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Empire Ranch

Neighbors

February 2014

Cover photo: Melissa Goodland Photography

First Came Love for the

Mouras

Resident Feature

Meet the

Moura Family

First Came Love, Then Came … Baseball?

If

there were a recipe for happiness, the Mouras have mastered it with ingredients of love, family and athletics. Greg Moura (market development manager at PepsiCo) and Bethany Moura (claims supervisor at Mercury Insurance) first met in the high school/college youth group choir at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church. One year later, they found themselves thrown together again at American River Junior College. They decided to take matters into their own hands and promptly began dating. Greg and Bethany both planned to finish school at ARC and transfer up to Chico State University. They continued dating throughout their college careers and both graduated in 1994 (Greg with a degree in communications and Bethany a child development major). After graduation, Greg wasted no time in popping the 4

question. “We had been together for five years, so probably about four and a half years before I proposed I knew I wanted to marry her,” Greg said. “We went out for six months; I was 20 years old and I bought her a promise ring for $100.” The night of Greg’s first big company dinner at Rudy’s Hideaway restaurant in August of 1994 was also the night he would ask Bethany to marry him. After the dinner, the two went down to the beach at the old Folsom Dam. As Greg pretended his contact lens had dropped in the sand (his, now obvious, guise for getting down on one knee), Bethany was quick to want to kneel down and help him find it. Urging her to stay standing, Greg asked Bethany to marry him.

Marry they did on June 24, 1995 in front of 250 family and friends at the Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church, where the couple first met. And that ring Greg proposed with 19 years ago? It still resides in its rightful place on Bethany’s left hand. Unlike so many women who choose to upgrade their wedding rings as the years pass, Bethany refuses. “I just love that this is what he picked out 19 years ago,” she said. Continued on page 6 February 2014

Love: check! When Greg and Bethany thought about where they wanted to live and eventually raise their own family, they knew nothing could come close to what Folsom has to offer. It has a small town feel which reminded them fondly of Chico and the proximity to their families was another huge selling point. The support system Greg and Bethany have in the community is a large part of what attracted them back to the area. Bethany’s sister (and her family), her step-brother (and his family) and her mother and step-father all live within two square miles 6

of each other in the Empire Ranch community. Bethany’s father lives close by in Citrus Heights and Greg’s parents are also right around the corner off Sutter Street in Folsom. The first home they purchased in Folsom was in the Broadstone area. They eventually moved into their current home in the Empire Ranch community in 2001, when their oldest son Justin was 20 months old. Justin, now 13, and Matthew, 10, make the family circle nearly complete. Just as important are the many pets they have taken in over the years. Lucy, their three-year-old Golden Retriever, joined the family

in 2009 and two years later the one and only Buster Posey (feline version) came on board as well. In addition, Matthew has taken it upon himself to include a variety of reptiles in the family as well. He has a bearded dragon, three leopard geckos and a blue belly lizard. During the summer months he will also collect other critters for a week or two at a time before releasing them back into their natural habitat. Bethany said Matthew is known throughout the neighborhood as the reptile hunter. “It serves him well to live in this area where he can run around in different fields and have room to explore.” He has even been known to catch a king snake and place it around his neck, wearing it like a bowtie.

February 2014

Family: check! With family vacations and most activities centered on some athletic

event, the Mouras are the epitome of a sports-loving family. Greg and Bethany grew up loving sports, both as athletes and spectators (Greg played baseball, basketball, ran cross country and track & field and Bethany played basketball). The family follows the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants, Sacramento Rivercats, Sacramento Kings and the Boston Red Sox (Bethany was born in Boston). The fact that Bethany was born in Boston surprises a lot of people, Greg said. People are also surprised when they learn of Greg’s one year stint as announcer for the Harlem Globetrotters and that he ran the Boston Marathon in 2006. Both Justin and Matthew follow in the Moura family footsteps, participating in numerous sports all year long. They have both been involved

in baseball, the Folsom Soccer Club and Folsom Junior Eagles football program. Justin also participated in wrestling at Folsom Middle School and was of-age and able to umpire games through the Folsom American Little League this past year (an organization that Greg is also involved in as a board member). Making it even more special, Justin’s cousin Hudson was playing on one of the teams during the first game he umpired.

Athletics: check! Some recipes are meant to be followed word-for-word. Others are flexible and may taste even better with an extra cup of something sweet. They may add a few things here and there, but it would be easy to say that without love, family and athletics, the Mouras simply wouldn’t be the Mouras.

916. 390. 6627 [email protected] MelissaGoodlandPhotography.com * mention this ad to receive 15% your first sitting fee

Empire Ranch Neighbors | Folsom

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