The California Leg

It was really hard to leave "home" in WA again (where did the time go?), but I was excited to be getting to CA. I really wanted to see my family. The California part of my trip proved to be rather bittersweet. As you may recall, my dad had been there helping for a long time with my grandmother who had had several strokes. It was really nice to see him and the rest of my family there, meanwhile it was heartbreaking to see that my grandmother would never really be herself again. I didn't really do any sightseeing, that wasn't the point this trip- it was to see my family and I'm so glad that I was able to. 

Anyhow, on the photos...

Kinda random, but I got to see very old televisions in the SF Airport- kinda neat! This one was from 1947 and had a screen that popped up somehow- isn't the cabinet beautiful?

I am never in SF in February- I got to see the plum tree in bloom! 

Got to see the new plant shed- though it's too nice now to be called a shed!

I went to the high school with my aunt who works there- it's been awhile since I've been in the schools so it was nice to dip my toe in again- and really nice to get to observe and not have to do anything!

It was great observing the art classes.

I want a clay camera! (In progress)

I love this beat up old desk!

How can you be sad when you have buckets of colored pencils?

Spent a couple of days slowly getting ready for my aunt's birthday party...about the easiest party prep I've done!

One of the kids said,"It's not an official birthday party unless there are balloons." 

Good thing we were legit!

Grma and her helpers did the hard part of baking the cookies! I did the brownies...from a frozen batter! And the yummy raviolis were from the caterer! Too easy!

You know it's a good party when someone's under the table, lol.

It was nice to have a houseful and see family friends!

 We did manage to get to our fave restaurant, Nick's!
Had a nice time with Mom's side of the family and some family friends.

I did not take any photos of my other grandmother in the nursing home, I thought about it and decided not to. It wouldn't give her the dignity she deserves and I don't need a photo to remember how sweet she is or how heartbreaking it is to see her in this state. And really, what would I do with the photo?

I made a memory of her in my heart instead. She was happy and smiling, cheerful and loving, but more childlike. She knew who I was and would ask me how Mom and Laura were doing. She remembered the mall had gotten remodeled. But she also kept thinking she was in Utah and that Dad and my grandfather had come out from CA to see her, things like that. 

It was really touching when out of the blue she told me that she was so proud of me for graduating. And another time she told my dad that both she and he have good kids. Many sweet memories. 

It was so hard to have to leave her room when I visited on my way to the airport to go home. I knew it would be the last time I'd ever get to see her in this life. I held her hand and kissed her forehead. She told me she loved me, but I just couldn't say it back- I knew I'd start bawling. I'm probably going to regret that one day. But I know that she knows that I love her. I touched her feet on my way out and blew her a kiss. 

I'm so very thankful that I got to see her when I did- she's had more setbacks since I left and is not doing very well. My other grandma as of now is in the hospital and had to have surgery. Thankfully she's doing alright and will be coming home soon. It pains me to have my loved ones in discomfort and pain.

I'm so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge that this life is not all there is- if it was, it'd be so unfair. We have hope of a resurrection through Christ's sacrifice for us. I always love Easter, but now it means even more. I'm so thankful that our families can be together forever. 

Stefanie & David's Big Day

Stef's Big Day was a good one. I was with her when she got her hair done and we had a lull so we went to Dairy Queen before the ceremony! When we arrived at the temple, there was a crazy sight- some half naked woman in some sort of swimsuit prancing in the fountain being photographed by another woman. I'm assuming it was a fashion photo shoot. Either way it was pretty crazy. Thankfully they left soon after we got there. Apparently they had gotten permission to take photos of the fountain, but the people at the temple didn't realize that they were going to be taking photos in the fountain! 
The sealer said some really wonderful things (of course) before pronouncing some very special blessings on them. It was wonderful. I always love going to sealings. It was also special to be in the bride's room, helping with her mom and sister in law to help Stef get ready. 
The photos you saw before were taken prior to The Big Day, here are some actual wedding photos! I wasn't her official photographer, but I snuck some shots throughout the day. 

We did group photos on the lawn and then Stef and David posed on the temple grounds. They lucked out with the weather- it was raining when they entered the temple but it had cleared for when they came out. Phew!

Here they are posing with my hand-lettered Thank You sign!

The temple is a great place!

Now on to the reception!

Her reception was held at her parents house, it was nice. 

Stef opted for cakepops instead of a traditional cake- so cute and so yum!

Yummy food, too!

Bride and Groom cakepops instead of the usual cakecutting...cute!

Guestbook- people signed the photos in the book. Nice!

 I hand-lettered the signs for the reception:

Stef and David had a "Candy Bar" comprised of their favorite sweets. Guests got to fill a tiny take-out box (labeled with the bride and groom's names and the date) with candy to enjoy. Sweet!

 I made the garland out of tissue paper! 

You can kinda see my sign there.

And I made sure the candy jars got bows.

Life is just better with bows, ya know?

 They had a nice photo display with them in the middle and family wedding photos on either side:

During a rare lull, Stef opened my present and got her apron ;)

 Closeup of Stef's bouquet:

And then it was time for cake!

They pulled the top of the Norwegian cake...and got the top ring! More rings equals more luck...and more kids!

 And the feeding of the cakepops commenced:

 Awww...

 And hey, Stef got a good haul!

It was a great day and evening!

We showered the bride and groom with rose petals as they dashed off ;)

Congrats to Stef and Dave!

The WA CA PA trip

I spent the last part of January and the beginning of February on a two week trip. My bestie, Stef, was getting hitched in WA and I was glad to be able to go. I considered this trip my graduation present and it was a nice reward for the last four years of craziness.

I wound up flying three one way flights for my trip- it was only $50 more to do that than the price it would cost to fly roundtrip from PA to WA. I'd be that far West, what's a two hour plane ride down to CA? I was thankful for the opportunity to also be able to go to CA to visit family- you can understand why from my previous post.

All the while I was very careful to keep my travel plans on the downlow on FB so that I could surprise my home ward that first Sunday. Hee hee! In preparing for the trip, I was also kneedeep in a sewing project- an apron for Stef as part of her wedding present.

I need one for me!

The first few day of my trip were spent in preparation for the wedding; I started to lose track of how many times I went to Target and Michaels. On my first Saturday, I helped move Stef out of her parent's house and into the apartment she'd share with David. I tagged along as her fiance David and her got their hair cut/done and followed them around while they took some pre-wedding photos (so there could be "wedding photos" at the reception). I went shopping with Stef and her friends, and I went to her bachelorette party in a condo rec room that was pretty fun. Whew!

Here are my fave pre-wedding shots that I took. I couldn't believe it when it only took 10 minutes to get to the temple- for the past four years it takes me 3.5 hours one way! Amazing! They both looked great and lucky us, the rain held off.

Funny story: As we were in front of the temple, a car drove by and a little girl stuck her head out and yelled "Congrats! You look very beautiful!". It was the cutest. Poor kid, we deceived her- they weren't married yet!

Stef looked cute at her Bachelorette party! 

I got up really early the next day and my friend Heather picked me up and was so sweet to drive me all the way to church. It was SO much fun to walk in to Sacrament meeting and surprise everyone that I went to church with for 20 years! I haven't seen them since I moved- four and a half years! It was nice to be loved and get lots of hugs. Everyone clapped for me when I was introduced in RS. And crazy to see how grown up all the kids are getting! It was a really wonderful Sunday. 

Laura's "favorite Mom" Kim, me and Melanie

Funny story: It was rather amusing when a few people came up to say hi- and then the next sentence out of their mouth was "Hey, there's a new single's ward in the area later today." Um, thanks? 

The next few days were spent shopping and doing last minute things to get ready for the big day that Wednesday. I even helped move furniture out into the garage! 

Cakepops!

Boys helping with flowers- cute!

I think I'll do a whole post dedicated to the wedding- there's so many photos!

Stay tuned!

After the wedding, I went to stay with Heather. I helped her throw a birthday party for her dad. It was nice to have a few days to relax and recuperate after the wedding. I got spoiled! Her friends were having an 80s party and I go to go too- it was so much fun to get all glammed up! We looked great. 

Blue eyeshadow and pink star earrings, always a great combo!

 Mark went punk 80s:

 Besties!

My ensemble- I LOVED it!

What a lot to pack for this trip- wedding outfit, presents, 80s outfit, etc! 

I was pretty pleased with my outfit- it's my best yet and I even had some real 80s jewelry on!

(Colored clips hanging from my neck and my sunglasses pin!)

I loved my earrings. Can I wear them everyday?

Heather even crimped her hair- I tried, but it just looked like bad 80s perm so that was ok too!

And the three of us fulfilled Robin Sparkles' request in her "Let's Go To The Mall" song- the three of us went to the mall dressed up like this, no joke! It was awesome....and legen..wait for it...dary!

My second Sunday I went to the Kent singles ward (trying to make the most of my trip out West, ha ha!) with my friend Julie. It was nice to see her and to be around young people. And super nice not to have to do a darn thing at church except show up and look good- I keep quite busy in our branch! One of my PA friends said she hoped I'd meet someone while back home- I had to remind her that this was the same fruitless area I had left!

 Me and Julie:

Jesse came by and it was nice catching up:

I even got to go to a fun sushi place where the sushi goes around on a little conveyor belt and you pick up what you want! So fun! I also got Teriyaki to eat (really hard to come by in PA!), but sadly not Enumclaw Teriyaki...I gotta have a reason to come back ;)

I also got to have a Say Yes To The Dress marathon! I love yelling at the TV! 

And I got to see Aimee, which was great. I miss her too!

Heather and Mark took me to the airport for the next leg of my journey- it was so hard to go!

Where did my week go???

I LOVE this pic!

But don't you love my Barbie suitcases?

Miss you, WA!

See you soon?

New Normal

I didn't mean to leave my rant up for so long, but it's been hard finding the motivation to write this post. When the ball dropped and it became 2012, I had this feeling in my heart that it was going to be a tough year

A few days later, I was right.

My grandmother (Dad's mother) had not one, but two strokes not long after that night. She has spent the last month and a half in hospitals and is now in a nursing home. She had a big complication when it was discovered that she was bleeding internally, they had to go up in through a blood vessel in her leg and repair the artery in her stomach. She used up a lot of units of blood and plasma. Thank goodness for the kind strangers who gave blood.

I spent two weeks out West- I went to WA for a dear friend's wedding and then I traveled down to CA to visit family. I was planning on going to CA anyhow before this happened, and then having all this happen made me anxious to get to CA. People ask me how my trip was, and it was a good trip (you'll see those pics next post) but my week in CA was hard. I usually gloss over the hard part. 


It was heartbreaking to see my dear grandmother in a hospital bed in her nursing home. This was all a total surprise, my grandmother is only 78 and very spry. She was just fine and even driving the day before her stroke. I forget how old she and my grandfather have become because they just don't act their age and haven't changed in 30 years. 


I didn't know what to expect when I saw my grandmother. I was able to visit her 4 times during my week there. I didn't know if she would recognize me, but she did and was so happy to see me. She's not quite herself, but more "herself" than I thought she would be. During my visits, she called me by name, asked me what Mom and Laura were up to. Told my dad that she and him have great kids. Remembered that the local mall had been remodeled. Out of the blue, she told me that she was so proud of me for graduating. That touched my heart. But she doesn't always know what's going on- she'd talk when we were saying a prayer before leaving. She couldn't remember if she'd had therapy that day. And she thinks she's in Utah. She keeps asking my dad and grandfather when they're returning home to SF.

She looks better than she is- she's generally pretty cheerful and happy. She looks like she should come home soon. But her health is bad. Her heart  and organs are bad and there's really nothing that can be done. She doesn't want to eat.

I do not know how much longer my grandmother will be around. In reality, I do not know how long any of my grandparents will be around.

It broke my heart to see my grandmother in this state. She will never come home. She is in limbo between this life and the next. It broke my heart to see my grandfather dealing with all of this. He whistles when he walks as a distraction- something he never did before. 


The unfinished business breaks my heart. I think about all the letters I should have written. When did I talk to her last before this happened? I talked to her every couple of weeks but I don't remember what we talked about last. She and Grandfather celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary right before this happened. Dad had the idea for each of us to write 15 memories (60 total) of them and we'd send it- but we were too late. Laura had been making afghans for them when this happened. I think of all my grandmother's unfinished work, the plans that will never be.

It was really hard to say goodbye and leave her room at the nursing home before it was time to catch my flight. It's probably the last time I'll see her alive. I didn't take a picture, but I made a memory in my heart. She was smiling and happy, sweet as ever. She didn't seem like she was hurting. I held her hand and kissed her forehead. I couldn't tell her that I loved her without totally bawling- I'm sure I'll regret that someday- but she knows that I do love her very much. 


I'm really thankful for the comfort that my family and I have received from Heavenly Father at this time. God has a plan, and we have to trust in Him.

My grandmother, with her daughters, granddaughters and great- granddaughter

I tell all this to you as a reminder to love your family. Take every opportunity you can- for one day, God will want them back. Don't wait on the things you want to do- someday you will not have the time.


My grandmother, without fail, told me that she loved me at the end of every phone call- and I returned the sentiment- and it still wasn't enough.