Yesterday was such a fun day that now I’m so bored with how today is going! Thank you for all of your birthday wishes via text, facebook, blog, phone, mail, etc. I had such a fun day! At work, I was surprised with flowers, birthday cards, and a birthday cake! It was great!
Russ took me to Disneyland to get my new pass--- hurray for that, and I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Baja Fish Tacos, with my father-in-law Brian and Russ. It was such a fun day. Thanks again everyone!
My grandma who makes several of my favorite things ever--one being this world famous dessert. :) I think she does some special thing where she lets it sit in the pantry at room temperature so the meringue gets these amazing little sugary dew droplets on the top... really it's to die for.
Me and Russ.... cheese...I'm 27 on Tuesday! So old! 
Russ and me with our Easter outfits on. After I took the curly and mo photos earlier this day, Russ and I decided to make up an Easter song and wear the wigs over to my parents house to be funny. I think the Easter song was something like this: Happy Happy Easter, Happy Happy Easter, Happy Happy Easter, Haaaappppppyyyyy E-aster! 
This is me and my sisters at the luncheon after the funeral. It was a day full of celebration for Grandpa Matlock... I just noticed that we all have the EXACT same cheeks---they may be a little fuller on some faces (like mine), but we all have the same ones.... funny huh? 
Brenda, one of my work friends, is having a baby! So I threw her a little work baby shower at her favorite restaurant--Olive Garden. A lot of the guys weren't so sure about coming (what' is it about phobias of baby showers?) but it was a co-ed party and I know all of them had a lot of fun.
Here is a picture of me with my little target basket that I "borrowed" for a few days so I could tote around the party gifts (which were little glass vases with pink roses in them--they were great! they served as table decorations and as the gifts!).
Here is all of us in a group shot. Russ came too and he had a lot of fun! The next day one of the ladies I work with said "is it true all of those stories he was telling?" Then she said "If he was my husband, I would never let him get away with the things he does!" It was pretty funny.... he had told the rental car story and some other crazy stories... people loved it at the party!
So I’ve been meaning to post my Hawaii pictures FOREVER, but due to Russ downloading some movies at home and taking all the bandwidth and other events in our lives, I finally brought the pictures to work to post them from here.
We had an amazing time. We stayed in Kauai at the Marriott near the airport in February—which was great—because we had only stayed on the Princeville side of the island in the past. We had this awesome double suite right next to the ocean. We listened to the waves during our slumber each night. Outside of the wonderful food poising I got (never eat fish and chips in an airport), the week was absolutely amazing—filled with beaches, pool side reading, and exploring of the island… not to mention Lapperts Ice Cream.
Our big event of the week was going on Captain Andy’s Sail Cruise (who is the only company who offers cruises for pregnant women—which we found extremely odd). The sail around half of the island was such a blast… and we got to view so much of the high cliffs, private beaches and hidden waterfalls that you can only else see by helicopter, boat or hiking in. The captain even sailed us all the way to KeKe Beach, which is almost unheard of, but the waves were so great. We saw some whales, dolphins and sea turtles. We had a great time.
I hope you enjoy these delayed pictures.
tree huggers
Here's Russ getting pummeled by a wave.... somehow he actually liked digging himself in like a turtle and doing this! :) If you zoom in you can see he wasn't expecting this one....
Tyler and Des on our sail around the island-- we went all the way to KeKe beach, which the previous tours Russ and I have been on, never got us that far. It was a beautiful day.
Us on the boat.
The river near our hotel... it rained almost every day, but was it ever beautiful!
We thought this sign was pretty funny... and of course Russ had to have his "speed hump" picture to prove it. :)
So today was a good day. The funeral started at 11 a.m., but the viewing and family gathering started at 9:30. It was amazing to see all of the many people who revered and loved John. The service was very touching and there was not a dry eye in the house when his daughter and two sons did a musical number and asked the congregation to join in during the last verse of How Great Thou Art. There were stories that made us laugh, some that made us cry, and others that made us realize again just how lucky we were to have been part of this great mans life. The service at the burial grounds was also very special as a two-man military salute with a trumpet and a flag. After the funeral events we all went to Red Robin where there was lots of laughter and love between the families. It was an all-around great day of celebration for John's life and the happiness he brought everyone else's life.
So my Aunt Sarah (my Uncle Darren has been here for the last week
helping my grandma) her children and my Uncle Chris and Aunt Gina who
all live around Provo Utah left this morning to come down for the
funeral.
They were caravaning down to California in their two SUV's. I guess
it's been snowing pretty bad up there and in Scipio Utah Sarah (who
had her two kids Chandler and Tristian and my other cousin Jackson in
her car) hit black ice and rolled her car.
Can you believe it? No one is in critical condition. It looks like
Chandler broke his leg and everyone else was just cut up real bad. Buy
they're alive and okay. The car is totaled. And my Aunt Gina who
watched it happened from the other car said she can't believe they
walked away alive from it. They're still in the hospital as this
happened only hours ago, so were waiting for updates.
Im in shock! Nothing bad has happened in my family for a while and now
it seems like its all hitting at once. Please keep Sarah, Chandler,
Jaskson, and Tristan in your prayers.
Thank you for your prayers. Today at 7:05pm, John passed away in the San Clemente Hospital. He was not in pain.
