Eva's shower

First of all I want to recognize my wonderful big sister (and her hubby who has always worked as her side kick in party planning) Cata and my best friend Siovhan. While Siovhan was taking some time off of work to come to Tucson from Seattle, she also took time to help get Eva's shower together as well as hosting all the games for the party. I know that time is precious and my very busy friend, mother of 2 and a lawyer with a new practice took some of that precious time and dedicated to Eva and I, we are so grateful! Siovhan did not work alone, as a matter of fact she worked as the "assistant/co-party planner" to my amazing big sister, Cata! Words can not express how appreciative and grateful Jose and I are to my sister. Most of you that know my sister know how amazing she is, she is one of the greatest examples of a mother, wife, sister and daughter. She is too modest and will probably be embarrassed for what I'm saying and for what I'm about to say but...too bad big sis! This last January, my sister (who has a very demanding job and busy family life) along with my brother Gerry (who equally has a very demanding job and busy family life) came to be with Jose and I before Eva was born. They literally got here and got to work, they cleaned, and cooked and shopped and took advantage of every minute they were here before our Evita was born. My sister Cata worked so hard to make our home ready for Eva, not knowing if she was coming home with us or not, she worked diligently! Those days before Eva was born were hard. They were full of anticipation, fear, hope and joy. I have to admit, I'm not the greatest at showing some of my emotions but it helped to have my family here to cry on there shoulders and to share my desires for my daughter. My brother and my sister really took care of Jose and I, we literally did not have to lift a finger, I can't tell you what that meant to us! In true "Cata" fashion, she did the same with Eva's shower. I commented to her one day on the phone that I was so proud of Eva and her turning 6 months, how nice it would be to have a shower. And like that my sister said, I want to help...what Cata says, Cata does, she said, "I don't think you should throw yourself a shower". As ambitious as I could be, I knew I could not do this from Utah and with our limited resources. I can not tell you how demanding both Siovhan and Cata's lives are, they both are mothers and very dedicated mothers might I add, they work full-time in very demanding careers and are dedicated to extended family (considering that they are both the oldest daughters in there families). The shower was just beautiful and I couldn't have imagined anything better than it was.

I do want to say that I have two other sisters and two brothers as well and to quite honestly they are equally giving and supportive. I remember when I was younger, I hated my birth order, I felt (as I'm sure most middle children feel) kind of forgotten. Some of you may never believe this but I was the quieter child, I kind of kept out of the way and probably whined about how I was ignored...LOL! But I can tell you now that, I am so grateful for my birth order, it is through the experiences of my siblings that I am the person I am. That I understand things the way that I do and that I know the things that I know. Because of my sisters' and brothers', marriages, parenting and life management skills I have real life advisors. I was the only one that had not had children (and boy did I wait long enough for it!). So I spent a good part of my adult life, up to now, just observing all of them.

Anyway, back to the shower. It was so touching to see good friends, especially those we do not get to see often at all or enough. I saw family that I haven't seen in years and it meant so much to me that they could all meet Eva. My wonderful friend, Maribel, that I have known since 3rd grade, made Eva a beautiful book of pictures of the shower that she gave us the next day before we headed back to Utah. It was so great to be able to show these pictures to Jose when we got back. It was so thoughtful. To be honest I wish I could just name every single person that was there and how appreciative we were for you to be there with us. But, I am also grateful for everyone that couldn't come and that sent us well wishes. In reality I just can't leave anyone out, everyone that just thinks of us or has us in there prayers we are grateful for, it was icing on the cake to be in Tucson and visit with old friends and family. Everyone's generous nature was more than I could have ever expected. Because of our generous and loving family and friends we are able to get Eva everything she needs, its all hers. No more borrowed items (which we were equally grateful for) as a matter of fact, Eva will be the one to lend her stuff, hopefully to her future brothers and sisters. I know that we will cherish and care for all the items that we were able to purchase because of everyone's generosity.

On a side note: Our trip was interesting. Eva and I got into town on a Sunday evening, I was worn out and figured it was a long trip. We had dinner with my sister Cata, who made an amazing lasagna dinner. We hung out with my brother Gerry and Isaiah. I was not feeling good but figured again, that I was just tired from the trip. Well, it ended up I got the flu the whole week I was in Arizona. Eva and I were bed-ridden for the whole week. I didn't get to visit anyone or even leave the house until Friday night when I stopped by to my cousin's birthday party for about an hour and then went back home. My poor little Eva got a little sick too and congested. We felt better for the party but needed to still rest for our flight back to Utah. Can you believe it? I haven't been home for that long in a year and I was looking forward to my little girl seeing where momma grew up! Well maybe next time! When daddy picked us up from the airport and on our way back to Provo a tree on the freeway hit our car and smashed our hood and left a dent! What luck! Anyway, we missed Daddy so much and because we were not feeling well all week, hardly spoke to him via Skype. We are so happy to be home with Jose and to be a threesome again!

I have so much more updates about what's going on with us here in Provo...I'll be back!