Rehearsal Dinner: Emotional Roller Coaster On Thursday night we went to the rehearsal dinner - which was quite an emotional rollercoaster. After a delicious meal (loved the babyback ribs) the bride/groom were getting ready to hand out gifts to the bridal party. As the bride was starting her little speech - her older brother ran into the room screaming, "We need help - any medical here? Blue Baby!" Since I'm CPR-certified for the YMCA - I went back to the ladies restroom to see if there was anything I could do to help. Luckily, right when we got back there - one of the bridesmaids had done the finger sweep in the little 2 year old flowergirl's mouth and got out what she was choking on. So scary - but thank goodness she was okay. I guess she had started to throw up and was choking on her own puke. :( Needless to say everyone was quite shaken up after that - especially the bride. But after the ambulance came to take the little girl away to get checked - they were able to regroup and carry on with the gifts. The other emotional part was when the groom's sister gave her speech after the gifts. Their dad passed away in January - so her speech was just very heartfelt and she told him how proud their dad was of him and some advice she thought he would've given him today. Not a dry eye in the place!
Fun Reception (Too Much Fun): When we got to the reception the bridal party had already arrived. The newlyweds were there greeting their guests - such a nice touch! The reception hall was beautifully decorated and there was a cookie table (which much be a regional thing up there). Apparently family & close friends all bring different cookies for the "cookie tables" for guests to enjoy throughout the night. Our buddy, Paul, did an excellent job with his best man's toast - he got some good laughs and it had some sweet parts in it as well. They also had a photo booth were you could just go get 4 photos taken with friends (the lady said up to 4 people, but of course we managed to fit 6 people in our one set of photos). She printed them out right away and gave us each a copy and then put one copy in a little photo album for the bride & groom. You could also write a little note to them, so my words of advice were that "Together you guys can get through anything that life throws your way!" Typically if I drink, I stick to beer. But that night I decided to go the mixed drink route and probably had a few too many. Later in the night, I do remember getting a little emotional and shedding a few tears when the subject of our baby struggles would come up in conversations. We all had a blast though and were so happy to share in Debbie & Brex's special day - we wish them a lifetime of living, laughing, and loving.
Sunday: We got up early on Sunday and went for an hour walk on the paths around my neighborhood. The weather was so beautiful - it was nice to be outside! When we got back, we baby-sat my next-door neighbors, Ella & Ethan. Their parents do photography on the side and were taking photos of my two nephews - so we were happy to help out. After baby-sitting, we showered, went to help my mom with her GPS real quick, and went to Chipotle for lunch. Yummy! OU Oh Yeah left right around when my husband got home from playing golf. (Thanks for a fun visit, dear!) Later that day, Ella & Ethan's parents hosted a cook-out - so we spent the rest of the evening over there. I was having some cramps - probably from my period, even though I usually don't have cramps. So I had to come home to rest for a little bit during the cookout - but it passed and I was able to go back and enjoy the evening.
Memorial Day Monday: We started off our Memorial Day right with a triple date breakfast and 10:30AM showing of the "Hangover 2" with Elphie, my long-lost Asian brother, and the couple known as "Tenny." :) I didn't really know that there were movie times before noon - but it was nice to go see a movie and still have the afternoon to enjoy the day! The movie was good - very funny, but probably not something I'd watch with my parents. It was nice to catch up over breakfast as well. We went to hang out at my sister's for a little bit - Oliver was actually pretty alert for awhile and Wendel was having fun playing in his inflatable pool out back. We went home to do some more work in the basement and I went out to do some weeding. We had a few dead bushes to pull out as well. Later that night we went back to my sister's for another cookout - my hubby grilled steaks for us all. We had a nice meal with my parents, too. Happy Belated Birthday, Uncle George!!
Two Class Tuesday: Even though we had such a looooooong weekend, it was still a little rough going back into the office today. But I had a lot of stuff to get done - so it was quite a productive day. I barely even took a lunch. It was also a long day - since I went straight to the YMCA after work to teach my aerobics class AND then subbed for the class after mine. My body is probably wondering what I was thinking doing all of that working out today after not working out in a few weeks. But I figured it was a good way to jump-start my working out kick again. I'm anxious to get back into running and doing my P90X workouts.
We're Okay :) I don't want people to worry about us - thinking that we're in denial or just putting on happy faces for you all. We are definitely heart-broken with the fact that it didn't work and would do anything we could to change it, but we know that getting angry isn't going to change anything. As you can tell, we've been keeping busy and doing our best to keep our spirits up. Lucky for us, it doesn't take too much effort. I'm so thankful that we seem to have good coping skills. Before we got the bad news, I didn't think we'd be able to handle any more bad news. But I think this is just one of those situations in life that you don't think you could deal with until you are forced to deal with it.
We really, truly, madly, deeply (Savage Garden, anyone?) appreciate everyone's encouraging words via phone calls, texts, emails, cards, etc... We know you are hurting with us (and some of you actually seem to be slightly more angry than we are) - but we're going to keep trying and can't WAIT to share some good news with you all someday. So buckle up and get comfy, because this ride is not over yet! :)