Torrey Town USA

I had such a wonderful Mother’s Day this year, and I hope all you mommies out there reading this did as well!  I spent the day with all of my family and just felt so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people in my life.  It was a wonderfully relaxing day, which meant no laundry, lots of sitting and no diaper changing:)  I took no pictures, which is odd for me, except for one.  After brunch we headed back to my Mom’s and went out on the deck to relax.  It was gorgeous out, sunny, no rain, just beautiful.  And what in the world did we see? Not one, but two rainbows in the sky.  Pretty sure that was my Dad wishing us a Happy Mother’s day:)

We got your message Dad:) We love you too:)

As most of you know, last May my brother in law Bill found out that he had a brain tumor.  He had surgery to remove the tumor, followed up by radiation and chemotherapy.  He’s an inspiration to us all, as is my sister in law Bethany.  In order to celebrate Bill and what he has overcome in the last year, we participated in the 2012 Race for Hope, a 5K Walk/Run to benefit brain tumor research on May 6th.  It was an incredibly inspiring day, filled with friends, family and hope.  We were so proud to be there with Bill, and even more proud that he ran the entire 5K with Bethany!  They are truly an amazing pair!  Here are some pictures of Team Torrey and our amazing day at the Race for Hope!

Mike was ready to run!

The Torrey girls were ready to race!

Me and Katie Bear before the race!

Mike and I resting after the 5K.  My awesome husband ran it in 21 minutes, I ran it in 29 minutes.

 

Billy and Bethy after the race!

The 4 Torreys:)

PVI Class of ‘95 Rules!  Wonderful old friends!  Liz, Me, Cerissa and Bethy

My family:)

Bethy, Emmy, Billy and Claire!

GO TEAM TORREY!

After years of talking about it, we finally did it!!  We got a playset!  The girls were thrilled and Mike and I were just happy that our homeowner’s association finally approved the darn thing:)  We have many parks nearby, but I’m not going to lie, having the playset in the backyard is a JOY for this Mommy:) Here are some pics of the girls enjoying their new favorite toy:)

Fits perfect in our yard!

Happy girls:)

Maddie loves it:)

So does Katie:)

I wasn’t sure how Maddie was going to take the news that she was going to be saying bye bye to her crib and hello to her big girl bed.  Maddie LOVED her crib.  In fact, I would say it was her favorite place to be.  So of course I was worried about the transition.  Did I want to move her to a big girl bed already?  Of course not.  There’s something to be said of having your kids contained:)  But the potty train is a comin’ very shortly so the big girl bed had to happen.  Mike and I spent way too much time taking her crib apart, putting her bed together and moving furniture around.  When it was ready, Maddie came running into her room and couldn’t have been more excited for her new bed.  Of course I worried for nothing:) For the past two weeks she’s been a ROCKSTAR.  She LOVES her new bed and is very proud to be sleeping in a big girl bed just like her sister Katie and her cousin Claire.  I don’t know how I ended up with such good sleepers, but I will take them:)

The room is done!

Comfy:)

Posing with her two best pals:)

She loves when I take pictures of her on the bed:)

 

I snapped this picture last Friday when the girls were taking a break from their busy backyard activities.  Maddie sat down, Katie sat down beside her and then Katie sweetly put her arm around her little sister.  I snapped a picture with my iPhone because it was so very sweet and loving and not at all expected:)  Also unexpected, when I checked out my photo I noticed a beautiful beam of light shining down right next to my girls.  I’m convinced that beam of light is one of two things:

1. My wonderful father is sitting next to my girls:)

or

2. My wonderful father asked God to shine a beam down next to my girls to point out that we haven’t had that third child he always wanted us to have:)  Sorry Dad, ain’t happening:)

No matter what, I think we can all agree it’s a pretty awesome picture:) 

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Easter!  We had a fabulous Easter this year!  We went to Easter mass, spent the day with family, went to a few Easter Egg hunts and ate entirely way too much food:)  Here are some pictures from our fabulous day!

Our first encounter with the Easter Bunny:)

She got Eggs!

She got eggs too!

RUN!

Apparently the Easter Bunny brings toys these days:)

Maddie was more excited about the candy:)

Can you see the halo?

Our family at brunch:)

The kids:)

Rick, Jenn and the girls

Kevin, Carolyn and the boys

My family:)

Nana and her gradkids

 

Dear Daddy,

You died a year ago today. A year later it still doesn’t feel real sometimes.  Most days I’m okay, but some days your death still consumes me.  I feel like I’ve really tried to come to terms with your death, I’ve had to.  But sometimes I’m transported back to the day you died and I still just don’t understand how you can be gone.  The night before you died you called from the hospital in the Bahamas and you were so calm.  Of course I was a mess:) You tried to explain to me what was going on with your heart and at that moment I just wished I could be with you. I needed you to give me a hug and pull a random piece of paper out of your pocket, more than likely a prescription pad, and draw for me what the heck was going on inside that body of yours. You made it seem like everything was going to be okay.  Of course you did. That was you, the rock, the voice of reason, trying to calm everything and everyone down.  You told me you loved me and you said you’d see me as soon as you were medevaced back to DC.  When we got to the hospital the next morning you had been rushed into surgery and things just kept going downhill as the morning progressed.  I wanted to see you so badly. To hear your voice.  To tell you I was there.  To ask you what the heck was going on.  To have you tell me everything was going to be okay.  As I knelt in the hospital chapel and prayed harder than I ever have before, I realized there was nothing I could say or do. God had a plan for you. But when the doctors finally came in and told us that you had died, it just didn’t seem possible.  And like I said, some days it still doesn’t. 

We went in to say goodbye to you and ended up staying with your body for an hour and a half.  You looked so peaceful.  And I just knew the stress of taking care of everyone but yourself was now gone and you were in a better place. During that time I lost count of how many of your colleagues and friends came in to see you one last time and say goodbye.  It was a testament to who you were and what you meant to so many people.  Your funeral was the same.  I’ve never seen so many people at a wake and a funeral!  You were truly loved by everyone whose lives you touched.  But more than anything you were SO loved by your wife, kids and grandkids.  I hope you know how much we love you and how much we appreciate everything you did and continue to do for our family.       

We’re all still coping with the loss, but it’s getting easier.  I think about you every day and I talk about you a lot with the girls.  And most of the time I smile now and don’t immediately go to tears when I talk about you.  You raised us all to be tough, and I’m trying Pop:)  Mom, Ricky and Kevin have been amazing and so strong.  They inspire me to put one foot in front of the other and continue to live my life with passion and purpose, the way you taught us. I’m sure you know that Mike has been my rock through this.  I guess it’s true what they say about girls marrying guys like their Dads:) Our family and friends have also been an incredible support system over the last year, and I hope they all know how much their support has meant to us.

I’m doing okay, Daddy. But oh how I miss you.  I can’t wait to see you in Heaven someday, where I am sure you are helping God out, maybe drawing design plans for the new and improved pearly gates:) I love you so very much and I thank you for being such an amazing father and such an incredible friend.

Love Always,
Your Doll Baby

We headed down to Florida last week to visit Bill and Kathy (aka Boom Boom and LaLa) and to escape to some warmer weather (seriously though, where is the snow this winter?).  We had a wonderful time with Bill and Kathy! Katie and Maddie LOVED the pool and the playground and LaLa’s cooking:)  We even managed to squeeze in a trip to Disney World!  Unfortunately, Maddie missed out on Disney because she caught a nasty bug, which everyone else proceeded to get over the last week:(  Katie ended up getting sick on the plane ride back to DC, OY.  But even though sickness plagued our trip, we still had a wonderful time visiting and we can’t wait to go back.  Here are some pictures from our trip to Florida!

Pool Time!

Such a cutie

Maddie LOVED the pool:)

Katie and her Grandpa:)

Sisters:)

Date Night!  Thanks BB and LL!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

We waited in line an hour to see Rapunzel:)

Minnie and Mickey!

Katie and Aurora

Katie and Daddy:)

Fun Day!

 

We had a fantastic Christmas this year!  Christmas Eve was spent with all the Ubelharts and Torreys!  We had a wonderul dinner at Mom’s new house.  On Christmas morning we were joined in the morning by Nana (Mary Pat), Boom Boom (Bill), LaLa (Kathy), Billy, Bethy, Claire and Emmy. Then we had brunch with my brothers, sister in laws and our nieces and nephews on the Ubelhart side of the family. We ended the day with a wonderul dinner at Boom Boom and LaLa’s house. We were truly blessed this year and so appreciative of the generousity and love in our family.  Check out some pictures from our awesome Christmas!

Nana with all her grandkids!

Mom, Bethany and Jennifer

LaLa, Emmy and Boom Boom

The kids table:)

The adults table plus Emmy:)

The Torreys:)

Mikey and Kara

Ricky, Mom, Kara and Kevin

Emmy and Maddie cracking up

Our sweet girls:)

IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

Stockings!

Mikey and his girls:)

Rounding the corner:)

Seriously Santa, what were you thinking?

Claire says, “Let’s Play!”

Mike, Bill and Kathy

The kids ready to open up presents!

Round 2:)

Maddie, Boom Boom and Katie

Boom Boom with all his granddaughters:)

Pals:)

Our family:)