Viva Las Vegas

This past weekend, Darren, Matt and I took a quick trip to Vegas to visit his mom.  Saturday we were able to attend a session at the Las Vegas Temple (Matt had a friend going through).  This was my first time going to a temple other than the Mesa Temple, so it was new and exciting.  The Las Vegas temple is AMAZING!  So beautiful =)

I got the whole Vegas Temple experience, according to Darren.  I talked to the trees!

After that, we headed to the hospital to visit Chris.  This time seeing her was a lot different than the last time.  Last time we were there, she would babble endlessly about the most random things.  For instance, she kept talking about the 'bank accounts' and all the changes that needed to be made and so forth.  This time around, she didn't do that.  She repeated everything a few times, but was..more in reaility.  She knew we were visiting from AZ, she even knew that Darren's job is to 'spray bugs so they die'.  Her memory seemed to be less scattered and more in the present than last time, which is good.  She's still a crack up to talk to and we had fun chatting with her.

Saturday night we went to a bonfire with Matt and all his friends.  It was relaxing just sitting by the fire, which was HUGE!  Here are a few pictures from that.

 BONFIRE

Well..half of Darren's head, but it's the only one I got with him smiling normal

 What a goofy husband I have ;) I love him!

 Unloading the trailer

Sunday morning we went back to the hospital to visit Darren's mom one last time before we headed out.  Again, it was a fun visit.  We even were able to video chat with Nate and his kids.  Chris loved seeing Caroline crawl.  After that visit, we stopped by the group home where she'll most likely be for the next two months.  It's a nice little place with a great staff and I really feel that Chris will improve a lot there.  She'll be able to move around more, interact with others, and just be in a more loving environment.

It was a fun weekend, but now it's back to work!  Happy Monday =)

Grandma Abuela

On August 30th, my Grandma Abuela passed away.  It was completely unexpected and therefore took us all off guard.  The funeral was on Sept. 4th and it was a wonderful ceremony.  She touched many lives and will live on in all of us.  She was a wonderful grandma who loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren very much.  This post is for my grandma, Laura Mazzarelli.

My grandma was amazing.  Looking back, I now realize that she was always there for us.  Every baby blessing, baptism, graduation, and of course wedding, Grandma and Grandpa we always there smiling with pride.  She supported all of us in everything.  Also, every birthday you knew you'd get a phone call and a present.  Sometimes the present was a shirt too small, but you knew Grandma was thinking of you.  Same with Christmas...someone always got something special just for them.

Another thing about my grandma, she LOVED having us visit.  Her door was always open.  I remember going one weekend when I was probably 12 with a friend and my dad.  We were able to go to the beach, the fun-zone, roller blade around Balboa Island, and play cards with Grandma and Grandpa at nights.  My college roommate Keira and I just recently spent a few days at Grandma's last summer.  It was a great time and Grandma made sure we were comfortable and there was food in the pantry for us.

Another thing about Grandma would have to be the trips she takes us on.  For all her major anniversaries, she and Grandpa managed to get EVERYONE together for a getaway and each one was wonderful!  In March, we were able to go on a 3 day cruise to Mexico.  It was great - everyone was there but Uncle Fab, who was missed.  It was really neat to have us all together.  Here's a picture from that.

All because two people fell in love <3

I could go on and on with memories of Grandma, but it might get a little long.  My grandma was great, loved by so many and loved everyone.  She blessed many lives, and it is because of the love she has for my Grandpa that I am here today.  She will be missed but it will be a wonderful reunion when we're all together after this life.  I love my grandma abuela.

Oops! Should have posted this a week and a half ago!

So...it has been a very busy few weeks so I'm a little delayed on this particular post...the engagement post!  As promised in the previous post, here's the story of how my amazing husband proposed to me a short year ago =).

Darren and I started talking about marriage sometime in August.  We even picked out a ring and everything!  The last Sunday in August, Darren had the wonderful opportunity to ask for my fathers blessing in our marriage.  The date was picked, I may have even been dress browsing, and the ring was on its way.  Everything was coming along great!  Now, I had no idea when Darren was planning on proposing.  I knew the ring had been shipped, even knew he had it sized and everything.  But...my sneaky husband teamed up with my best friend Jessica and between the two of them, they came up with a plan to confuse me.

You see...Sept 10, Darren and I were heading to Utah for the weekend to visit some of his friends and David and Jess.  And I was sure he was going to propose then.  He went so far as to be constantly texting Jessica with me right there so I would KNOW that Jess knew something.  They even had a 'fake' text conversation about how he was going to propose in Utah up the Provo Canyon.  Now these two really had me confused..and I was sure that Darren was planning on proposing in Utah.  So what happened next, I never expected...

Friday, September 4th - That morning I had a job interview bright and early.  Then Darren picked me up because we were going to Flagstaff.  The trip was so we could visit some cousin of his who traveled a lot with his work and happened to be up the mountain at the time.  Darren said that this cousin probably wouldn't be able to make it to the wedding so he wanted me to meet him while I had a chance.  You would think I'd be suspicious at this point, right?  Well, WRONG!  Clueless...

The whole drive up, I think I slept.  For those that know me and car rides, or just know me, you know I like to sleep.  So that's what I did.  And since I was asleep the whole time, I didn't even realize that we weren't headed to Flagstaff, the GPS said "Snowflake, AZ".  Well, by the time I woke up from my long snooze, we were already there.  I remember waking up and Darren saying "So, we're ahead of schedule and have some time to kill."  I looked out the window and saw the Snowflake Temple.  Now..it's a good thing I don't really know Arizona very well or else it would have hit me that..hey!  Snowflake and Flagstaff are TWO HOURS away from eachother!  So..here I am, still clueless.


We got out of the car and started towards the temple.  I remember the parking lot was empty.  Now, I don't mean five or ten cars kind of empty, I mean emtpy.  Not a single car in the parking lot and not a single person in the temple empty.  Apparently there are only two sessions at the Snowflake Temple - morning and evening - so 1:00 pm, perfect time for a stroll around the temple grounds.  So we walked in the gate and I saw a picnic and a dozen red roses set up under a tree.  Now here's where it gets very blonde on my part...I see this and say to Darren "Aww, look.  Someone's having a picnic."  CLUELESS!  Darren laughed and said "Hmm...well, isn't that weird.  Hey, I think the picnic's on our blanket."  And that, ladies and gents, it when it hit me.  He wasn't proposing in Utah, he was proposing right then!

So we sat down for lunch and had a wonderful picnic.  For Darren, a subway sandwich, one of his favorites.  And for me...all of my favorites!  For the main course, Golden Grahams.  For the drink, a nice cold Dr. Pepper.  And for dessert, a brown and vanilla ice cream!  Does he love me or what?  It was a delicious meal.  Afterward we finished eating, we went on a stroll around the temple till he found the perfect spot to propose.  And let me tell you, it was the perfect spot.  You see, in the front of the Snowflake Temple is a beautiful waterfall.  And over that waterfall is this little walkway - or bridge if you will.  See below:

So while on that little bridge over the beautiful waterfall, Darren got on one knee and proposed!  And of course, I said yes!  It was a happy day and the whole drive home was filled with phone calls telling everyone the news.  I have an amazing husband who made that day so very special.  Thanks so much Darren!  Here's a picture we took as we drove away from the temple.

P.S. For all those out there wondering as I was, Darren's brother and sister-in-law, Nate and Lalani drove up a few minutes before us and set up the wonderful picnic.  Thanks so much for being willing to do that!  Such a wonderful surprise.