I know there are not a lot of good things about funerals, but one of the bonuses is everyone comes together. And in this case, my family has. Relatives have been coming in for the last week, and our house is bursting at its seams with people. It is rarely quiet, and our front lawn has been turned into a parking lot. How much fun is that? Here are just a few pictures from today.
This is Princess Polly. She and her sister, Maggie, are Mema's dogs.
Elena, Jake, and Izzy
Rayn (She has jelly on her nose)
Izzy and Rayn
Matt was playing with Rayn for a while...
I think he was getting sick of playing with Dora the Explorer and her friends. :)
Me and Rayn
Sisters! Elena and Izzy
Elena and Rayn (I think this is too cute)
Maddie and Elena
Izzy! She lost her 2nd front tooth today. So cute right?
Later another caravan of people arrived.
Even though it was freezing, we still all came out to greet them.
Later we even had time to sing a few songs
and hang out around the campfire...with smores,of course.
Peace out. Tyler and Jose style.
Tomorrow is the funeral, but at least we are all together as a family. All my uncles are here, and all but 3 of my cousins are. Even though tomorrow will be a hard day, we'll get through it. After all, we are family, and together we can do anything.
Matt is not home, so I wanted to brag about him a bit. During
the last week and half, he has been a gold star husband.
A few bigger and not as cute things he has done...
§He didn’t complain that life was crazy during
finals week.
§He let me cancel my ticket last minute, even
though we didn’t get reimbursed (I didn’t buy the “insurance” on the ticket for
full refund incase of death. Also that’s a pretty big deal for someone that is
as money conscience as he is.)
§He drove up to get my uncle at the airport the
night before the Chem GRE, because everyone else was out of town (We offered to
get someone else to do it, but he said he would).
§He organized and cleaned the house up after our finals
week pig sty, all by himself! (I was very grateful for this. The last thing I
wanted to do when I got home from Arizona
was clean our home.)
Small things that made me happy
§Helped me figure out what to do for Mother’s Day,
and then helped me buy what I needed.
§Took me out to Tucano’s, because I didn’t feel
like making dinner.
§Planted our garden, because I wasn’t home to do
it.
§Figured out which plants we could plant here,
since I am only good with dead flowers.
§Bought Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver at
Walmart, because I had been waiting for it to come out for months.
§Read Altas Shrugged just so I could have
someone to talk about it with. (True love right there. Who reads a 1,000+ page
book just to make their wife happy?)
§Grab In’n’Out for Danielle and me while we were
shopping, since both of us were hungry.
Then this morning, after I kept him up half the night (I
wasn’t feeling well), rolled over and hug me, and said “Good morning beautiful”
in my ear. I’m not sure if he knows this song, but I do, and it’s been making
me smile all morning.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I am queen at not remembering if the camera card is in the camera. Matt 90% of the time has to stick the camera card back in the camera after I upload pictures. Today I realized that one picture was missing that I wanted to put up, and I found it on the camera...with 8 more pictures.
So tada! Here they are...
This was our breakfast burrito Easter breakfast....Does it kind of look like a chick and an egg?
On Jake's birthday I was stuck at Cabella's for a few hours. That is NOT one of my favorite stores. Now I realize other people love it, and that's great, but it is not my cup of tea. But while I was there I found a lot of interesting things. These were two things that I thought were worth taking pictures of (Well before the camera died).
Have a favorite stuffed animal that you don't want to get rid of?
Mount it on a board. It looks more grown up, and then stick it on a wall.
I think I would have nightmares of my teddy bears ending up there as a kid.
Okay so these guys are actually kind of cute,
but after seeing dog heads embroiderer on towels,
even these guys kinda scared me.
"The prophet said to plant a garden and that's what we'll do"
Matt and I got a garden plot!! Matt has been taking care of the whole thing
since I have been taking care of funeral stuff with my mom.
But, I'm so excited! I really hope our little seeds come up.
Our trees right outside our window have blossomed.
I love the pink flowers. They have been raining down petals,
and I feel like a princess whenever I walk to the door
on my own pink carpet.
Last Monday at 4:04 in the morning my sister called me bawling on the phone that my Mema died. In the next 36 hours, I finished my finals and drove down to Arizona with my dad and brother, Riley. Even though this whole week has been really hard on our family, I keep finding comfort in my testimony of Christ. One talk in particular has been going through my head more than others. It is Joseph B. Wirthlin's speech “Sunday Will Come” that he gave in October 2006 for General Conference.
Here are a few of the parts that I have really found comfort in.
He begins by describing family members who recently died in his family. He talks about how misses them and the joy they brought into his life. The sweetest was about his wife, in which he shared 65 years of marriage together. He shared a bit of what President Hinckley said at his wife’s funeral. He said, “that it is a devastating, consuming thing to lose someone you love. It gnaws at your soul.”
He goes on to talk about the comfort he felt in his testimony of Christ’s resurrection. I love how he described how special this event of was.
“In all the history of the world there have been many great and wise souls, many of whom claimed special knowledge of God. But when the Savior rose from the tomb, He did something no one had ever done. He did something no one else could do. He broke the bonds of death, not only for Himself but for all who have ever lived – the just and the unjust.”
Elder Wirthlin goes on to describe the pain of the world on the night Christ died. How painful and dark the world became, and how evil men rejoiced. He talked about the how devastated and helpless his Apostles felt.
Then he turns back to our own lives, how each of us will experience those moments. He said, “Each of us will have our own Fridays – those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.”
He then reminds again of Christ. He reminds us that Christ’s Atonement that not only through it our sins could be forgiven, but that pain, despair, and hurt can be healed. The Bible did not end with the helplessness of Christ death, but with the hope of His resurrection. The resurrection changed the outcome of death. He described it as…
“And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the first fruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.”
He ended the talk with his testimony that Sunday, the day of the resurrection, always follows those dark and gloomy days.
I can’t help to think how much those feelings relate to my family now. Everyone does seem consumed with sorrow. The gap that Mema filled in our lives is noticeably empty, but I also know that Sunday will come. That joy will follow the sorrow, and that I will get to see my Mema again.
I first noticed it 3 weeks ago when I saw these beautiful flowers at the BYU Salt Lake Center. I was so excited that I took a picture even though I was late to class. (Matt was like "What are you doing?!!", because I started spinning in circles and squealing when I saw them.)
First sign of spring
Salt Lake City must have been excited too, because City Creek Mall opened later that week. It was love at first sight for me. The mall is beautiful. It's in the middle of all the skyscrapers in Salt Lake City and has two big court yards, one of which basically opens up to temple square.
Even an all nighter did not diminish my excitement to go City Creek.
Also, it has filled a hole in my heart that has been there since I moved away from San Jose. It has so many of my favorite lusting stores -- Ann Taylor, Tiffany's, Papyrus, and Michael Kors just to name a few. If they put a Kate Spade in, my shopping life would almost be complete. (Speaking of which, more and more of her stuff keeps showing up at TJMaxx!!) I can buy Nars makeup now without having to order it online or go to Vegas!! (They have the best facial wash) Also, there is a Cheesecake Factory, which is one of my favorite places to eat (and the one in Valley Fair always has such long lines). Matt and I have been 3 times in the last month and heck, we will probably end up their tomorrow too.
Spring even put me in the mood for some intense spring cleaning. It was hulu that inspired me. They had this whole video playlist on the proper way to spring clean. Even though our home isn't that huge, it took forever. The closets were reorganized, and I folded up my coat. (Neither Matt or I have enough clothes to rotate out winter and spring clothes, but it did feel good folding it up.) We even switched out our bedding and rotated our mattress.
Spring bedding!! My mom gave us this duvet
and my Mema gave us the awesome velvet Ralph Lauren shams!!
We spent Easter up in Logan with Matt's dad. It was a wonderful break from Provo (375 days until we can move!), and we had a lot of fun. We went to the Logan temple and even spent some time with his grandma. Matt's dad made a yummy Easter dinner, and that night we spent sometime with his Uncle Doug and his family. It was the perfect break to have before finals.
Matt calls this our "Second marriage" picture
Matt and Granny on Easter.
Finally, spring even improved our bedroom window view...well at least my view.
A few weeks ago I decided that we were going to to race go-karts for date night. Michele had never driven one before, so she didn’t quite know what to expect. First, we took the bus up to Lehi, because that’s how we ride, literally.
Matt waiting at our bus stop
We ate a quick dinner at Rubio’s in American Fork, and headed off to Trafalga.
On our quest of finding food we found this sign at Chili's
"10 minute parking, All others will be crushed and melted"
When we walked in, there they were, little cars whizzing around a small concrete track track. Michele looked at me kind of dubiously, but we got our tickets and went to stand in line. And we stood there forever. Apparently all of the twelve-year-olds with the free “Pass of all passes” had realized that they could just swing under the fence and cut about half the line. I wanted to strangle them, but Michele didn’t mind and just laughed. Eventually, we made our way to the front and it was our turn. Michele apparently had a larger chest than most of the thirteen-year-olds there, so it was really funny to watch as the awkward high school attendant tried to loosen her buckle touching her.
Evil Grin
Anyways, we were reluctantly crouched at the starting line, engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashed, the flags went up, and as Michele accelerated, she suddenly got this evil smile on her face and started driving like a madwoman! She was drifting around the turns and careening off the curbs; I think she would have gotten a life sentence for reckless driving if she were on the roads. A definite success.
Matt was a much nicer driver than me. He even tried to let the other people pass him!
Later on, Michele had Dippin’ Dots for the first time. The most novel part of the experience for Michele was that they stuck to her lips! Who knew, right? Michele had me kiss them off, and we scarred a few young children for life.
A few seconds after Michele tried her first dip n' dots
A few arcade basketball games later (we were awful), we had enough tickets to get matching tattoos, Chinese handcuffs, and a little whirly plastic thing. And that was our date! We recommend it, unless you don’t like being around a lot of middle-schoolers.
Tragedy has stuck our household. We are sad to inform you that Federico, one of our paper fish, has passed away. We did not know that he was allergic to water, and sadly last time when it rain/snowed in Provo, he did not make it.
Our poor Federico
Please take a moment of silence for our dear fish and pray for our future children that their fate may be better than our paper fish.
(If you do not know the story of how Federico came into our family, you can read it here.)
On our way to our awesome date (which Matt apparently wants to write about if he has the time), Matt and I got a copy of the CD of our wedding photos! They are beautiful, and we wanted to share some them with everyone who does not have access to our facebook account.
Our Families
Matt's Parents
Us and Matt's Grandfather who sealed us
My Sweet Bridesmaids
The Handsome Groomsmen
Wanna know a secret? We're married now.
My handsome hubby
Getting ready for the reception
My shoes...don't they look princess-y?
This is my favorite
We were so excited for this sign. Probably was our favorite decoration.
Beginning of our ring ceremony
Running down the hill
I loved our cake
My favorite family picture
These are just a handful of hundreds we have from our special day. The weather was gorgeous, and everyone seemed as happy as we were. Nonetheless, I think our marriage has been more amazing than our wedding. I'm so glad I'm married to my cute husband. He says if he wasn't so stressed about homework he would have something cute to say...but he can only think about his essay at the moment. So you'll have to ask him how he feels about our marriage when you see him next.
