Really, has it been that long????

Wow, sorry to those of you who have been faithful checkers of blogs. I am pretty sure I have said it before, but I will say it again, this is why I am not a huge fan of Facebook, I forget about blogs!!!

So here is a small recap of the past few months:

Well, the most major happening in our lives since I posted last is that we moved. Last summer, Diego saw a house not to far from where we lived for sale. It was kind of an older home, needed some repairs, new paint, new carpet, etc. It had 5 bedrooms plus a great room that could double as a guest bedroom/'playroom'. This house was a short sale so we knew it would take longer than normal which was fine since we didn't have to go anywhere. We waited until our offer was officially accepted and then put our house up for sale. Our house sold in 5 days!!!!! We were scheduled to close on our house on November 23rd (if I remember correctly). As of my last post on November 15th, we still did not have a closing date for the purchase of the new house (stress, stress, and more stress). Things were not looking good on the sellers part, not to mention the fact that I had not packed a single thing, seriously!. On Tuesday, the 17th of November, my realtor called and said that it wasn't looking good, he wasn't getting the paperwork he needed from the other realtors and the banks involved on their end. Now keep in mind that my house was sold. Now we DID have to move, there was no backing out. So online I went, looking for other houses that 'would do'. My realtor suggested a house that was down the street, in the next ward (which happened to be the ward we were split from 2 years ago, it was built 2 years ago but had never sold, so it was basically brand new, never occupied. He said it only had 3 bedrooms, but they were big and there was also an office that could be used as well. Diego did not want to go look at it, no way. We finally did, and to sum it up, I called my realtor from the empty living room of that house, told him we wanted it. Our offer was accepted, and in one week, literally, I packed up my house and we closed and moved into this one. Yes there are less rooms, but they were alot bigger, and it beat being homeless, which technically we were for a day. Diego and I literally had no place to go that Tuesday, until finally we got the call to come sign papers. ( I will try to remember to post pics soon). It was definitely the right thing to do. This house has all of the upgrades that we wanted to do in the other house, we just have to do the landscaping, but it has a classy feel to it and it is definitely a step up for us.

In other news, Diego and celebrated 18 marvelous years together in May. Kids are all doing great, only one more week of school. I guess I just realized that all three of them are will be the upperclassman of their schools next year...Diego will be a senior (holy crap), Miguel will be in 8th grade (9th grade is at the High School), and Antonio will be in 6th grade. Cool, huh?


Well, that is going to have to do for now. I will certainly try not to have another 4 month break between posts next time.

Love to all
Darci and Family

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