Kanoelani Lopez and Manuel Lopez shared the same last name and even a few classes at Waipahu High School.

Now they share lives, too.

"I trip out," said Kanoe, 25. "I never thought we'd end up with each other."

Manuel, a year older, hung out with the popular guys in school. Kanoe was the shy varsity tennis player.

They hardly talked in high school.

Then in October 2001 — two years after Kanoe graduated — they ran into each other at a party in Waipahu.

They started talking and exchanged phone numbers.

"I was so over the whole (single) scene," Kanoe said. "I wanted to settle down already."

The two quickly became a couple, hanging out at Kanoe's apartment in 'Aiea and cruising at the beach.

"We were pretty much together every day after that," Kanoe said. "It was weird."

Just three months into dating, Manuel asked Kanoe if she would move with him to California, where his family was living. She agreed and packed her bags.

"I wanted to get away from here," said Kanoe, who was born and raised in Waipahu. "I wanted to experience something else."

Manuel worked as a painter for his uncle in Los Angeles. But a month later, the couple decided to move again, this time to Arizona to live with his aunt.

A few weeks after the move, though, Kanoe fell ill. She started experiencing chest pain, numbness in her face and shortness of breath. She didn't know what was going on. "I thought I was dying," she said.

The couple returned home and Kanoe went through a series of tests.

The diagnosis: depression.

Despite the suffering, the experience, she said, brought them closer together.

"He was helping me fight this," Kanoe said. "He was always there for me."

Manuel got a job as a porter at the airport. Kanoe started working as an A-Plus leader at Kanoelani Elementary School.

They lived at her parents' home in Waipahu.

For about a year, they didn't talk much about marriage. They were just enjoying spending time together, whether it was hanging out at home or at Sandy Beach.

"We were together and there was nothing wrong with it," Kanoe said. "To be honest, we just wanted to see what was going to happen."

Then in August 2003, their lives changed when Kanoe became pregnant.

"It was a shock," she said. "But we were happy. We couldn't believe this was happening."

Their parents wanted them to wed before the birth of their child, but they decided to wait.

They moved out of her parents' home and into a townhouse in Makakilo.

Kristian Lopez was born on March 31, 2004.

"I was so excited," Kanoe said, smiling. "It wasn't that hard to me. ... He was such a good baby."

Now raising a child, the couple started to talk more about getting married. But they didn't think they could afford a wedding.

Manuel took a job at the Pearl Harbor shipyard in October 2004. Kanoe started working at the Navy Child Development Center.

In August 2005, the couple got another surprise: Kanoe was pregnant, again.

They decided to tie the knot after the baby was born in March.

Wearing an ivory dress she found at Ross Dress For Less, Kanoe exchanged vows with Manuel, who wore matching tuxedos with their oldest son, on Oct. 22, 2005, at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park. About a dozen close family and friends attended the ceremony.

Now living in a townhouse in 'Ewa Beach with two sons, Kanoe and Manuel feel being married hasn't changed their relationship much.

They still go to the beach — though now to the Ko Olina lagoons as a family. And they try to spend time together without the kids.

"It's hard, though, to find a babysitter," Kanoe said.

But the one thing they never forget to do is say, "Good night, sweet dreams and I love you" every night.

"We can have the worst day and we always say this to each other; it's a ritual," Kanoe said. "The love we have for each other is just so strong."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.