Visit to the Vegas and So CA!

Hmmm I think I LIKE the way that sounds... but maybe that is just me personally! ;)

Saturday afternoon I drove down to Loma Linda to visit the Paul, Kristi, PJ and Gabriella for the first time since her surgery, With all 3 girls in Tow!!!!

Sunday we had a good old sleepover for the girls, Complete with makeovers, a fashion show, wii and and Tent!

Monday we went to the Splash Pad! Bella wasn't much of fan, but what IS she a fan of these days! The older kids (and moms!) had a blast!

Tuesday we got up and headed to Anaheim! We got there about lunch time and Kristi went and picked up our picnic lunches for World of Color that night! We walked back over to dland park, sanitized a table and dug in. After that we went to see Minnie and the Princess'. I was SO excited for Bella to meet Minnie... as was she... Until she rounded that corner! She was super freaked!! Hmm... I guess we just wait to see when she is a little older! lol After that we checked into our hotel. Rested a bit, Caught the Street Party before eating dinner at Tomorrowland Terrace. One of my FAV places there :) While We ate the girls rocked out to their dance party! :) Then we headed over to CA and the girls shook their groove thang some more at the Glow Fest they have going on over there! Then it was time for WORLD OF COLOR!

Wednesday we slept in... Well everyone but Bella and I did. Then we had lunch at La Brea Bakery in Downtown Disney. I also shopped for some things for Missa and Nic's wedding. :) Then we headed out to Beverly Hills. We got a little side tract ed on the way... We decided to go find Kellan Lutz' (Emmett in Twilight) house. We knew the street because he mentioned it on the Bonnie Hunt show. We found it and were taking a couple pictures when his head popped up from behind the front fence!! Ahh! We screamed a little and drove off. Too chicken to do anything else ;) lol.

From there we headed to Sprinkles Cupcakes and Crumb Bake shop in Beverly hills to have a "cupcake off". We got our competitors and got the kids some dinner and went to a local park to let them run off some steam. Hmm. Sprinkles vs Crumb. EQUAL! just DIFFERENT! There were things I Loved about BOTH. Sadly I left the rest of mine at Kristi's!! :(

All it all it was a wonderful time spend with awesome friends. When we left thursday evening... Lilly started BAWLING, "I'm going to miss them!" :) Little Besties are starting to "get it" more and more. Hopefully we can return soon... Love you so much Vega Family! Thank You for EVERYTHING!!

More that we take for granted....

Something was brought to my attention today that I wanted to clear up. In my previous entry I stated "Bestie and family have just moved out of their house and for lack of a better word are "homeless". They are basically living out of the hospital and Ronald McDonald House right now." I wanted to make sure that I didn't give anyone the wrong impression. Kristi and family DO have a place to stay. If you have been keeping up with their story and Kristi's blog.. you know that a plan has been in place for a little while now for them to move in with her mom while they wait to get "The" call from Loma Linda that they have received a heart for PrincessG. So YES They do have a place to live.

I was going to go back into my blog and change the way I wrote it... but I thought it was a good opportunity for me to write about more that we take for granted as my title states. The reason that I wrote "for lack of a better word are "homeless" is because.... essentially... That IS true. This is something that I have been watching my Bestie struggle with for the past few weeks. Quite suddenly her and her husband were faced with a decision on what was best to do for their family. What was Healthiest for BOTH of their Children. Not only for Gabriella but for PJ. Whether it was better to pack up and drag their entire family to Southern CA ... to a place where they know NO one so they can be REALLY close to the hospital.... Or STAY where they are comfortable... familiar and with their family. Stay where it is the healthiest for their children emotionally and contract out a medical transport for when they get the call.

They chose the later.. but that involved some heavy preparation as well. Very quickly they basically sold their entire "Home". They had to decide what was REALLY important in their life and what was REALLY a "necessity" and SELL the rest. Get rid of it! Couches.. Tv's... STUFF. Material things... How many of us would be willing to do that? How many of us would be willing to give up our STUFF?? Now I have had to live with "Parents" before. We lived with Chris' parents for almost 2 years when his dad was ill. While we were there we brought alot of our own stuff... But alot of it went into storage. Even when you have your own stuff it still isn't YOUR "home"! I remember what it was like to MISS MY stuff!!! I couldn't WAIT to get it out of storage. Paul and Kristi didn't just do that.... they purged. I cannot tell you how PROUD I am of them that they have made these sacrifices for their daughter. I KNOW it could not have been easy. Now by no means am I saying that it is "stuff" that makes a house a home.... but it is still HARD to have to make that sacrifice!

So Like I said before.... How much do we take for granted?!

Do we take our children for granted? Do we take their amazing little voices for granted?? Do we take our houses for granted?? I KNOW That I do!! I complain ALLL the time about where I live! JUST today I spent plenty of time complaining. We live on a BUSY BUSY road that they are widening to 4 lanes- CURRENTLY. Today the entire house was shaking.... and they have made it where we can't turn left out of our drive way... we have to go down to the next light and make a u-turn... incredibly annoying. It is an old house and things are constantly falling apart. The widows are single pane... the insulation sucks.... I could go on... But I won't... because you know what?? It is a place to live... and it is cozy and we have made it a HOME. We have made it ours with our Red Paint and our Vintage Mickey Posters!! It is a HOME with our Pencil Marks on the door frame of the office where our daughters have grown the past 3 years that we have lived here. It is a HOME where there are holes in the carpet from where Callie chewed when she was a puppy. For all those things I have learned to be GRATEFUL for. And I have also learned that there is so much that we hold onto that we don't NEED. I was also inspired to PURGE! I'm having a Garage sale on the 10th and getting rid of stuff that we don't need!!

So after talking to both Kristi and Paul today I know that I did not offend them in any way by how I worded what I did.... because essentially they DO feel "homeless". I pray that they can make a "home" out of wherever they are laying their head at night because they have each other. :) I know these next few weeks are going to be SO SO SO hard on them.... Keep Praying!!!

http://www.gabriellasheart.com/