It took me a long time...

And a LOT of dresses tried on (pretty much every dress sold at my store), multiple times ...

but I finally found the one.

Kind of like dating.

Who knew I would end up looking kinda nice-ish in that gorgeous dress:




However, you can put a goofy girl in a pretty dress, but you can't take the goofy out of her. (I'm fairly certain that's an old Latvian saying.)






(This post is me getting excited about my one year anniversary and thinking back to everything we were doing a year ago or so in preparation.)

There's No Place Like Home, Uno

We had a great time in Charleston and things were really happy and fun once the funeral was over.
That isn't to say that there wasn't still crying ... just less of it and less often.

On Tuesday we were all still pretty pooped. My mom, Ryan, Mandi, Kurt and I all took Chris and Chou chou to the park. Then, Kurt and I went downtown to the market for a bit and my dad and Ryan and Mandi met us with Grandma and others to hit up Market Street Sweets for the world's best pralines.

Wednesday we headed back to the grave site to look at the flowers and just kinda be there as a family. A few aunts were there along with my immediate family, some cousins and my grandma. We got to share memories about Papa, which brought us laughter and tears. It was good for us, I think.



There were so many flowers sent for the funeral. It was so touching to see how many people loved Papa.

That night Caroline had a soccer game, and it was a big one: it was her senior night! Caroline's been playing soccer since she was born, basically, and she's been on the high school varsity team all four years of high school as goalie. She's an amazing goalie (one of the best in the state) but few know that she's fierce on the field as well. When she was little, soccer coaches in her league called her the terminator.
Caroline's soccer team is amazing. One of the best in the state. That night they played a team that was not even competition. Caroline blocked the few balls that came her way in the first half and then in the second half her coach let her play in the field. After a few minutes she twisted her ankle and her coach took her out. We were so worried she was going to be out for the rest of the game! She really wanted to score a goal that night--for senior night, and for us to see!--but now it looked like she wouldn't get that chance. We saw her on the sidelines, jumping up and down, proving to her coach that she was, indeed, well enough to play. Finally, her coach let her back in! After a little while, she got the opportunity to score... the ball came flying her way, zipping through the air. She jumped up, headed the ball, and it sailed beautifully into the goal. We went wild!!

Actions shots:












Just posing for family pictures after the game. We all look so lovely... right. I really like the first picture. Chris is licking his arm, Caroline looks special, and Mandi's staring at the poster behind us. I laughed out loud while showing this to Kurt, because he said Mandi looked like, "Oh look, number 13. I never knew. It's right there. Cool." I guess you had to hear his semi-dazed sounding voice. It was très funny, as Captain Shakespeare would say...

The next day we went to the beach and I forgot my camera!! The water was really cold so we didn't swim, but we played in the sand with Chris. Caroline and I made a sand elephant, and then Mandi dug a hole with us and he was put Chris in it (standing up) and buried him to his waist. He thought it was really fun until he couldn't move anymore. He even helped us bury him! It was funny that we girls played while the boys (Ryan and Kurt) laid in the sun.

On Friday afternoon we took Chris to Waterfront Park to play in the pineapple fountain. At first the cold water scared him off, but eventually he was splashing with Mandi and me. Then we dried off and walked down to the pier to swing. Have I mentioned how cool Charleston is??






Stayed tune for Friday night through Saturday afternoon!

Genius

Do you know what one of the most amazing bands of our day is?
Wait, one of the most? How about the most amazing band of our day.
Coldplay.

Chris Martin is a genius. Even if you don't like rap, you gotta admit this is a pretty cool song.


By the way, I finally get to see my favorite band perform live this November!

Il giorno delle madri

I realized yesterday that this year is the first Mother's Day I have not spent with my mom.
Needless to say, that made me quite sad.
I sure do love my mom. She's one of my best friends.
I'm not going to do a lengthy tribute, mostly because her birthday is less than a month away.
But daggum, I have an awesome momma!
I hope I look half as good as her when I'm all growed up!!

Happy Mother's Day, mom! You're the best I could ever ask/hope for!

Rest in Peace, Papa

It's amazing how tiring and emotionally draining a funeral can be. However, it was a beautiful two days, filled with love, memories, and tears. Papa looked so humbly regal in his burial clothes in the casket and so at peace. It's not the way I'll always remember him, but it was a good final memory of him.
We all got to put some dirt on the grave (except mom and Steph who didn't want to). It was a cloudy day and the storm held off just long enough for us to get back to the church.
The amazing outpouring of love from friends from the church and community was a real blessing. It strengthened all members of the family, especially Grandma. Papa was a wonderful man who loved everyone he met, which was reflected in the number of people who waited an hour at the viewing or sat on hard metal seats in the overflow seating at the funeral and followed us in a somber procession to the grave.
As my dad has said countless times in the last few weeks, death comes to all of us. Thankfully, though, we know that it is not the end.

I love Kurt.

Last week in the Chicago airport, while semi-stranded (we'd had 3 gate changes) Kurt began to go through the change in his pocket. Suddenly he said, "Hold out your hand." I did so and he placed a penny in it. "That's your penny. It was made in 1984."


A few days ago it stormed. I mean, good and truly stormed, with absolute down-pouring water, hail, thunder that shook the walls, and lightning that we could see from the windows in the front office at work. I was so excited; I texted Kurt. "This storm is amazing," I said. The reply came shortly, "Yep. I was thinking that you're loving it right now." He knows how much I love thunder storms.

i dun got myself a edukashun

On Friday April 25th Kurt and I finally graduated from BYU!!

Graduation started on Thursday with Commencement, but Kurt and I couldn't go to it because his dad and grandma flew in right before Commencement began. But that's ok because that just meant more time spent walking, sitting, and listening to more speakers (however I was sad to miss Elder Bednar speak). Despite seeing Kurt's dad for the first time in a year and his grandma for the first time in over 6 months, it was a solemn day. That morning Kurt and I got to do a webcam conference with Papa. I stayed home for work so I could see him one last time and I am so glad I did because later that evening my dad called and told me Papa had passed away. It was hard to receive such sad news on a happy day, surrounded by Kurt's family, but Kurt comforted me.

Kurt's brother flew in on Wednesday and we had fun hanging out with him, bowling, playing Wii, and watching movies. Then Kurt's dad and grandma flew in on Thursday and we ate at Texas Roadhouse Grill. On Friday I worked half a day, attempting to get things ready for me to be gone for the next week and then zipped off to campus for Cougar and BYU sign pictures!!




Nikkia's thumb snuck into the pic, but seeing as he was doing double-duty with the video camera and the picture camera, that's not too bad.


Apparently it's not against the rules to ride the Cougar! I was excited to hear that (as I'm sure you can imagine. I think I always sit on sculptured animals for pictures... )




From left: Kurt's grandma Betty, Kurt's dad Steve, Kurt, me, Kurt's brother Nikkia, and Kurt's mom Shelly.

As you can see my family wasn't able to make it, which is especially sad since my mom graduated also. However, it ended up being good because they would not have been there when Papa died, which would have been much, much sadder. It's amazing how the Lord always makes things turn out for the best, even when only days before it doesn't seem that way.

Now time for pictures by the BYU campus entrance sign!



Kurt really liked his Master's hood. It's steezin'.











Next was graduation! I didn't get any pictures of Kurt because he was one of the first to walk, so I wasn't able to get down in time. However, I did get video of him walking across the stage and receiving his diploma.



It's official! Steve bought me a purple orchid lei, which was really really sweet of him. I love orchids! And it was really fun getting to have a bit more pizazz to my outfit!


After the ceremonies we took Nikkia to the airport, then headed over to Cheesecake Factory for some graduation celebration dinner. The wait was an hour, but worth it for the good dinner dishes and the amazing chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake we all split for dessert. It ended up being a tragedy that night because when we went out to our cars we saw that Shelly's had been broken into and her camera and Betty's purse (containing $1500 cash) were stolen. Despite that, it was a good day all-in-all.