Surprise!!!

Little did Julie know that it was Riva, my mom, and myself at the door on Saturday when the doorbell rang. The look of surprise was awesome! Leave it to Bill to keep it all a secret. She was shocked to find the three of us on her doorstep and telling her we came up to go to her baby shower the next day. We talked until the early morning hours (even though we kept saying she needed to sleep and our moms got on us the next day...) and had such fun catching up and laughing together like always. Julie has had daily struggles and continues to be an inspiration to me as she goes through chemo while being pregnant and going through all those emotional highs and lows. I admire her so much and Bill is so sensitive as he cares for her needs as well. You guys are so special and I thank you for letting us crash at your place even though that meant little to no sleep!!

Julie making us some DELICIOUS scones for that night and the next morning. Doesn't she look cute pregnant? It's all out in front I tell ya!

Lynnea doing her "gangsta" pose. She always does this move so I had to capture it on "film." Julie did a GREAT pose in her beanie, but I promised her I wouldn't post it on the blog. It was really cute, though. You'll have to take my word for it.

Me, Julie, and Lynnea before we took off for my grandparents' house. I was going to post shower pictures, but Riva has pretty much all of them on her site. She's also got some real tear-jerker music on there too. Yikes! Her slide show is pretty awesome - check it out.

Ok we have to have one of these! We spent so much time in the car that we had to get a record of it. Here we are after stopping for some much needed bathroom and refreshment time on our way to my grandparents' house. Nothing like a soda to make the car trip more enjoyable! We had so much fun with mom - and right before Mother's Day too! Pray for her as she stays at my grandparents' house, helps my Nana pack, and visits my Papa. It's going to be a challenge mentally and physically. She could use your prayers!

This was really tough for me. My Papa had gotten a lot worse since Christmas and it was so hard to see him struggling mentally and physically. Lynnea was such a blessing as it brought him back to the old Papa that I remember. For a few fleeting moments he seemed to be the Papa I know and love. He is suffering from dementia and Parkinsons right now and his brain is very confused. It was all I could do to not break down during our visit, but I sort of held it together for our time at the hospital (with a couple break down moments).

The sisters' goodbye to the house of many memories. We actually both walked through the house with our cameras and videotaped the different rooms. I know, pathetic, but we're such visual people and it helps to have that as a memory. I can be very sentimental at times and when this is the only home I've known my grandparents in, it kind of hits me hard that they're leaving it. But, we move on to make more memories somewhere else.

My Uncle Bill and mom. We stopped by his house on the way to the airport. We missed Aunt Leone as she passed away at the end of last year, but we were so glad to get our hugs and kisses from Uncle Bill. He's as happy as ever which is always good to see, but we're praying his pre-op today goes well and he can get a date on the calendar for his surgery. We love you Uncle Bill!

Wow!...after all that, here we are on the plane heading home. We've done this before, but it was a longer flight. We've perfected the one-ear Ipod listening and since we have the same taste in music, it works great! Lynnea was an angel and we got home in no time at all. Now I'm having Riva withdrawals. It was so fun to have sister time together without all the kids in tow. Love you, Riva! All in all it was an emotionally exhausting weekend, but equally as enjoyable.