What a time in our family’s life this has been! Everything with Adrianne and Blake’s wedding turned out as we hoped and we were especially happy to know Adrianne was so pleased with the events surrounding her wedding. Dad and I were so appreciative that many family members were able to travel to the wedding both here in Oregon and in California. Thank you all for coming out; it was such an important family time for us. I appreciate all of your effort to get here even when it wasn’t easy.
Aunt Carla had come a week early to help with so many last minute preparations, which
was a HUGE help, then on the Wednesday prior to the wedding weekend, everyone else started coming into town. Morty and Aunt Denise came in the morning and Blake and Adrianne came in at night. Shawn and Aubrey and the boys were supposed to come in on Thursday morning but the predicted snow storm enabled them to change flights and come in very late Wednesday night. Most everyone else arrived between Thursday afternoon and Friday evening.
We didn’t get much snow but boy was it cold! On the morning we took Adrianne and Blake to the temple to do a relaxing temple session (which was wonderful) we did wake up to a couple of inches of snow and I sat up in bed saying, “We will have to warm the swans in the bathtub!”(reference to Father of the Bride movie) Dad 
thought we should have squeezed into the week’s agenda a viewing of that movie to prepare us. The day of the wedding we woke up to a cold 18 degrees but it warmed up to lip-freezing, nose-reddening 28 degrees for photos.
An added bit of fun for some of the relatives flying in was our family’s “personal Southwest representative” greeting them as they arrived in Oregon! Katie found several of the aunts and uncles and surprised them by the gate. Dave and Karla said that was incredibly fun.
Thursday afternoon was a lot of fun at Grandma’s. She, Katie, Aunt Carla and Aunt Denise hosted a bridal shower with fun games and incredible food. It was wonderful to have many friends there but even better to have so many relatives. Kyre and Alina road the bus from Albany, Grandma Bitter and Aunt Carolyn came as they arrived from their drive from Utah and the Seversons came directly from the airport toward the end of the shower. That was nice so we were able to visit after the rest of the guests left.
The entire wedding weekend was so wonderful. Thank you to all of you for m
aking it that way. Everyday was full of family and lots of activity; a perfect way to celebrate such an occasion. There were even several visits to Scott which made it nice since he was sadly missing out on such an important family event.
This feeling was especially brought to my mind when, last Monday, I went to an all day event and heard prominent speakers such as General Colin Powell, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Steve Forbes, Terry Bradshaw and more. Aaron would have really loved hearing the economic views and opinions of Steve Forbes as they aligned with many of the views I have heard Aaron express. I was completely surprised that so many of them spoke of the prime importance in our times of cultivating and restoring relationships and the importance of showing that you care for people. My favorite speaker was Laura Bush and I was quite shocked that one of her remarks resurfaced such sorrowful personal emotions from the past. She was describing what she described as the best part of President Bush’s Inauguration Day when she said, after all the balls and gala events, they finally settled in bed and she was so at peace at the moment that she realized that all of her children and extended family were safe, tucked in and accounted for under one roof. That means so much to a mother. Her remarks exposed the sting of knowing that is not possible in our family with Scott gone for so many years; making it more vivid than it had been for a couple of years. It took many, many months of hard work and counseling to reframe my world back then so I wouldn’t carry that sadness into everyday of my life after Dad and I realized that it was becoming our “whole world” in 2007 and 2008 and that it was having a negative affect on our health and in other areas of our lives.
We had a similar twinge as we looked at all of the wonderful family pictures we received from the photographer and realized how our immediate family had grown but there again, seeing a spot for Scott and Baby Jack who will not be able to physically join in our family celebrations. We are SO thankful for all of our family that CAN be with us and enjoy these precious milestones together. We are so blessed with all the goodness that we feel when we are together with all of you and the remembrance with a temple sealing that all sorrows can be lightened with God’s eternal plan of happiness.
Friday evening we hosted both families here for an informal dinner gathering which
was a great chance for most everyone to meet each other. Just minutes before everyone was to arrive I felt like I was about to lose my sanity for even agreeing to it being at our home the night before our daughter was getting married but it ended up being quite nice since it was a relaxed environment where everyone could stay and mingle (which wouldn’t have happened in a restaurant setting). The Seversons bought the food so Dad picked up Chipotle burritos and luckily Grandma, Denise and Carla offered to make the salads which saved me. I had made fruit compote for the weekend so we used that for the dessert.
Adrianne had asked President Child to be the sealer and it was so nice that he said he was excited to do it. The temple sealing room was full of mostly family, many of whom had traveled far to be with us, and with a few friends like the Chandlers, the Daniels, Angie Bleazard, Jo Black and Carol Stanger. It was perfect.
Adrianne was gorgeous all day. It was wonderful to see her excitement and smiles. Everything for the reception 
turned out perfect. Everyone that said that they would be there, was there! It was unbelievable. The restaurant was incredible; the service was perfect and the food fantastic. Everyone who says anything about the evening says that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it looked like all the family was having fun. I mentioned that Dad and I looked through over 800 photos from the photographer and it was like reliving the event since it was kind of a blur to both of us.
The best compliment came from Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Jim when they said that it was the best event that they had been to for a long time because of how the bride and groom made everyone feel. Adrianne and Blake did a great job of talking with everyone and making them feel that they were so excited that they were there. My two favorite parts of the reception was the song, “Families Can Be Together Forever”, sung by the nieces and nephews and when Dad handed Blake and Adrianne the mike to speak after they cut the cake. They were perfect and a mom and dad especially love to h
ear a son-in-law express his love, admiration and devotion to their daughter as Blake so eloquently did.
We arrived home that evening at a decent time since everyone helped with the little bit of clean up that we actually had to do. The best accomplishment of the clean up was the brothers packing up two large suitcases to send with the Severson family to Hughson so Dad and I could fly to the open house. Dad would like me to add that we stayed up that night after midnight to watch BYU basketball win; we had recoded it earlier that day. I love to watch them win. Most everyone had to travel home on Sunday but Heidi’s family was able to stay until Monday which was extra nice. We had a family dinner after church and Denise, Jim and Carolyn were able to still be here. We have all the photographer’s photos now and it would be fun to sit with all of you and relive that day together looking through the photos. There are some great family moments captured.
The next weekend we were in Hughson for the open house that Blake’s parents planned. It was lots of fun; there were a ton of people to meet. We couldn’t get over the smell of the almond blossoms all over town. Dad walked outside and said he could smell marzipan! It was also warm from the moment we landed in Oakland; so good to stand and feel the warmth of the sun. The open house was on our anniversary so we celebrated by going to lunch at Los Compadres and I got my chili relleno and chicken taco fix. We also went to Grandpa’s gravesite and left flowers from the wedding there. There was a mariachi band playing for one of the four funerals scheduled there that day!
We helped clean up the Hughson church building so we didn’t drive back to the hotel until midnight. Both of us had been too busy at the open house to eat much so we stopped at the In and Out for a burger and milk shake. Dad said that we were just doing what you all would regularly do at midnight! We had a wonderful stay at the hotel and we used Marriott points so with Katie’s flight benefit and her letting us park in her employee parking spot, this trip to Hughson was pretty inexpensive. In the morning we walked on their treadmills, swam in the outside pool and soaked in the hot tub. If I had more time I would have just sat and fell asleep in the sun; again, it felt so good to have the sun warm our skin.
We met up with Blake and Adrianne at the Severson’s home after checkout and they opened the gifts from both events. Everyone was SO generous with all of their gifts to them; we couldn’t believe how much they received. It took most of the afternoon and then we helped them pack their rental car to drive everything to Utah on Sunday.
We drove to Martinez to spend Saturday night and Sunday with Shawn and Aubrey. We had an incredibly fun time with them. They have an un-bounding energy that is so wonderful to be around. They have made a 
nice home in their new apartment and the boys absolutely love it. Going to our children’s wards is always a delight and especially visiting Primary and watching Aubrey and even Gregory there. It is wonderful to see how you all contribute to your wards; you are all so talented. Before flying home, we squeezed in a bit more paying time with the boys and had dinner at the Hawkins and then we were on our way in a rush of course since it is always hard to leave any of you.
In between the two wedding events, Dad and I kept the celebrations here going by taking advantage of a free night at the downtown Embassy Suites for an early anniversary celebration. It is an exquisite remodeled old hotel and a very fun place to stay. We enjoyed swimming, relaxing in the hot tub, and walks in the rain while exploring downtown and even poking out heads into VooDoo Doughnuts to get that glimpse of the weird and brash culture of Portland. I also was able to use a coupon that I had been saving for a Lebanese restaurant that I love. I went off my eating program for the weeks of wedding celebrations and I love all Mediterranean foods.
Our next big family moments came with the Spring Break visit of Sunhee and Meeja; it was nice that they were able to stay the whole week. We didn’t plan much except going to the zoo of course and games, games and more games. We played games at any free moment and even when we should have been going to bed a couple of the nights! Sunhee and Meeja love doing just about anything. Meeja said she became oatmeal buddies with Halboji. Even n errand to Home Depot was more fun with them along. When they caught a glimpse of Chuck E. Cheese in the same parking lot, they changed their minds and thought that is where we should go. But, Dad showed them that Home Depot must be more fun since there are always more cars parked in front of Home Depot!!! The girls were also a huge help in the kitchen; they love to help and learn new skills. Speaking of new skills, Sunhee loves our SendOutCards service and amaz
ingly is quite adept at the card editor (like a simplified, mini Photoshop) with very little assistance. She had fun creating several cards from scratch using some incredibly cute wedding photos of her!
We traveled to the zoo twice while they were here, turning around and going back home the first time since there was no parking and no shuttle service plus it had started raining. The next day was a far better day. We have a fabulous zoo. Interestingly, have you noticed how few public phone booths there are anymore??? I forgot my cell phone the day we were at the zoo and Katie had mentioned the night before that she might catch up to us. I worried how we would connect (How did we used to do that?) We worked it out but boy, times have changed!
We brought Katie to our home after the zoo. That was a fun treat for Sunhee and Meeja as they were able to stay home with Katie (and the trampoline) while I took Aunt Denise to the airport. Then afterwards, the girls and I drove Katie to her downtown apartment so they could see where she lived and eat some of her candy!
Aunt Denise was here for a couple of days helping Grandma Maldonado. That was a huge help since my week revolved around grandchildren when Grandma had her surgery on her hand. The girls and I visited with Grandma a couple of times during the week to include her on the game playing (for just short periods of time). Her ward has been treating her so well. They brought in lunch and dinner for most of the week and many of the people sat and visited with her while she ate. They are a great ward.
The first weekend that Sunhee and Meeja were here, Kyre, Alina, Adam and Klaire came up on the train arriving in what looked like real spring like weather. It is always lively when all the siblings get together; they love gathering and playing together so it was nice to have the sun shinning for that day. We had a fun Sun
day brunch birthday celebration for Dad and Klaire. Klaire lights up with all the attention of her older brother and sisters. Right after church we had a short time before we took them to the train station.
That very weekend we also had a visit from Morty so he turned up the fun especially when Kyre and Scott’s children were here. He organized some ping pong play offs and it looks like I am going to have to practice before they come again as they become so skillful after all that ping pong. We are now ready for our next wave of visitors since Sunhee and Meeja were so good to help clean the bathroom and change sheets on all the beds after their visit. They have grown up so much and they just are excited to be helpful. I think our next visitors will be Judy and Jack Hoagland in April. Fawn Hoagland’s son will be getting baptized the second week of April.
At the end of Spring Break we had the privilege of taking a quick trip to Utah to celebrate with all the birthdays there (and use up Dad and Adrianne’s Tucano’s birthday cards). I almost didn’t get there since I realized upon loading into the shuttle at the airport that I had forgotten my purse after leaving home at 5:00 am. So Dad headed to Utah alone and I was able 
to catch up later luckily. There is always lots of family fun going on in Utah; it is always good to be there. Rebekah was having a makeup and nail polish party with 15 girl friends when Dad landed and we were able to return to Daybreak on Sunday for their church and a family birthday party with lots of fun and yummy food. Adrianne was able to ride horses on her birthday and get her fill of red (I mean RED) meat at the “Flesh Café” that night. We almost didn’t get out of Utah with it being the end of Spring Break. We never realized how many families choose to miss the first Monday back in school so they can get a better price for airplane tickets. Our Monday morning flight filled up over the weekend and then our evening flight was oversold within a few hours of checking it so we were crossing our fingers to get on. Even with Morty checking the internet for us and trying to reroute us (his specialty) as we were driving to the airport, there was no other option to get home. Luck was on our side and the fact that we got on the list at the airport early.
Today we are headed to enjoy the coast at Otter Crest. Ivan and Ramona Jones offered us a week at their place after we took care of their yard when they left on their mission and the home was not sold yet. They are already back from their mission and we finally found a week that worked (or kind of works)! If we can stay through the weekend, it will be a fun and relaxing place to watch general conference. News from the ward is that Risa Whitaker will probably be passing away this week. She can no longer communicate. They never found the source of her cancer that they discovered last year this time (right after general conference). The good news is that she had a good couple of months just recently just before her liver finally failed two weekends ago.
Well, I am sorry to end this on such a sad note. In institute a few weeks ago, I saw a video clip that I thought was so excellent. It was a Mormon Messages video clip, from lds.org, called “Hope Ya Know We Had a Hard Time”. It is so worth watching. My favorite part was the ending when Elder Cook quotes President Monson with this challenge that I would like to give all of you: “Find someone who is having a hard time and do something for them.” I realize that you all are having struggles of your own but I know that lifting another can lift your own spirits. My prayers are with you. I hope that we all are remembering each other in our prayers. I love you, Mom
