My dear, dear mother

Christmas 2011 we planned to spend with my brother and his family. They were going to drive down here from Canada, where they were moving from, and spend a few days here before heading off to Texas, where they will be moving. My dear husband was inspired differently, however, and I am very grateful. He bought us all tickets to spend Christmas in Modesto. I was opposed to it, considering it emptied out our entire savings and most of our checking account. But we went and spent most days in the hospital in San Francisco. My mom found out last March (2011) that she has cirrhosis of the liver. She was at UCSF to be tested to see if she was eligible for a liver transplant. A few days before Christmas, she finally "passed" all the tests and was put on the transplant list. She was going to be shipped back to Modesto on Christmas Eve and was going to be able to come home for a bit on Christmas Day. She was so excited. "I just want to go home," she told me over the phone.

 Christmas Eve came and she had to stay at UCSF. She had come down with a fever and they kept her there to find out why. Her platelets (those things in the blood that make it clot) had dropped to almost nothing. We all went to visit her on Christmas day in the ICU. She looked horrible. Most of her body was bruised, her lips were swollen, her gums were bleeding. Every time any of us would enter her room the first thing she would say was, "I love you, dear." I was frustrated, thinking she thought it was the end. It was NOT the end as far as I was concerned. They gave her medicine to raise her platelets, but none worked. They were puzzled by that, as the lack of response was rare.By Sunday the doctors plead with us to transfer her to a comfort care suite, where she wouldn't have to be poked and prodded every few hours and "nature could take its course" in a much more comfortable setting. I still believed nature was going to heal her, jumping her platelet level up so she could get a transplant and make the whole miserable affair go away.
I stayed the night each night with my sisters in the comfort care suite. It was horrible watching and waiting for her to die or not. Horrible, yet my sisters and I made some wonderful memories together. I knew that whatever would happen, it would be okay. But the waiting was torture.
January 5th she gasped out her last breath. Even then, I couldn't' believe it. Mom was supposed to live forever, be there for me forever. Now she was gone. I couldn't call her. She wouldn't be there when I visit home. I still feel like I'm in a cloud...surreal. Through it all I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that lets me know I will see her again! That she lives still, though I can't see her. I know that when I weep I only weep for myself. My heart groans with a pain only those who have lost a parent could understand. But I know she is happy and doing important things beyond the veil; and though I miss her terribly I will see her again some day.
Until then, know that I love you, my dear, dear mother. Now, as you desired, you are really home.

Home on the range, an Anniversary, and a Birthday...

 My wonderful, stupendous, fabuloso husband stayed with the boys in July so I could go home and see my family...BY MYSELF...for TWO WEEKS! WOOHOO! It was a blast. I slept in, hooked up with friends, GOT READY each morning, spent time with my family...I was in heaven! The best part of is all is...I feel like I got to get in touch with myself again. It helped to take a step back from child rearing every day to take a deep breath and relax. aaaaahhhh...

It was a blast hooking up with friends (had lunch at Chili's) I used to work with. I love them tons, and after 9 years everyone still looked the same!! Well, the children were new, but...

Paige and Athena. I lick them...er...I mean love them. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at El Rosal. hehe... :D

My bff since 3rd grade, Shauna, and her lil' sis, Christina with her 6 1/2 kids. Such a fun reunion!

Lindsey, Shauna, my sissy, Jennifer and myself...visiting Lindsey and eating our favorite frozen yogurt. !Viva Yogurt Mill!

Eating at the DELISH El Rosal with the family. :D This is only a few of my 23 nieces and nephews. Big families rock!

Met up with my good friend, Amy. I love her AND her energy! :D

All four of us sisters went to my oldest sister, Francine's Girl's Camp. :D It was super fun!!

Fran was busy, so Jenn, Amy and I hung most of the time. :D I got to be a life guard...and fear for everyone else's lives that were in my hands. egads...see how my back was turned to the innocent little ones? Yah...ha! It was fun times hanging with my superior, Monica. :D :D :D

They had a dance party one night...it was so fun!!!

We went kayaking a couple of times. I loved it! I will own a kayak one day. :D When my husband's a rich doctor. :)

The day I flew back home, my dad and I did a session at the Oakland temple together...then went to the visitor's center. It was so fun and spiritual; I love my daddy!!! And I had a blast visiting home!!!

Alan's aunt and uncle, Donna and Stu, and their son-in-law, James, were in NY for a visit and came down to see us.

We went to Hershey Chocolate World and decorated cupcakes and did the tour...and Miles fawned over Uncle Stu the whole time. :D Hilarious! It was soooo good to see them for we love them much. :D

I just had to add this picture of my crazy boys. :D They sure are great buddies and we love them soooooo very much. :D

Sept 4th was mine and Alan's 7th Anniversary. :D He surprised me by taking me to the D.C. temple--which is huge and gorgeous!--and we did sealings in memory of our own sealing 7 years ago. :D

Then he took me to a Japanese all-you-can-eat in Virginia. mmmm....

The sushi was SOOOO GOOD! It was a fun and sweet date!! I love you, stud muffin!!!

Christian turned 5 on the 8th. We threw him a raging Spider-man birthday party to celebrate. ;)

We played crazy games, such as "Pin the tail in the donkey"...

...and we played "keep those Spider-man villain balloons off your side of the line," which the kids loved. :D

Here's the group of crazy faces. :D It was fuuuuull house!

At the end, they decorated their own cupcakes, we sang to Christian, and everyone enjoyed cake and ice cream. :D YUM.

This is a cake our neighbor bought for Christian. :D It was really sweet (the gesture AND the cake). :D :D :D

The 4th, my Bday and Brandon Sanderson

A lot has happened since I wrote a mere 2+ weeks ago. :) On July 4th we had a picnic at our apartment complex. A lot of people showed with lots of good food. :D It was fun. Alan bought a bunch of Pop-it's and shared them with the kids.

He also bought some sparklers and shared them with all the kids. The boys loved them. ;)

July 5th we hung out with Alan's childhood friend, Andrew, and his family. :) Here we are walking across a bridge in Harrisburg. :D We ended up on a little island and found a little fun park with batting cages and arcade games, and a place to swim at the other end of the island.

 

July 6th we drove up to Canada to visit my brother and his family. My sister-in-law, Sarah, is AWESOME and made me an Italian cream cake. It was sooooo good!! :D She also bought me a cute white Avon watch and a Schick razor which is a DREAM on my sensitive pits. ha! ;)

Drooling here just thinking about that yummy cake. mmmmm... :)~

Later that day we drove a couple hours away to a beautiful campground. It was really nice because my brother let us stay in his huge trailer. :D

The mosquitoes were the size of HORSES, but it was so beautiful and serene! We made YUMMY s'mores and tubed down the rive and fished (I didn't have a license, but I gutted one my nephew, Branden, caught with a friggin dull knife). I had a lot of fun!

One of the days our little family went swimming at this query. It was fun and beautiful! I swam to the other side of it, overcoming my fear of open unknown waters. ;) Go me! It was an awesome day.

We also had family pictures taken. Here's the best of the worst. :D HA!

 lol, there were NONE where we were all looking and/or smiling. ;)

 I sure love my babies. :D Precious boys.

 Alan taught Christian to do the hand/chest slap from Psych. HA! It's the cutest thing to see.

Our feet are all ugly, except the boys' of course, but I like it anyway. ;)

I'm having a hard time deciding which picture I like of Alan and I most...What do YOU think?

For the finale....drum roll please..............on Saturday (July 16th) I went to a Polaris 25 Convention. Yes, I went to a geek convention. ;) One of those where people come dressed in strange costumes and many don't understand the importance of personal hygiene. I went, however, and had a blast. I am willing to do just about anything once, though I'd be willing to do it again. :D I want because one of my favorite authors was there, Brandon Sanderson. He taught on a few panels, and in the evening he played Magic, a card game, with his fans. So fun! I learned and watched and chatted with him. It was so fun! He's down to earth and all around coolio. ;)

He was posing with a close-lipped smile. I told him to show some teeth. :D HA! And boy did he. :D HA! Funny guy. Aaaaah, there we go. ;) That's all folks, I hope you enjoyed the show! ;) Tomorrow I'm off to California to see my family and have many more adventures. What a busy and blessed summer!

I like New York in June, How 'bout you?!

Frank Sinatra knew what he was talking about when he sang "How About You" way back when. :) I've wanted to go to New York City the past year we've been here, since it's a mere 3 hour drive away, but it hasn't happened. Mainly because Alan doesn't have the desire I have. ;) My friend told me about her trip and I thought, "We have two somewhat independent kids, Alan is having his last summer break ever, and I'm not pregnant or nursing. It's the perfect time to go!" So I decided to plan a trip and tell him it's happening, and tell him it's my birthday present. And it worked! We grabbed a babysitter--an amazing 18 yr old girl we know from church--and headed out on Wednesday. It was our first vacation away from the boys overnight (and it went way too quickly)! ;) It was a blast, and though put a huge hole in our pocketbook, it was way worth the memories. Here's a picture diary of most everything we did. ;)

Straight off the subway. I'm so excited to be in NYC! ;)

First thing we did was ate lunch at Gray's Papaya--one of the many famous hotdog joints. We had papaya juice to go with it. Very papaya-y, and not very impressive, though 2 dogs and a drink for $5 was a good deal.

Then we went inside the Manhattan Temple area briefly...time constraints didn't let us do anything but check out the tiny distribution center, but it's beautiful! The elevator held all the gold-trimmed NYC grandeur.

The guy tried to charge us $2 for taking a pic of his bananas (there were tons of street vendors selling fruit), so Alan-the-sucker bought some fruit from him instead. ;) But it was such a good, healthy snack to give us energy for all of the walking, walking, walking...I had a nectarine and Alan had a banana. ;)

Here we are after picking up tickets for the Late Show with David Letterman. I had pre-ordered them, answered their dumb trivia question, and what do we get for planning head of time? Seats up in the balcony where we basically didn't exist. They asked people to come in off the street last minute and they got to sit down below. hmpf...It was disappointing, but it was still fun to see Letterman and Patrick Dempsey so close. :D

To kill time before we had to go back to the Late Show taping, we played at FAO Schwarz Toys (from the movie "Big"). I love Captain Jack Sparrow, even when he's made out of Legos. ;D

I think Ms Liberty has B.O. Yah, that's deep.

That's me on The Big Piano. "Outta my way, kids!" I was the only adult, but I wanted to do it so badly. Yes I played chop sticks. If only Tom Hanks were there...

Until we meet again, FAO Schwarz

After The Late Show, we hit the busy (in more way than one) streets of NYC. Times Square was packed (below), full of weirdos like the old, chubby Spiderman who harassed everyone near him with strange noises...ha!

For dinner we ate from one of the many Rafiqui's Halal's. Tip: never order from one that doesn't show prices unless you ask what they are first. They just might rip you off. Just sayin'...

We ate our food at a nearby park. The lamb gyro I got was gooooooooooood...and I didn't even die from it.

Fountains in front of 30 Rock...the area was beautiful!

 We thought those fountains were nice, then we saw THIS...I love the show "30 Rock" so seeing this was fun.

Smooches, 30 Rock! I would've loved to see Tina Fe, but alas, I had no such luck.

We ended Wed night with the Broadway show "Wicked". Here we are inside the theater, where no one's supposed to take pictures. Oops. The show was awesome! I loved it lots and lots. ;) Now I'm pretty much addicted to Broadway shows...can't wait to see Phantom. (chills)

We started Thursday with 4-5 hours of sleep and a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. It's free and goes right by the Statue of Liberty. Few tourists are aware of this, so it wasn't crowded. BEAUTIFUL ride.

Can't you see how happy we are? ;) Lovely windblown hair is my fav.

Once off the Ferry (back in Long Island), there were some street performers. They discouraged drugs and though they were pretty obnoxious, it was a good show. We gave them $5 for all their cool flippy-flips (look closely and you'll see the black guy flipping over those people's backs). ;)

I said HI to my friend Sponge Bob and gave him $1. ;) It's just like San Francisco. People do anything for a buck. ;)

Here's that bull I always see in movies...I wanted to get a better pic at the front or back, but there were so many people I jumped on the poor thing's hoof for a quick pic. ;)

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It was fun, free, and beautiful! There was a guy selling cold water bottles for $1. Score!

Then we walked back over the Manhattan Bridge which was MUCH more ghetto, but it was nice to see different views. ;)

The Manhattan Bridge dumped us off at China Town where people sell funky looking fruits and tons of Hello Kitty trinkets. Gotta love the Chinese. ;)

We stopped at Tai Pan Bakery. The little chocolate torte that looks like a mouse was SO GOOD. It was $1.10 and worth every penny. The fruit torte was good for a fruit torte, but they aren't my thing. The bread had custard in the middle and was super tasty. Everything was really good!

Then we ate lunch at Wo Hop. The food was phenomenal up to the orangey flavored fortune cookie that told me the business I just started will boom. ha!

We ordered shrimp chow mein (with veggies, not noodles) which was amazing, and pineapple duck. I don't like duck much (it's half meat, half fat), but they did a good job with it.

Here we are on the New Jersey Transit train, on our way home. The trip was exhausting and we both had head colds, but it was a blast! I want to return with the kids some day! See you soon, NYC!