grandma's funeral

This post is way over-due but I was able to fly to San Diego for my grandma's funeral last month.  My grandma LOVED Hawaii - if she was just at home, you could always find her in a muumuu and my grandparents were even planning to go to Hawaii in July before everything happened with their health.  For the closing song, I played Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee) on the harp while my two cousins sang and then the congregation joined in on the last chorus.  It was gorgeous and I luckily made it through without crying.  After, we had a luau!  The funeral was lovely and it was so nice spending some time with my dad's side of the family.

First we had to make a stop at one of our favorite places - the Oceanside pier.

missing dustin and shayna!

We had the graveside service first.

all of my dad's siblings and spouses

the program - check out her awesome beehive!

aloha oe grandma 

cancer sucks

Really, though.  It really does.

Last week we found out that my grandma's cancer has returned (she had breast cancer 13 yrs ago and colon cancer 5 years ago) and spread throughout her body.  It's in her brain, lungs, liver, lymph nodes, etc.  It's not curable, just treatable, with hope to extend her life and make her comfortable.  

This came as sudden, shocking news to our family.  She has been the healthy one who has been taking care of my grandpa, so it really doesn't seem fair.  She has such a strong desire to live and see more of her grand babies and great grand babies, and travel, and experience life.  She told me that she was planning on taking care of my grandpa, and then he would probably pass away first, and then she would go travel the world with her sister. ;) 

My parents and my sister and I flew down to CA to see her last weekend when she was in the hospital.  It was hard to be there when she found out that it was cancer again - I saw the bright cheery hope fade a little from her eyes - but it was good to be there, and to get to spend some time with both of my grandparents and our family.  Luckily she will be able to be at home with mostly out-patient treatments of chemo and radiation.  

So I guess moral of the story for now is cancer sucks.  And cherish your loved ones.  Tell them you love them often and enjoy every moment that life gives us!  Because what else can we do?

caitlin & andrew's wedding weekend

Just got back from a quick little roadtrip down to San Diego for my cousin Caitlin's wedding!  She caught the bouquet at my wedding a year ago, so of course she was the next in our family to get married. ;)  Their sealing in the San Diego temple was beautiful, and the reception after was a party!  They had a photobooth, dancing, gorgeous flowers, a  mac & cheese bar, and yummy cake. We enjoyed spending time with our cousins that we don't get to see very often, (some of whom the husb had never met before!) and we also said hello to the ocean (a must when in CA).  Enjoy the picture overload!

driving there it was just us and shayna. dustin always drives.
coming home, we gained trevor & tanner.

Friday night - dinner at Teri Cafe

Tanner, Shayna, Me, Dustin

photo bomb

her dress was gorgeous!

guess who caught the garter?

one of my favorite places: oceanside pier