Catching up...Part III ~ A funeral, a wedding, fun w/ friends, birthdays and more

Well I am determined to finish up this "catching up" business with this post.

I do not want to get this far behind again.

It's definitely not worth having to overwork my scattered memory to rebuild the past.

As you recall, my last post included a birth in family.

Well, a few days later we received tragic news that one of my mom's oldest friends (since 2 yrs old!) passed away after a long illness.

To make the pain even worse was the fact that less than a week before his death, his mother, who practically helped raise my mom, suffered from an aneurysm and was on life support.

She never knew that her son had passed.

We attended his funeral on the 18th and a few days later his mother went to see Jesus as well.

The whole ordeal was extremely upsetting to my mom of course and therefore to me too.

It had also been just 6 months since she had lost her brother.

It's been a rough year for her, but we have consolation in the fact that none of them are suffering from their earthly pains any longer and are hopefully resting joyfully in the arms of the Savior in Heaven.

Now that I've shared the bad news in our lives, I'd like to move on to some good news.

The same day that we attended the funeral, I also got to attend a wedding.

My husband's good friend, Brian, was the groom and Terry was actually a groomsman in the ceremony.

Jude was very excited to see us getting all dressed up that he even wanted to participate in the occasion as you can see in this shot of him walking around in my shoes. =)

(can't wait to embarass him with this pic in a few years!)

The outdoor wedding and indoor reception were both beautiful.

It was a small gathering which made it really nice.

I felt like I knew everyone in the room.

And check out how well my skateboard tee and jeans hubby cleans up!

Here we are with the happily married couple, Brian and Shauna!

The following weekend was a bit less busy, but I was able to finally get two of my bestest buds together with me for dinner, Baskin-Robbins and great conversation.

Michael, on the left, I met in the spring of 1995 in a drawing class that we were taking in community college.

We quickly became great friends, as we shared very similar tastes in music.

He is an amazing artist and is currently in graphic design.

It's not often that a talent like that actually gets to be put to use in one's work, but I am so proud of what he is doing.

Scott, on the right, you have seen here before.

He is totally my BFF.

My crazy and spontaneous BFF.

We have been this way since we were freshmen in high school...21 years now.

Back in our early college years...I say early, because out of the 3 of us, only Scott has an actual degree, and it took a while for that to happen. Michael is almost there with his degree and me, well...one day...but back in the day, these two guys and my husband, Terry, were my closest friends in the world.

Each one played an integral role in the person I am today.

But only one would be my perfect match...my soulmate...and that is the one that I married.

I was and am blessed to have these three best friends.

Though all of our lives have taken different paths and time and responsibility has stolen away the opportunities to see each other as often as we'd like, this one night with two of my greatest friends was truly priceless.

In the meantime, I've noticed that my little 2 yr old is turning into a "big boy" more and more every day.

He is becoming more confident in his physical abilities... 

And quite the little artist as well!

Below you are viewing the piece entitled "Tree and Two Suns". =P

Well, that's what it is!

A tree (with a few leaves) on the right and two suns on the left.

Pretty good for a 27 month old!

And we can't forget his self-portrait entitled "Grumpy Jude". (haha!)

On the 28th, we celebrated Terry's 39th birthday.

Only one more year and I'll be married to a 40 year old! GASP!! =)

But he's not letting the numbers bring him down.

He celebrated the day the way HE wanted...at the skatepark.

Jude spent some time watching Daddy skate.

He became more comfortable in the bowl this time.

He had never had the opportunity in all his years of skating to be in a bowl before they built this skatepark nearby.

So he spent a great deal of time enjoying it.

I suggested that he try dropping in from the corner here so as to build up some speed to hopefully get some height on the other side.

Um, yeah...probably wasn't the greatest suggestion to a concrete bowl novice as he turned too fast and had quite the spill. I was really afraid that he had hurt his hand/arm, but he came out unscathed.

I was of course forthcoming with the apologies.

Oh, there was one injury...the faceplate of his kneepad was knocked off.

When Terry tossed it out of the bowl, Jude kept pushing it back in to him because he knew Terry was supposed to be wearing it.

That evening we ate Terry's request of Goode Co. Pecan Pie.

Yes, the pie costs almost $32...IF you're having it shipped.

If you live in the area though it's only $15.

Is it worth it?

Um, I hated pecan pie.

That is, until I tried this one.

It is amazing. Period.

Sooooo worth it.

And Terry even got a candle in his piece of pie.

Cecilia, on the other hand, doesn't like pecans in the least, so she had a piece of the tres leches I made from scratch (whipped cream and all) for my Bunco gathering the day before.

Well, she tried it at least. Then she discovered she doesn't like soggy cake.

But seriously...it's tres leches...it's supposed to be like that.

And personally, I thought it was excellent.

Four days later, on Oct. 2nd, it was mine and Terry's 6th wedding anniversary.

We enjoyed the rare treat of a night out alone.

My dear parents watched the kids while we dined at Buca di Beppo.

Great food...great atmosphere...noisy homecoming teenagers.

But we'll definitely be eating there again.

After dinner we walked along the Woodlands Waterway and to the market street area nearby.

We sat and ate ice cream and purused the bookstore...ALONE.

Let's just say, we enjoyed the quiet time.

And here we are....caught up again.

In three days, on the 10th, it will be my 35th birthday.

10-10-10

Very cool.

Thanks for taking the time and interest in this long post and catching up with my family.

Take care and God bless,