Bitter....Sweet...Homecoming

Well, grab a blanket and settle in, this is going to be a long one :)

Bitter

September 19, Provo High School Homecoming.
The day started normal enough, the group, consisting of Diego and Dalice, Cody and Krystina, Fano and Mallory, Kyle and McKenna, and Caleb and Cassie, decided that for their 'day date' they would go boating at Utah Lake with one of the young men's leaders from Cody's ward. Car arrangements: Diego and Kyle and their dates in our Trailblazer, Cody and Krystina in his truck and I believe Caleb and Fano in a car with thier dates. Off they went.
They were supposed to be done around 2 pm so that the girls would have plenty of time to get ready for dinner and the dance. Dinner was being done at Cody's house by the parents. The boys' parents were planning on meeting at Cody's house at 4 to get everything ready for pictures and dinner around 6:30 that night.

A little after 2, I get a text: 'I can't find the keys'. !Are you kidding me!!!

(On the phone)Me: "What do you mean you can't find the keys"?(Keep in mind, the TB is the only car we have an extra set of keys to :( )
Diego: "I don't know what I did with them".
Me: "What did you do with them?"
Diego: "I don't know, I have been trying to back track to remember what I did with them."
Me: "So who all is still there?"
Diego: "Just Kyle and me, and Matt (the guy with the boat)."
Me: "Where are the girls?"
Diego: "Cody took them home becuase some had hair appointments."
Me: "How do I get to the dock, I will come with the other set of keys."

He then gives me directions, it was at the Lindon Boat dock, which I had never been to before, I didn't even know it existed. I arrived at the parking lot and looked around some more, fuming mad. No luck. I told Diego to take the truck and get home because Dad was mad, and that I would take Kyle home.
I left the parking lot, checking my rear view mirror often to make sure he was coming along and not prolonging the inevitable. I kept driving along, he was a ways behind me but I could always see him coming around a corner or in the distance. No worries. So Kyle and I get out of Vineyard to Geneva road and I look back and I don't see the truck.

Me: "Okay, really, I know I want him to go the speed limit, but this is ridiculous, where is he?????" I tried to call him, but, then realized that he wouldn't, no shouldn't answer his phone because we have told him over and over, "you are not allowed to answer or talk on the phone while you are driving."
I turned onto Geneva and pulled over to wait. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I probably waited for 2-3 minutes, still no sign of Diego. We turned around to go see what was taking him so long. As I drove and didn't see him, I kept asking Kyle if there was another way out of the parking, could he have gone a different way. He wasn't aware of another way, so we kept going. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I had the same feeling you have right now reading this!
I came around a corner and there off to the side of the road was a bigger white truck with the passenger door opened and a guy standing there talking on the phone. I raced up behind it, rammed my car into park and got out. I could see Diego leaning against the passenger seat of the truck and as I ran over to him I looked to my right and saw this:



"What happened???" Diego was covered in some tiny little green leaf things, filthy dirty and one shoe missing. I dialed my husbands number, and as soon as he answered I lost it. I couldn't even talk. I handed the phone to Kyle, who relayed this message to my husband:
Kyle: "Um, the truck is in a ditch and your wife is crying."
Diego(husband): "WHAT, can I talk her please."
Me: "THE TRUCK IS TURNED OVER IN THE DITCH AND DIEGO CLIMBED OUT."
Diego: "What happened, is Diego okay?" "Calm down."

Me: "Diego, why didn't you call me!!!"
Diego: "My phone got wet and won't work."
The paramedics had been called and another lady had stopped to help, she had some kind of medical training and was great to check Diego over. There was no blood and no bones sticking out anywhere, which was good to see. I was a complete and utter basketcase! When Diego (son) and I both calmed down enough to actually have a conversation, I asked him what happened. There were no skid marks or anything so it was really weird. He said that he heard a thump, the windshield starting cracking, and evidently swerved, over-corrected and ended up in the ditch. Now my first reaction was that the truck had literally rolled into to the ditch, but in talking to Diego a few days later I found out that it actually kind of drove down and then tipped over partly on the side and partly on the top. Diego finally got there with Miguel and Antonio (barefoot), and called Cody for him to come pick up Kyle since we weren't going anywhere for awhile.
A few minutes later Cody, Fano and Caleb all showed up to give their support and they stayed to make sure everything was okay. They ended up staying until all of us left. It was awesome of them to come back show the support that they did.
Finally, the parademics and EMT's from the firestation finished asking questions and checking him out and gave me these choices: 1) They could take him to the hospital to be checked out, even though he looks okay; 2) They could release him to us and we could take him to the hospital to be checked out, even though he looks okay; or 3) they could release him to us, we would watch him, and if needed take him to the hospital. We decided to just have him released to us and we would watch him and take him in if needed. They were fine with that and had specifically said to watch him throughout the rest of the day, because right now he was most likely in an adrenaline rush and once that wore off he might feel more, to watch for numbness, tingling or anything internal that hurt or didn't seem right. I asked them if they felt okay about him going to the dance that night, and they said he should be fine to go.
Me: "Well, your worst nightmare has come true, I am driving you, Kyle and your dates to the dance."
Fano, Cody, Kyle, Caleb: "No, no, we'll work it out."

I don't know if that was because they were looking out for me or because they really didn't want to be seen with me driving some of them, but either way I chuckled.
While the tow truck was trying to figure out how to get the truck out of the ditch, there was a car of some young adults that had to stop because the tow truck was totally blocking the road. They all got out and came to see what was going on and asked if everyone was okay. As they were walking back to the car this is what I heard:
(Talking to each other)" We stopped to see if everything was okay, AKA we just really wanted to be nosy and see what was going on." It made me laugh, again, and that felt good, considering.

Sweet
By this time, Diego is walking around, seemingly normal. If he wasn't so filthy you most likely wouldn't know that he had just been through what he had. The tow truck finally got the truck out a little before 4. All of the boys jumped right up on the bed of the tow truck to get stuff out of the cab of our truck for us. (I love these boys) They then left to go finish cleaning out the boat and get Cody's deck set up for dinner. I told him to apologize to his mom that we wouldn't be able to come help, and of course he had already talked to her and she didn't expect us there at all. As the boys were getting into their car to leave, Fano said,
"Hey, we should say a prayer." Now why didn't I think of that!!!!! The boys hummed and hawed about who should say it, and finally we decided that Fano would say it. It was a simple, yet strong prayer, and I can't thank him enough for it.

Homecoming
So they all rearranged car assignments and Cody had planned on coming to pick Diego up and then go to get their dates and take pictures at the girls' homes. He came over at about 6 and they left. Diego(husband) and I and the boys then left to go up to Cody's to take food and help out for the evening. While we were waiting for dinner to be done, everyone went to the next door neighbors house for pictures.

Diego and Dalice
From Left to Right: Caleb, Diego, Fano, Cody, and Kyle in front

From Left to Right: Cassie, Mallory, McKenna, Dalice, Krystina



They finished dinner, which by the way was Chicken Cordon Bleu, Salad (the boys each served their dates), fruit salad, white rice and yellow rice that my mother-in-law was so kind to make, and visited outside on the deck for awhile. They headed out to the dance sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 with these specific instructions from me: "You guys watch him, and if there is anything, anything at all, you call me!". They all agreed.
Diego, the boys and I stayed at Cody's and visited for the evening with Cody's mom. (His dad went hunting). At about 10:45, we went back out to the deck to straighten up the table because they were coming back for dessert. Half jokingly I said, "Oh, we should take all these beads and spell out everyone's names."
Cody's and Fano's younger brothers:" Yeah, that would be cool." But once we got started we realized that there wasn't enough for there names, but we were able to do this:


We put each of their initials in matching color beads across from their dates. Yes, it was corny, but it was also almost 11:30 at night! We finished about 2 minutes before they came home.

It will definitely be a day to remember in everyone's book. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends for my son. These boys care about one another and have each other's backs. Some of them have gone to school together since kindergarten, others have just joined the group in the last few years, but in the end it doesn't matter how long you have been friends, just that you are friends.

She said............

Stay tuned for more pictures.......dance is Sept. 19th.

Love to all
Darci and Family

Homecoming

So, we are at that point in our lives where we now have to come up with cute and clever ways to ask people to dances and to answer those who ask. So the other day, my son, Diego, comes home and says that he wants to ask someone to homecoming so that he can double with his best friend and his girlfriend. I said that should be fine, we will think about it and talk to dad. Well, he informed me that he and his friend were both planning on asking thier respective dates that night! This was at about 6-6:30 pm. How on earth was I supposed to come up with something awesome and clever on a moments notice? And yes, I said I had to come up with it, surely you weren't thinking that my son was going to think of something???? So his idea, well he got it from someone else, was to give her a box of Honeycomb cereal, which I happened to have on hand, and say " Honey, comb your hair, we are going to homecoming." Really? That's what you want to go with??? So, I, being the clever person that I am, came up with this (on short notice I think it is pretty good):







We opened the box and added a bunch of tiny pieces of paper that said different things, one of them saying that is was from Diego.


So off they went, Diego, Cody, and my husband (ya know, for moral support, hah) to doorbell ditch this girl to ask her to homecoming. Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering what his friend was doing, he was getting a bunch of tiny little fish, putting them in a bowl and telling his girlfriend that out of all the fish in the sea, will you go to homecoming with me? That's are boys!!!!!!! So anyway, they made it to both girls houses, dropped off the stuff, and now we wait.................

Back to School

School has begun!!! Here are some pics of Miguel and Antonio on that beloved first day of school. Neither one of them wanted to take a picture, but what they don't realize is that it could have been much worse. I could have followed Miguel out to the bus stop and taken his picture in front of the bus door (like I did for kindergarten:)) and for Antonio I could have gone to the school and taken his picture in front of his classroom door (he walks to school), but I settled for pics at the house:

(I didn't get one of Diego, but he was just as handsome as these two:))

Antonio with his goofy smile

Miguel thinkin' he is all that and a bag of chips!

For the next two years I will have a child in each of the three schools. It is so amazing how fast they grow up. My son is a junior in high school, can you believe that? It seems like just yesterday he was sitting on the counter with me looking out the window waiting for the bus to preschool to come pick him up. CrAzY!!!!!! Of course, that only means that I am getting older as well.

Love to all
Darci and Family

Random pics

Random pics that I came across:

Charlotte trying to see what Miguel is playing

Charlotte trying to give Miguel a kiss through the window

My sisters baby peacock

This is what happens when you let a 16 month old eat spaghetti by herself

Yes, I have a sister :)

July, 1993: Family Reunion in Provo, Utah. I had just had my first child, he was three months old. Lots of local family, lots of out of town family. I was excited, I had my own little family now and some of my siblings were there to meet me new little boy. My sister, Shery, was there with her husband and her two girls, Harlie (5) and Sydnie (almost 1). We had a great time.

Flash forward 16 years to Aug 2009. Here is how the conversation went:
(Me)"My sister is coming through town. They are moving from Arizona to Boise." (others)"You have a sister?" (Me)"Yes, I have a sister." (Others)"I never realized that."

My kids didn't even know I had a sister until about 5 years ago. Why, you ask? Well, when my sister joined our family, I was 5 and she was 10. I don't know exactly why we weren't close, but I kind of attribute it to the fact that we didn't grow up together as small children. I looked up to her, I thought her jewelry was awesome, 'shared' her earrings (although she always got mad), and liked some of the same music she did. In fact, that is how I got introduced to Kenny Rogers. She LOVED him and had lots of his music. She even went to one of his concerts. So I started to like his music and still listen to some of his older stuff. Then she left home, got married and moved. We weren't best friends, but I guess I thought we would keep in touch more, 'cause that is what family does, right? Well, not exactly.
I hadn't seen or heard from her since that family reunion in July 1993. There was one time in Nov a few years ago when we were almost together again as an entire family, which hadn't happened since my wedding in 1992, but that fell through and Shery and her family didn't make it to Thanksgiving with the rest of us. It was really kind of sad. There we were, 7 of 8 kids with all of our families. Hoping to take family pictures. Unfortunately, the family pictures we did take weren't complete.

Well, Shery and her family decided to move back to Boise. They left Arizona on Monday morning and needed a place to crash as they came through. Of course, our home was open and we had the space to accomodate Shery, Sean and Roudie (Harlie already lived in Boise and Sydnie was staying in AZ to finish school), plus 2 cockatoos, a baby peacock, a parakeet, and a dog. (I know!) They got into town around noon on Tuesday and stayed overnight and left Wednesday morning to head on to Boise. My kids were really excited to finally meet their Aunt Shery and her family, and we were excited to finally meet Roudie (almost 15). It turned out to be a great visit, they were able to get the rest that they needed to continue on with the trip, and we were able to get re-aquainted. Scott and Helen were there for Tuesday evening as well. I don't even know how long it had been since Scott had seen her, but Helen had never met her.

Sadly, there have been many times in the last 16 years that in talking about my family I sometimes would forget, subconciously, that I had a sister. How sad is that? I realize that our lifestyles are as different as they can be, but should that have an affect on our relationship? I didn't ever think that we would be best friends and talk every day, and visit all the time, but I didn't ever think that it would be 16 years between visits, phone calls or letters either.

I want to say to all of my sisters-in-law, on my side as well as my husbands side, that I am grateful for all of you, I consider all of you my sisters, and now hopefully I have gained one sister back. Not that she was ever gone, but hopefully now that we are all older and wiser (???) and we live closer to each other now that we can stay in touch more.

I hope everything works out for their family. They have had lots of ups and downs. I really hope that they realize that no matter what anyone thinks of anothers lifestyle or situation that family is family and we are there for each other when needed. I hope that she can see that in the help that my brother Tim and his daughter Sydne were able to give them when they were packing up the truck, I hope that they can see that in my parents who helped them line up a place to stay both here and in Boise until they can get settled, I hope they realize that in the help that my family was able to give them in a place to stay for the night on a long trip, and I hope that they realize that if any of the rest of my siblings were anywhere where they could have helped they would have, hands down. We are family.

I know this is kind of long, and the person who it is meant for the most will never read it, but I just wanted to get it out there that yes, I have a sister and hopefully it will stay in the forefront of my mind where it belongs. As many of you know me, I am not a totally sappy person, and those of you who know Shery know that she is even less of a sappy person, so there was no heart to heart between her and I, but I think the message between us got across in its own way.

Thanks for listening
Love to all
Darci and family

It Seems Like Just Yesterday.......

Really???????? Am I that old???????

My oldest son, Diego, is now an official licensed and insured driver and has a girlfriend! I can't believe that we are here already. It seem like in the last few months teachers have wanted baby pictures of the kids for presentations, etc., so we have been looking through a lot of photos and it is so amazing to see how my children have grown. It doesn't seem like this is the point at which we should be, but, here we are.

We were at a baseball game the other day for the son of some friends of ours. He plays machine pitch on a city team and the ages range from 7-9 (I think). Anyway, while we were sitting there watching these little guys play, I was thinking how tiny and young they look. Then it dawned on me, Miguel had just turned 8 when he tried out and made the team is on now!!! I can't even remember him at that stage. Isn't it weird how when you look at your kids every day you don't remember them any other way until you look at pictures or have 'dawning' moments?

Then here is Antonio, just turned 11 and is a New Scout! He will working on merit badges! I keep looking at him and I wonder if I will ever be able to look at him and not see my 'baby'. He is getting older, but he will always be my baby.


Love to all
Darci and Family

Here they are again sporting their Goofy hats (Diego got one on the last trip but didn't bring it with him:()


Here are the boys posing on the way into the Astro Blasters ride at Disneyland


This is Miguel buried at the beach


This is the boat from the movie King Kong


This is Antonio buried at Newport Beach

Spring Break!!

Our vacation this year was to Disneyland. We left the Saturday before Easter and came back the next Friday.

Saturday we got to the hotel about 3:30 or 4:00 and the boys immediately went to the pool.

Sunday we got up and spent Easter at Disneyland and California Adventure. We were hoping since it was Easter that there was something 'special' going on, but no luck, it was just a regular day. We stayed for a good part of the day and then went back to the hotel and the boys, again, went straight into the pool, after waiting 30 minutes from dinner of course:)

We spent Monday at Disneyland and California Adventure as well. It is nice becuase in Cal. Adv. a lot of the rides have single rider lines which, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is where you can get a pass from the person at the entrance to the line to the ride and it allows you to go in through the exit and then when there is an odd number of people in a group they ask for single riders and you go. This can be good or bad. The bad part is that you aren't gauranteed to ride with your group. The good part is that you don't have to wait in the line. So we took advantage of this with the boys and they went back and forth on a few rides while Diego and I hung out and 'people watched'.

Tuesday we spent the day at Universal Studios. We had never been there before so we weren't sure what to expect as far as rides, etc. We got there and got our tickets and headed off for the tour. This is a 'tram' (for lack of a better word) type car thing hooked to two other car things and they drive you around the whole lot. They show you the sound stages, some of the special effects, alot of the scene stages for different shows. It was pretty cool. I think one of the best parts was when we went past a scene shot for King Kong. There will be a picture of this later, it is of a boat and the rocks on the water, seriosly, it was the size of a science fair project, it was cool. We stayed until they closed at 7 and went back to the hotel and yes, back to the pool.

Wednesday was our last day at Disney. We started in Cal. Adv. this time, but by now Diego and I were pretty Disney'd out, so we let the boys go and do some of the single rider lines that they now have in Disneyland (this is new, Splash Mountain and something else now have single riders!) and a few hours later decided that we would call it a day and head back to the hotel. Yes they did:)

Thursday was the beach day. We drove down to Newport Beach and hung out there for the day. The water was a littel chilly but the boys really enjoyed it. We did the all time favorite 'burying in the sand', walked down the pier and just relaxed. We spent the evening back at the hotel and the pool.

Friday we got up at 4 am and got our stuff ready to come home. We got back around 3:00 pm and pretty much relaxed the rest of evening.
It was a great trip. It is always nice to get away from the everyday worries, but it is also nice to come home, especially to your own bed. There is just nothing like it.

Everybody Sing.....

Happy Birthday to you......

Just wanted to say Happy 16th Birthday to my son, Diego. I can't believe he is that old and I really can't believe I am that old! Why just the other day I was mistaken for a student at the High School, go figure.

Anyway, Diego is a great son and I wouldn't take anyone in his place. He will be getting his license in May, so get ready, another teenage driver out there.

Love to all
Darci and Family

Glad I am not the only one:)

So, it has been awhile, I know. However, in getting caught up, I have come to realize that luckily I am not the only one with Christmas greetings still as my latest entry, most of my friends are behind as well.

So far, 2009 has been good. Kids continue to grow, parents continue to work. Our oldest, Diego, just started drivers training at school. He has been driving on his learners permit since about June or so, and he is doing very well. I was talking to my Mom the other day and realized that no matter how well he drives with me in the car, there is that little nagging whatever in the back of my mind that will not let me feel comfortable when he starts to take the car on his own. I guess it is just a parent thing. Hopefully I will get over it.

Basketball season is coming to a close and baseball season is about to get underway. Diego will be trying out for the High School team, and Miguel and Antonio will be playing for their respective teams that they have played on the last 4 years or so. They are all looking forward to it. I am kind of looking forward to it as well, there is just something about spending Saturdays at the ball park.

We are also looking forward to a visit from my brother, Jeremy, in about a week. He is coming to Utah to do a little bit of skiing and will be staying with us for a few days. My kids are really excited to spend time with him.

Well, that is going to have to do for now.

Love to all
Darci and Family

How Time Flys (Or is it Flies???)

Well, so I didn't do so hot on the updates. Well here they are.

Christmas was good to us. I was especially excited this year 'cause I was able to get my husband and kids something that I have wanted for them for a long time. FATHEADS!!!! Miguel and Antonio both got Albert Pujols, two different ones, Diego (son) got a St. Louis Rams Helmet, and Diego (husband) got the St. Louis Cardinal logo. (See pictures below). They are pretty cool. I was really excited to see them. You know how commercials make everything look so much better than they really are?????? Well, these weren't on those commercials. They are BIG!!! However, the helmet didn't stick very well so I sent it back and ordered another Cards logo for Diego's room. Albert was good, except he came in two pieces and I had to match his bottom half to his top. If you didn't know I don't think you would be able to tell. They also came with some smaller stickers as well which was a very pleasant surprise.

Santa was also good to us. The boys got what they asked for and then some! Christmas is hard with older kids. You can't just get them some Hot Wheels cars and call it good. They got Nerf guns (I am pretty sure the entire neighborhood could come to my house and ALL borrow a nerf gun and I would still have more!), watches, wallets, bats, movies, and the only thing that Diego (son) asked for was texting for his phone. Of course, he got more, but that was his big thing. Diego got me the new iPod touch along with some iTunes gift cards and a transmitter thing to put in the car so we can listen to our ipods through the radio station. I got him a new leaf blower (for the snow:)), a tool set, and the fathead. All in all it was a great Christmas.

New years was spent with some friends playing games and watching movies.

Well, more to come, but that will have to do for now.