Wedding Time

My Dad and Sally got engaged back in February and before we knew it, the big day had arrived!  We went to a really nice dinner on Friday night at Sally's sister's home and then the wedding itself was at a pretty French restaurant on Saturday morning (May 18).
It was pretty warm the morning of the wedding and the ceremony was outside, but thankfully, the restaurant served everyone glasses of ice water and that helped keep the kids cooled off and occupied during the ceremony.  Sally looked beautiful and Dad looked so excited and handsome in his new suit.
There were some really beautiful talks given--I loved that my Mom and Sally's first husband were mentioned more than once.  Some of my favorite thoughts from the talks included that on the glorious day when my parents and Sally and Mike are reunited, Candy and Mike would thank Sally and Craig for helping their eternal companion continue in their progression and growth.  I also loved the description that these two beautiful eternal families are like puzzles--each person and experience makes up part of it and that we didn't know it before but these two puzzles were made to fit together perfectly.  The atmosphere at the wedding was so happy, and while I missed my Mom and thought of her often, I felt so much peace watching Dad and Sally smiling at each other.  It really was a wonderful day.
After the ceremony, we headed inside (yay, air conditioning!) to mingle, enjoy the piainist, take pictures, and have a delicious lunch.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well my girls did during the wedding and luncheon.  They really were very well behaved.  The luncheon was over a little after 1:30 and the girls napped on our way to Shad's house.  All the visiting family gathered there for chatting, watching the horse race that was on that day, and more yummy food.  It was such a nice afternoon together--we were just sad Dad and Sally had to miss it (I'm sure they were sad too--ha!). 
We are excited to keep getting to know Sally better and the girls are so excited that she is officially their Gia-Gia (pronounced ya-ya) now.  Congratulations Dad and Sally!

Dan and I at the dinner on May 17

My handsome, taller-than-me, little brother Tyler---just turned 16!

Dad and Sally--their last evening before the big day!

Here is my beautiful Baba--89 and a half years old.  This is right before the ceremony.

Here's my Dad waiting for his bride--looks a little nervous :)

One of the beautiful flower arrangements...

Here comes the bride!

Saying their vows...

Exchanging rings...

The cake...

The speakers and their wives with the bride and groom--great family friends who have been such a support to my Dad before and after Mom's passing...

Baba with the happy couple...

My uncles Kevin and Mike with Baba, Dad, and Sally

Sally's son Alex, his wife Lauren, her daughter Cindy, and son Andy (her son Charlie is on a mission)...

My favorite pic of Dad and Sally from the day...

Dad and his 5 kids...

Dad and Sally with his 5 children and 3 children-in-law...

My Mom's sister and brother-in-law, Tobi and Scott.   I was lucky enough to convince them to stay with us and loved our short time together.  I loved watching Granny Tobi play with my kids and it was so fun to just talk and spend time with them. 

Tyler...

Shad and Amy...

Megan

Brooke

Candace

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Kelli

Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike

 
Carrie

Cutting the cake...

Grandpa and Gia-Gia with the whole crew--all 12 grandkids (and two more coming by the end of the year!)

Swim Team!

I've been talking up swim team with Megan all year in the hopes that she would love the swim team experience as much as I did as a kid.  As a result, when April 22 arrived, she was THRILLED to go to her first day of "rookie camp".  Basically, this was 3 days of optional practice in preparation for team tryouts later in the week.  The team is not terribly hard to make--they just require that you swim the length of the pool in under 2 minutes.
The past 2 or 3 years, April has been plenty warm enough to enjoy the pool, but this year, it was CHILLY!  They even cancelled practice a few times because the weather was so cool.  I would bring 2 towels and hot chocolate each day to wrap Megan up and we'd have her change right into dry clothes and blow dry her hair to warm her up after practice each afternoon.

Our happy girl at day one of Rookie Camp (Daddy even made it home from work in time to watch)

Candy and Brooke had fun watching...

And in they go!  She's under the arrow :)

Frozen but loving her hot chocolate...

She was a happy little popsicle though and breezed through tryouts (45 seconds, go Meg!).  She actually did well enough that her time put her in with the 7 and 8 year olds (but she moved back with her age group after a week and a half or so, it was too hard for her with the big kids).
Her first real "meet" experience was the team's Time Trials on May 11.  She swam her freestyle in 40.50 (dropped 5 seconds from tryouts) and her backstroke in 59.55.  She was so excited to be racing that she kept lifting her head up just to smile at us.  Cutie.  Here are some pics from Time Trials (courtesy of our friend Chris--I forgot my camera that day!).

Megan with her buddies Brooklyn and Hailey getting a little pep talk from me :)

Hailey and Megan...

Her first race!  (and the first time she'd ever seen a starting block--she decided she'd rather hop in from the side :)

Our happy little fish.  How cute is that!

I had a lot of fun being back in swim team mode.  I helped out with the people entering times in the computers and sadly learned at time trials that I needed to be on my toes--I missed Megan's backstroke race!  Darn.  But Dan and her sisters cheered her on and she had fun with that race too.  It was a great start to a fun season! 

Dance Spring Festivities

Megan really loved her dance class this year.  I felt like it was a great experience for her to be in a classroom away from me, away from home, and learn to be comfortable there.  I enjoyed chatting with the other moms each week and while we may try another studio next year that's a little closer, we really enjoyed it there.

One last practice before the recital...

Getting her trophy=best day of her life (especially because we went straight from dance to her last day of swim team rookie camp where she got a medal too).  *not Brooke's best day...we had a special Brooke themed family night that night to try to make up for her lack of trophies/medals--it's tough to be a younger sister sometimes

That's her teacher, Ms. Danielle giving it to her on April 29

Her recital was on May 4.  It was at a local high school and I thought the studio did a great job of making it a fun experience.  Instead of every single class performing in one LONG recital, they split up the classes into something like 6 different recital times.  Each time had a mix of beginners and more advanced students and it was fun to see them all perform.  Megan did great and Aunt Carrie was able to come cheer her on (thanks Carrie!).  We even had Grandma and Papa watching on FaceTime from Utah (I love technology).

She's 4th from the right.  Because they had a hired videographer, there was no photography allowed during the actual performance.  It was as you'd expect--what they lacked in skill, they more than made up for in cuteness. 

Megan did NOT want to pose for pics after.  So Aunt Carrie did her best to encourage participation.

This was the best we got.  We are so proud of our sweet Megan.  She is growing so fast!

  

Sprint for Life 2013

The Sprint for Life was on May 4 this year.  With my little brother playing in the state tournament for water polo in Dallas, we weren't sure we'd even be able to race this year, but when I realized that Megan had her spring dance recital that same day, I signed up! 
Dan sacrificed this year and stayed home with the kids so I could actually run and it was so nice.  Team Sweet Like Candy was small but it was still fun to see those that were able to come and catch up a little. 
My sister Carrie and I ran together.  Just like last year, I alternated between excitement for the run and the hope for more research and my eyes filling with tears as I remembered my Mom.  I was especially touched by a team who were running in memory of a woman in her fifties that passed away just 3 weeks before the race.  And by the pale, thin woman wearing her teal cap over her bald head and being pushed in her wheelchair for the race.  My heart just ached for all of them. 
After a moment of silence in memory of the thousands of women who were not there because of ovarian cancer, we were off.
Carrie and I stayed toward the front of the pack as we lined up for the race, so we didn't have to work our way around too many people as we found our pace.  We kept our pace right around 9:30 per mile and we finished right at 29:20!  My goal had been to finish in under 30, so I was really pleased. 
I will admit I was hoping to beat Carrie in the sprint to the end, but she saw me pulling ahead and we crossed together :).  It was perfect running weather (right around 50 degrees) and was a beautiful day.  I can't wait for next year.

 
Linda and Tom E.--great family friends for many years

Linda and Jenn & Chris (who so kindly let me catch a ride with them--thanks guys!)  We missed Linda's other daughter Kat, but since she had a 4 day old baby she got a pass this year.

Larissa and her hubby.  Larissa is a gynecologic oncologist as well as a family friend and was a godsend for Mom, especially at the end. 

Carrie and I--representing our family this year