Sandy's Memorial Service

Sandy's friends in Kentucky held a memorial service for her today.  I was thinking about her all day looking at the clock and wishing I was able to attend.  

Then this showed up in my Facebook memories...

Coincidence?  I think not.  My friend loves me : )  This I know for sure.

After the memorial her sisters and one of Sandy's closest friends from Kentucky spread her ashes in the creek behind her old home there.  

Exactly what she would want.  

Julia's artwork

Julia never ceases to amaze me.  She is a true artist in every sense of the word...

Cancun

We had a fabulous week in Cancun!  It was so wonderful to feel normal again!  Julia took this picture from the plane as we were flying in...

Our favorite resort and it truly feels like home to us now...

Nicholas photobombing...

My beautiful Julia...

We enjoyed the most gorgeous early morning sunrises from our balcony...

Nicholas brought his friend Duffy this year.  Oh boy.  At times it felt like we were on a college spring break instead of a family vacation.  The drinking age is 18 in Mexico.  Yikes.  They were like kids in a candy store with those all inclusive "all-you-can-eat-all-you-can-drink" bracelets...  

Julia on the other hand could have cared less that she was of drinking age...thank goodness!  Isn't she a beauty...

Danny in his glory...

My babies...

Getting ready to go to dinner and I took a rare selfie because...I am so happy with how straight my teeth are getting!! 

Another angle. I have never been happy with my teeth...and now I'm loving my smile!!  Worth every  penny.  It's NEVER too late to get braces people!! 

We had so many great dinners. I think our favorite place this year was Sisal.  We had two awesome dinners there...  

One of the nights they had entertainment and they were fabulous!! 

Julia and Danny went parasailing one day (that's them up there) and the boys went jet skiing...

Our other favorite restaurant is Captain's Cove.  It's on the bay side and has the most gorgeous sunsets...

And you almost always see one of these guys while you dine over there on the bay side...yikes! 

My beautiful girls...

I asked the girls to take a picture of me and Danny and this guy strategically got in our picture...it was so funny!

As we are still living in strange times...we all had to get Covid tests done before flying back to the U.S. It was so weird sitting in this dark room and they would suddenly appear from behind that curtain calling out names. With their mouths covered with masks and their thick Spanish accents it was nearly impossible to know who they were calling.  It was actually quite comical...

Our last moments taking in the gorgeous views before our flight home : ( 

This vacation was so appreciated after a full year of quarantine.  Just so grateful. We can't wait to go back!!  

Surround yourself with good people

Dance Xplosion

Julia competed her two solos this past weekend at Dance Xplosion.  It was her second time with "Find Me" and her first time with her self choreographed piece "The Chain".  She was amazing as usual! I'm so proud of all her hard work!  We knew she had it in her to choreograph but wow...she blew us away!!  She takes after her talented Auntie Kerry for sure! 

She won Xtreme Platinum medals for both routines which is the highest you can get...

And she placed 4th overall for "Find Me"!! It's always so satisfying when you place in the top 5!! And she was in good company for sure! 

"The Chain"...

Senior Xtreme Female Solo Division

1.	Sophia Maynard	Falling	Let's Dance, Inc
2.	Mikenna Manz	He's A Dream	Express Dance & Acrobatics
3.	Scarlett Pigeaud	Sarasvati	Broadway Bound Dance Center
4.	Julia Digiacomo	Find Me	Independent - Digiacomo
5.	Grace Bressner	But I'm A Good Girl	Dancin Spirit Performing Arts

Gianna

Makayla and Savannah took Gianna out to lunch today for her 16th birthday...

Such sweet friends! 

Love

Randomness

I keep pictures on my phone that make me laugh.  This was my toast one morning...

And Eli's face...wanting to come in the house...

I walked into the living room the other day to see this on QVC...

Come on...does she really think she looks good?!? 

And in other happenings...Gianna got her permit!  Danny took her driving in the church parking lot the other day and I heard she did good.  She's our most cautious child so this will be an entirely different experience for us. Nicholas and Julia had no fear of driving and couldn't wait to get their license.  Gianna?  Not so much...

We'll be renovating our three bathrooms very soon. I find the task of remodeling quite daunting. Especially trying to do three at the same time. Thankfully we're not doing anything fancy.  Just looking to have three clean white bathrooms. I'm keeping it as simple as possible.  However I did pick out just one thing that is fun and a little different for our first floor bath/laundry room...

Thank goodness it's almost my turn to get vaccinated...

Covid is exploding again in our area.  I have one friend who was just hospitalized with it but all the others who have it are doing OK.  I just want our family to be able to go on our trip and get back into the country without any problems!  Fingers crossed.

And last but not least...The Boy is home.  He was so incredibly sad to leave his teammates and have the season come to an end.  I told him that he was so sad because it was so good! What an amazing experience it was for him.  Memories to last a lifetime.  Not sure what the future holds for him right now but I know it will all fall into place...

You can bet that this Mama is happy to have her boy home for now.  He gives the best hugs ever.