...more to say

My baby is getting married two weeks from tomorrow! What a handsome young man he is. An exemplary one too. He has found a bride to match. Cynthia is a bright penny. She is full of energy, has excellent goals, a high value system and she loves her family. I believe she already loves ours too. Besides all of that, she is absolutely darling.

I don't know that Scott has found one negative thing about his future wife. She has found one, the same and only thing that I ever found to nag my son about, procrastination. I'm looking, with anticipation, to see if she can help him overcome this small inconsistency in his otherwise shiny armor. It's a hard call, if I was a betting woman, I wouldn't know where to throw my money. After all I've tried a long time to help him overcome, but she is one strong cookie, and she has some loving techniques that just might do it................I'll keep you posted.

Good friends, Ken & Tina Pratt, have lovingly offered their home and backyard for the celebration. They are working like crazy to make a beautiful venue even more perfect. It is high on the hills over Temecula so it will be a lovely August evening wedding. The only negative is it won't hold all of the people we would all like to come. There are so many friends who, like me, were waiting for this day, and so after the honeymoon I am going to have a party to introduce the newlyweds to those who are unable to attend the actual wedding.

Scott proposed high above the ground in a hot air balloon. How romantic! See he did get all those sensitivity lessons I pounded in his brain. When they touched ground both families met them and we celebrated with fruit, crackers and cheese, lots of tears and hugs. Cynthia has a delightful family. It's so hard to believe we lived just a few blocks from them for both of their lives.

Scott had a crush on Cynthia in high school, and they worked together at PetSmart for quite awhile, so they had a good friendship. He didn't make any moves for two reasons; 1) he was a shy guy, and 2) she had a boyfriend. Apparently she had thought about him since then as well, but somehow thought he was married and living in Utah. Imagine her surprise when she learned he was a police officer in Chino. Imagine his surprise to learn that she was a teacher working for the Chino Unified School District.

Now, I always like to push "Mom-power" so I will tell you that frequently over the past 15 years since he graduated that I asked him if he had seen Cynthia, knew what she was doing or if she was married. As a matter of fact when I was trying to persuade him to get on Facebook I said something like "You never know you might find some long lost friend, like Cynthia Allen." Sure enough she contacted him over Facebook after she found out he was in Chino when he stopped a friend. He just gave a warning, not a ticket.....what a nice cop!

Well that was the start of the romance in February. There was no easing into it, they were just meant to be. They allowed for re-evaluation up until the 24th of February, but then it was full throttle into "head over heels". Some people are surprised to hear they are marrying after such a short courtship, but those of us in the family have been expecting, and even planning since that first month because it was that obvious.

In addition to this bit of happiness, they also signed papers on their new house yesterday. So they are beginning to move furniture from his Lake Elsinore home, and her Chino condo today. It is a house they plan on living in forever, and they plan on filling the rooms with lots of children, which makes this Gramma very happy. As you can tell I am already so happy about this new daughter-in-luv who is going fill Scott's life with boundless joy!

Today, I am also thinking about another daughter-in-luv, Sarah. Today is her birthday! Happy Birthday Sarah. When I called her today to sing "It's your birthday shout hooray, I want to sing to you today, One year older and wiser too, Happy Birthday to you!", she was just getting ready to take a trip to St. George. Marque is taking her for a special weekend. He has some great plans to help her celebrate her special day. No one knows how to celebrate like Sarah. She loves having fun, and planning to have fun. What a special lady she is. Words fail me when I try to describe how I giggle when I think of Sarah. She sings in the shower, she knows every word to every musical, every Disney movie and can join in that strange language that Marque, Jim, and Scott speak when they have conversations in movie quotes. She is quiet. and so her sense of humor is quiet, but unbelievable. She cracks me up with her one-liners, quietly said, but packed with so much wit. She is the best mom, and just relishes every moment with Leah. I hope she has more kids, because they will be lavished with love. She is perfect for Marque and balances him amazingly well. Together they are an awesome team. You can tell how much I love this daughter-in-luv. They only thing that keeps her from perfection is being so far away. Happy Birthday Sarah!

Since I'm singing the praises of my girls, I certainly can't leave out my first daughter, Samantha. I didn't blog on her birthday I guess, and that was a sad oversight because she was my first daughter-in-luv. She is the one who first fulfilled my desire for a shopping companion, a confidant, a buddy, an emotional, sensitive, FEMALE! I never have to worry about my boys knowing how loved they are....that's the point.....they probably get tired of all that mush and are glad they have all given me wonderful daughters to focus the gooey stuff on. Samantha said in one of the cards she gave me that I was her best friend. That touched my heart because we all hear the "mothers-in-law" stories....and there is nothing more awesome than to have your "daughter-in-law" find something to love. I'm so glad Samantha lives closeby because though we rarely have time to take them as often as we would like, we love our "girly" time. Samantha was the first to call and see if I was okay yesterday on our anniversary date. She knew it might be a tough time. Thanks Sam!

So first we had Samantha and her birthday is June 24th. Sarah was the 2nd and her birthday is July 24th. We told Scott he needed to find someone with an "S" name whose birthday was on the 24th as well. Believe it or not (S)ynthia's birthday is February 24th.......now that is fate!