The Brief Story of Us

Well it all starts back in 2nd grade,,,oh wait, I said this was brief. Cynthia and I met while we were working at Petsmart in Chino. Yes, we went to school together at Don Lugo, but she was too cool to talk to me (just kidding). We got to know each other very well while we were supposed to be working and we each developed a respect for the other person. By respect, I mean I had a crush on her, but she had a boyfriend at the time. I was either the good guy or a chicken, depending on who you talk to, and I never asked her out or even made mention I liked her. So after a couple years, Cynthia got smart and left Petsmart and I stayed there for another 5 years.



Flash forward 13 years . . . I'm working as a traffic cop in Chino when I pull over someone who recognized me, but I didn't recognize. Sorry Michelle. Michelle told Cynthia I was around and according to her, was excited to find out about me. Meanwhile, my Mom and brother, Jim, convinced me to join the masses and make a Facebook account. I did the bare minimum to get an account and pretty much nothing more. Two days later, Cynthia asks to be my friend. And the rest is history . . . which I'm going to tell you.



I was suprised to see she was single because she and her previously mentioned boyfriend won "Most likely to get married" or something like that. She though I moved to Utah, got married and had a couple kids. Don't know where she got that from??? Anyway, we went on our first date on February 5th, which I refuse to call a date even though we never dated anyone else since then. It was our "catch up date." But, yes I did pay. Our 1st official date was two days later and our 2nd date was two days after that. About 3 days later I received a phone call from Cynthia asking if I wanted to go to San Francisco with her that very weekend. I love travelling and I was digging Cynthia, so I went. We had a great time. We learned a lot about each other because we both had the opinion to lay everything on the table and take me or leave me. Obviously we took.



The unorthodox relationship timeline continued. We went on several vacations and trips together with several different people and everyone of our respective friends said the same thing, "You guys are perfect for each other." We went through the state and national parks with my brother Marque and Sarah in April of 2009. Marque went so far as to predict we were going to get married and we had only been dating for 2 months.



One day in June 2009 I was doing homework when I took a break and started looking at houses on the internet. I did this periodically to see if the dream house pop up. Cynthia asked me if I wanted to take a longer break and go drive around neighborhood in the Eastvale, or unincorporated Corona area. We drove around for about an hour grabbing flyers and looking at houses with for sale signs in the yards. My intention was to buy a foreclosed or short sale house. We came across a house that we both immediately recognized as our dream house. In fact, that night, Cynthia found an artists rendering of that model house and saved it as our background on her computer. That was a Tuesday, I think. On Saturday we spoke to the realtor in the NEW home model and put down a down payment for the house. The house was already built so it had a move in date three weeks later.



I already knew I wanted to marry Cynthia, but I didn't want to move into a house, un-wed. I don't think it was a big suprise to Cynthia that I was planning to marry her, but I tried to make how I asked her a suprise. One summer day, I took Cynthia down to Temecula and suprised her with a hot air balloon ride. I thought I was going to be creative and have a big sign come down from a neighboring balloon asking if she would marry me. Turns out I wasn't that creative. The company I booked with had an engagement package. We went up in the balloon and the chase car followed us until the right time. The pilot lowered the balloon and the driver of the chase vehicle held up a sign that said, "Cynthia, will you marry me." Guess what? . . . She said, "yes".

We landed in an empty field and had some snacks while the pilot and the chase truck driver packed up the balloon. We were shuttled back to Wilson Creek Winery and walked into the garden area where we were met by both of our families. That was incredible. The support from our families early on a Saturday morning meant a lot to both of us. We ate some snacks, talked then did some wine tasting. It was an incredible day.

A few years prior, I met a fantastic couple through a buddy from work; Ken and Tina Pratt. I don't talk to the buddy who introduced me to them, but I made some life long friends. I can not say enough about these two people. They are the nicest, smartest, most loyal and most humble people I have ever met. From day one they have exemplified friendship. They offered for us to have the wedding in the backyard of their beautiful house overlooking the Temecula Valley. It was an offer we couldn't pass up. Once the plan was set, Kenny, began work in his backyard. He turned his backyard into one of those yards you see in Home and Garden. It was gorgeous. He made every plan and design around how it would look for my wedding. Cynthia and I can not thank them enough for all the time, work and money they put into making our wedding perfect. He might not have been able to complete the backyard on our short timeline if it weren't for the help of Jim, Samantha, Hailey and Madyson. My mom was even out there a couple times digging in the flower beds. We have such incredible friends and families.

In 2-3 months time we got engaged, bought a house, got married and got pregnant. Yes, I know. We figured we would get all of the really stressful things a couple goes through out of the way in the beginning. Thank you for visiting and check up periodically for updates on our little angel, Grace.

(I will return to this post and add photos, but I wanted to get this one posted. I started in on June 5th or something.)