Coincidence? I think not!

We met Sunni's parents, Bruce and Kandi Rogers, in person yesterday (Sunni is engaged to our oldest son, Nathan). They came to our house for lunch after attending a family baptism. They brought Sunni's little sister, Skye (she's five and cute as a bug's eyelash, as Blake would say).

We had a lot of fun getting to know each other and we never experienced any of those notorious 7-minute lags in conversation that happen among groups of people who are just getting acquainted. If you'd been there, you would have thought we'd known each other for years! Well, guess what--Kandy and Blake apparently have, even though they don't remember.

Kandy, Sunni's mom, and Blake, Nathan's dad, both lived in Bozeman, Montana in the 60's and attended the same (i.e., only) LDS ward. Their mothers, Sherri Jonas and Eleanor Swain, were really good friends and were pregnant at the same time with one of Kandi's brothers (don't know his name yet) and Blake's brother, Carl.

Tell me that is a coincidence. What are the chances that 30+ years later Nathan and Sunni would meet and fall in love at BYU?!?!?! The coincidences don't end there--that's just the most amazing one. Others include the fact that Bruce and I both worked for Novell at the beginning of Nathan and Sunni's lives--I started in 1986, several months after Nate was born and Bruce started in 1989, the year Sunni was born. Kandi and I are only 5 or 6 days apart in age. We have lots of shared interests--she wanted to be an English teacher and ended up being a nurse; I wanted to be a nurse and ended up being an English teacher. We all love Celtic music. The list goes on.

Like I said, this match can't be a coincidence. There are no coincidences.

Ding Dong Merrily

It has finally come to pass. I'm going to be a mother-in-law. Nathan proposed to Sunni and Sunni said yes. We've all been in a mild state of giddiness for a couple of weeks. You'd think the whole Swain Gang was getting married the way we all carry on!

They are "Two so in love, Two so in love," as the song goes. Blake and I are having fun watching Nathan and Sunni because they remind us of US when we were dating and engaged. We've noticed quite a number of parallels.

Reality hit Blake yesterday--he started realizing that Nathan has a new "center of the universe." We're no longer his main focus--Sunni is. Sad but true. They stopped by for a brief visit on Sunday (10 minutes). After they left, Blake and I had an epiphany--this must be what our parents feel like when we come for an hour or two and then leave! Bereft and lonely! We can better appreciate the "Come when you can stay awhile" comments we often hear as we're leaving.

Our life is taking on a whole new perspective--full of excitement but also touched with tender emotions.

Our House Is a Very, Very Fine House....

We recently had a home makeover--you wouldn't recognize the main floor, except for a few older pieces of furniture. We painted every single wall a new color, replaced linoleum and carpet with wood and tile, brought in new furniture and a new refrigerator, replaced the countertops in the kitchen, added a pantry, and added/replaced light fixtures and fans. It's amazing. My mother-in-law said looking at the pictures on Facebook reminded her of looking at pictures in a magazine....

We also started a new tradition--keeping things picked up and clean. Don't want to end up on the Messiest House show. Of course, from what I've seen, we weren't even in the running. I actually enjoy sweeping and dust mopping and vacuuming now (four medium to small rugs compared to 900 square feet of carpeting).

My husband says he loves coming home now. I will take that in a positive way and try not to think of what it implies about "then." I enjoy being home all day. (I did before, but it's more soothing to be at home without clutter and peeling linoleum and worn-out carpet.)