I heart weddings

Meet some of our dear friends we've met through JAMZ

My girl, Kimmy, whom you've met here before.  We first met through JAMZ I guess 15 yearsish ago and we were instant buddies.  Before we knew it, we were BFFs and have remained so ;0

Mike & Arie.  Micheal was hired at the JAMZ office about 9ish years ago.  We were buddies, developed a little love-hate relationship (sorry Micheal, my opinion, i know!) but I'm glad that before my time was over in the office, we really got to a place where we loved and appreciated and respected one another.  I love our inside jokes and great memories we've shared over the years. 

Arie is this beauty inside & out and an extremely talented dancer (that I would admire and be jealous of when she was on stage).  They are now a happy little family with a little man named Gavin that's about 20 mos - that we haven't seen since his bday!!-  Tyler and I heart these two ;0

Mario and Kelvin.  Oh these two boys.  Kelvin started with JAMZ shortly after I did and is just a hoot.  Everything is happy and great with him. all.the.time.no.matter.what.  Mario is something else;0  I didn't really get to know him until we were on a 13 day JAMZ Hawaii adventure where we had not choice but to be nice and become friends ;0  And for that, I'm glad.  He's my brotha from anotha motha - and please tell your mama I said hello, btw, if you're reading!  Tyler and I must come visit you guys soon;0 -

A shot of the girls.  You've met everyone here but Julie, who is on my left.  I have too many words for her...so to keep it short, she was my boss for 13 years, but most importantly my friend, sister and confidant during those years...and it was such a treat to get to spend an evening with her

Kimmy & her hubby Adam ;0  our view of them at our table

the amazing house up on a hill in Murphy's...

my handsome hub and I ;0

...in the gorgeous sunset

Heather Bee, sister of the bride and someone also very special to me.  She and Mike (from above) were hired at the same time, and I got to choose heather to be my right hand woman and we worked side by side the rest of my days there ;0  I got to train her in a lot of my areas as we'd pass around the jobs :)  But mostly I enjoyed sharing an office with her, getting to know her better.  How sweet she is with her dad (since I got to listen in on phone calls;0), how her mind thinks.  She also (along with her sis coming up below) helped me when I was going through my divorce and taught me to be a strong, confident and independent woman.  Mouthful, but really, I appreciate the nights and days we spent together and everything that she shared with me to bring me to a place where I could be myself no matter who, what, when, where and why. 

...and the Bride, Ms Hollie...she too was a part of the 13 day JAMZ Hawaiian adventure where she and I roomed together the whole time and divulged every inch of our souls to one another making us dear friends.  She's just as strong and independent as her sister and her influence during the same time frame was also a huge help for me.  She's a phenomenal dancer (her sis too!), and such a kind hearted and genuine individual.  Love her!

 

OH YEAH, the post title is WEDDING...what we were all gathered for ;0  Here is Hollie and her man Brian (who I picked for her hub the night we met him!;0)

...and the start of their happily ever after!!!

**Of course, they are all 'our' friends now; I just happen to be having my own moments while telling you about everyone today;0**

Emma's first prayer (on her own)

YAY!  I wondered when this would happen!  Emma is pretty good about repeating what we say during prayers.  Lately, she's been asking to pray several times while eating; sometimes at the time of getting more of something, or just because;0

Tonight, she asked "mama, pray again?  to Jesus" followed by a cutie of a little smile ;)  So I prayed with her again.  Specified some things about today that we are grateful for: Tia Cherrie and Caden for letting her come play this am/watch her;0, Tere, for watching her this afternoon, Tia Ann for giving Papa a ride home, Tia Diana for teaching Mama to make salsa, for Papa for making dinner (incase you were wondering what our day consisted of!)

A few minutes later, she asked "mama, pray again?" and I said, "Sure, what would you like to pray for?" When I've asked before she just repeats Jesus but this time she said the following (while I repeated after her;0)

"Jesus, thank you for toys, papa, mama (repeated papa/mama a few times;0), poo poo...A-MEN!"

Just melted my heart!  Had to document it, it literally JUST happened.  Have a fab weekend!

Recreating a Pic

SO...While in Indy, we got a little silly to say the least ;)  There was a photo hanging in the room that Tyler and I were staying in that caught my attention - it's a pic of Tyler & Crystal, and in the pic, Tyler looks to be about the same exact stage/age Emma's at - and SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM!!

I know, I know, she looks pretty much like his mini-me anyway ;0  But seriously, in this photo it's her exact face right now! So we brought it down to share and someone had the idea that since Crystal was around, we should try to have them recreate their pic...and OH MY..another great giggle work out for all!

The photo:

Here they are with the photo (so we could explain what was going on!)

They really studied it and practiced their faces...they were taking this very serious;0

...and we tried...

...over...

...and over...

Crystal had the giggles

and would make Tyler crack up eventually

they kept asking if they'd mastered it yet, and...when they saw what we saw...

...more chuckles, giggles and crack ups.  

Just one of the many silly times we had while we were together.  Love the memories! 

...and I'm pretty sure we were NOT successful :)  But you can be the judge.

Love Edition

Well, It's almost Valentine's Day, and I'm in the midst of creating posts from our Indiana portion of our trip and saw so much lovin' in pics, I decided to create a post with only sweet lovin', kissin' and huggin' pics from our trip :)  Enjoy...

We love and miss you all!

Special Gift from Grandma

Emma received an incredibly precious and special gift for her birthday.  Grandma Boyd made her a little dress, just her size, made out of material from one of HER dresses.  Amazing.  Talk about an heirloom to cherish for years and years...

A few weeks back, we went over to her house and took some pics in the beautiful dress.

Em crawled all around ;0

played with the dolly (she likes patting all dolls/stuffed animals and put them down for a nap ;0)

And we ended our visit with a sweet little story time...

precious!  And thanks AGAIN, Grandma Boyd, for the dress!  We will treasure it always!

4 years

Time continues to fly right on by.  Life is so unpredictable, but of course, God's plans for our lives are always much better than what we could conjure up for ourselves.  4 years ago today was a turning point in my life.  (just about) The whole family was at work: Diana & kids, Ann & Jessica...Chico was there to hang with the kids that weren't working and some of his family.  We were all at Discovery Kingdom.  My morning started while it was still dark, and the rest of the crew came in just before the park opened it's doors to screaming cheerleaders.  
The night before, we all left Turlock later than normal, making our last Saturday with him stretch...and I think we're all extremely grateful for that.  He stayed alone on Saturday night, and my mom had people assigned throughout the day to come to check in with my dad to make sure he was doing alright...and to keep him company.  But they weren't all needed.  The first person assigned was Alma.

I don't know all of the details of that morning, in fact, Alma is supposed to be sharing them with me soon, as I'm finally ready to listen and take them in.  Loosely, it went a little something like: Alma was told to check in with him about 9.  Diana called Alma's cell about 9:30 to check in with her, and Alma said she didn't think my dad was breathing.  She went in to the house and my dad wouldn't respond to her, after trying to scope things out on her own, she called Jorge to come look.  When Diana called her, they were in the midst of trying to figure things out...then they called the ambulance.


At that point, things got a little out of control.  Word traveled to those in charge of the event, and soon after I received a call over the walkie talkie to meet at the bottom of the hill.  They were trying to gather us all up.  I got to the bottom of the hill and Diana was, in my opinion, going crazy shouting and crying.  Like I said before, her family was there, so my first thought was: Chris was on a ride and something happened to him.  I couldn't understand what she was saying and everyone else just appeared to be in shock.  Minutes later, I gathered that they were talking about my dad and we were on our way out of the park.  I got a call on my cell phone from the EMT asking questions about my dad.  I had all of his info and started spitting it out: his meds, his Dr's and what their specialties were, etc.  I didn't understand why they were asking - to get the Drs to meet them at the hospital?...after answering several questions, and we were just about to the cars, I asked the man, "What's going on?  Is he OK?"...I didn't get it.  It was all so crazy.  We were being escorted out in a pack - there were about 7-10 of us in a bunch just all holding on to each other walking to our cars across the street.  Everything was happening so quickly, I was on the mode of calming everyone down and getting home, but not really knowing what was going on.  ... The man replied to my question, "Ma'am, he's...." I don't even remember what he said.  Dead?  Not breathing?  It was at that point that I realized what everyone else was reacting to.  It was my dad.  


We split up in to 2 cars and began our 1 hour 45 minute drive home.  It was pretty quiet.  My mom was just crying; we were in the back seat of Ann's car.  I had to call my uncle who was scheduled to go to the house about 10:30 to tell him not to go...not until we got there.  I had to tell him that my dad was dead.  I never used that term - for at least 2 years...I said it in Spanish and it was the only time I referred to it.  The EMT called me back once he did things on his end and asked me more questions.  He was asking me what they were supposed to do with my dad.  How was I to know?  I mean, I knew he had everything set, but I had never been in this position to say, 'oh take him X', ya know?  So they asked if we wanted the coroner's office to pick him up and I said I guess so.  Then I called them back and asked them to please not take him from the house until we got there.  I wanted to see my dad just one more time...they were gracious and allowed it even though we were so far away and they'd have to basically just hang out at our house until we arrived.
  
Arriving to the house was a combination of feelings.  I wanted to run in, yet I wanted it to be the slowest arrival so that we could have the most time possible with my dad.  Ann, Crystal, Jessica and I all walked in to his room together and there he was.  They did hurry us a long a little, since it had already been a while in their waiting...it's all still such a  blur.  I wish I could remember with clarity, but I guess that was how it has to be for me to have been able to have gotten through it all. 


My new life that had just started, at that moment, ended.  My dad was going to the be man in my life.  I was going to learn from him about caring for the house and cars; learning to do things for myself.  I had just moved back in with my parents, on September 1, I believe.  Some day, he was going to be the one to take care of my kids while I went to work.  But in a moment that was all over.  


And he knew his time was coming.  After I'd moved back in, I still have the detailed email I sent to Tyler sharing with him about a convo my dad and I had. My dad told me that now that I was there, he knew he could go and my mom wouldn't be alone.  I hated to hear him say that.  I didn't want to face what was in the near future.  But for some reason, he felt he could talk to me about this topic.  Earlier that summer he had also asked me to please respect the DNR order, and to understand why he didn't want to start doing dialysis on a regular basis.  And I was to be the one to explain all of this to my brothers and sisters because he said that I would understand.  Well what's not to understand?  I got what he was saying, it just hurt my heart to process it.


To say that I miss my dad would be an understatement.  Especially in going through the pregnancy, Emma's birth and having her home with us now.  She'll never get to cuddle with grandpa or hang out with him.  Knowing what it's like to grow up with out a grandpa, I know she'll just never feel about him the way she'll get to feel about her grandpa Boyd, since one is tangible and the other isn't.  That just breaks my heart.  


But...it is what it is.  My dad's death is what finally brought me to my knees, and made me quit resisting handing over my entire life to God.  It's a little bittersweet.  


So...Emma's my little piece of my dad that I can hold and hang on to :)  She will be (at least) a partial Dodgers fan for him, just like I always will be :)  


Thank you for sitting through this with me.  Therapy, again :)  I don't speak my feelings very often...so writing is my outlet.  And I appreciate you letting me share with you.  


Here a few pics of our last year with him: 

My birthday

Father's Day

Crystal's graduation dinner

Family Quinceanera

Paige's Bday dinner

Tyler wrote a beautiful poem on our family's behalf 3 years ago.  If you'd like to read it, you can find it here.


Here's a beautiful song to end with: click here for Matthew West, Save a Place for Me to play

4 years

Isn't it funny how the most random thing will remind you of something else? All of a sudden today I was very aware that it was St Patrick's day...and I was remembering a friend's birthday and the fun outings we've had on these nights. On the way home from work all of a sudden I remembered that it was 4 years ago today that my dad had his surgery to remove the breast cancer.

I remember my emails that I sent out asking for prayer...and that I wasn't sure who prayed and who didn't but I sure was hopeful the people I was sending would if nothing else say a quick prayer for my dad as they read my email. There was ONE person I was sure I knew that he prayed... my sweet Tyler...or as I became to call him 8 months after this day, my sweet angel :).

It's a sweet memory that I have that, as I was in the hospital waiting room with my family, Tyler texted me during the day to check in and see how the surgery was gone/had gone.

I love that, even though the two never met, I have many memories that tie the two together. My two men that mean the most to me :) I know my dad would just love Tyler and be very proud of us in what we've built together as our life and what we've accomplished...all thanks to the Lord's guidance, blessings and provision.

It was fun to just let that random memory thought generate in my mind this evening...and so comforting to know that I have the love of the man that I felt most comforted by when we barely knew each other.

Ok sharing time over :) Have a good night.