#YouMayNowLucasTheBride

Scott and Amanda met in 2016 at the University of North Dakota. Scott was finishing his Bachelor’s in Communication and Amanda was in her first semester at UND working toward her PhD. The two were teaching assistants in Dr. Kalbfleisch’s Interpersonal Communication class working alongside 4 other UND Comm students (who would later all be referred to as TK). Amanda said, “I remember our first introductions, and Scott’s name caught my attention; I had to actually remind myself multiple times he wasn’t Lucas Scott, but old One Tree Hill habits die hard.” Scott graduated in December 2016 from UND and moved back to Minneapolis at the end of January. A few days later, after hating being away from each other, Scott officially asked Amanda to be his girlfriend. The two managed the long-distance relationship with surprise trips up to Grand Forks for hockey weekends, and holiday weekends down in the Cities anytime Amanda had a long weekend. Scott moved up to Grand Forks to be with Amanda while she finished her Doctoral program in April of 2018. He left his family, his home, and the vibrant city of Minneapolis to be with Amanda in the frigid, smaller town of Grand Forks (Amanda’s two dogs were definitely a selling point on the move).

Unbeknownst to Scott, Amanda was planning a surprise birthday trip to Mexico in 2019. In her head, she thought ‘oh, this will be the perfect time for Scott to ask me to marry him!’ Scott laughs at this now saying, “she thought I was going to ask her to marry me on a trip I didn’t even know about!” With Scott’s birthday trip set for the end of May, Amanda went about her end of the semester routine; going to class, teaching, having meetings. On May 2nd, 2019, Amanda was planning to meet with her advisor at 3PM for ‘literally 10 minutes’. Scott was supposed to be at work until 5PM that night, so Amanda didn’t think anything of her 10-minute meeting that turned into an hour long meeting. What she didn’t know, though, was that Scott had scheduled to get off work early that day and was waiting at home for Amanda by 3PM ready to ask her the biggest question of their lives. Around 4:20 Amanda unlocked the front door and gasped. “There was red stuff all over the floor, and Winnie (their beagle) had recently started shredding the lid of our red trash can. I thought ‘oh my God, this dog ripped apart the entire trash can!’” But it wasn’t a shredded trash can at all; it was rose petals. Amanda walked to the counter confused and saw a vase of fresh roses. Scott walked from around the corner and Amanda ran over to give him a hug for the sweet gesture. “Go look, there’s a card,” Scott told her. ‘I love you most’ the card read. Amanda picked up the card and smiled, still missing the ring box sitting behind the card. Scott nodded back in the direction of the box and Amanda gasped, “Wait... is this... is this really happening? Are you doing this right now?!” Tears filled Scott’s eyes as he grabbed the box, opened it up, and asked Amanda to marry him. “I don’t remember what I said, I don’t remember if he put the ring on me or if I did... I was so completely surprised - - so shocked by the whole thing!” “He did a great job,” Amanda beamed smiling up at Scott.

Scott and Amanda currently live in Grand Forks, North Dakota while Amanda finishes her PhD at the University of North Dakota and teaches at Northland College. Scott works at Altru hospital, quickly becoming a favorite amongst his department. The two are kept even busier with their two dogs; Winnie a 6-year old couch potato beagle, and their new puppy Sophie, a 1-year old Shiba mix. The two pups couldn’t be more different, but Winnie is training Sophie that this family takes naps, and Sophie is training Winnie in how to play like a real dog! Most nights are spent working out and watching reality TV (Big Brother, The Masked Singer, Love Island), but on Fridays they’re definitely at their favorite brewery in Grand Forks; Half Brothers. On Saturdays they cheer for the fighting Sioux and the Arkansas Razorbacks, but Sundays are reserved for the Minnesota Vikings. Sometimes Amanda tries to sneakily re-arrange a random room in the house if she can get to it before Scott stops her :) “I have never laughed as hard as I do with Scott. Life is just easy with him. It’s the best feeling knowing I get to spend every day with my best friend, whether we are crazy busy with work, or just relaxing watching TV, life somehow always feels right with him”