it gave Alyssa a lot of anxiety because Ryan left his sentence with “I have to tell you something.” Alyssa then looked at him and knew it was important. On that same couch Ryan said “l love you” for the first time. As Alyssa made sure she heard him correctly, she agreed and said “I love you too." From then on, they were on the same page as well as the same cushion.

Alyssa was in Sacramento at a work conference. Ryan was at home coaching football summer camp. Alyssa had stayed with mutual friends during her stay in Sacramento; one of which is a photographer. Before her trip Alyssa was asked by Megan to help her be a model for her photography. Thinking it would be fun to mess around and grab dinner, Alyssa agreed. When Alyssa’s conference was over for the day, she met up with Megan to have dinner and then head to a bridge Alyssa suggested to take the pictures. As they walk up the sidewalk to the bridge there was a chalk drawing of the Up house written underneath “adventure it out there” not thinking twice about it, Alyssa thought that was really cute and reminded her of Ryan; because after all they are adventure buddies. Not wanting to ruin anything, Megan strayed her away from the other drawings. As we started the shoot, Megan was trying to get the perfect light, little did Alyssa know Megan was waiting for Ryan to give her the go ahead. After sitting on the bridge ground for a pose, Megan instructed Alyssa to stand up and face her at all times. As Alyssa moved her hair out of the way, she turned a little to the side and saw Ryan down on one knee asking her to marry him. Waiting for her brain to catch up Alyssa was surprised because not only was Ryan in Sacramento, but now asking her to marry him. For what seemed like an eternity, she finally answered with a "YES!!!"