My Brother's Wedding

May 25th was an awesome day. My little brother wed the woman of his dreams, someone who supports him, loves him, makes him laugh and more than anything makes him want to be a great man. The day was made even more special for me because I was able to be there.

I'll spare you the backround story (if you really want it check a few blogs down) but just know that although living in Okinawa is nice, it can be a pain. The flight is brutal, expensive as hell and you just can't be at big events- no matter how big. For some people this isn't a problem. I know people who've opted out of their siblings weddings when they live in the same state!! But for me the thought of not being at my brother's wedding tore me up.

If this is your first visit to my blog you may not know how close my family is. To give you an idea, and I'll make this easy, think of the closest family you've ever met, multiply that families closeness at least by 5, and you might have the Thomas'. That said, me not being there was not an option.

So here was the plan. I would leave my family and make the 17hr trip from Okinawa to Las Vegas and arrive on Saturday afternoon. Once in Vegas I would go straight from the airport to the bridal shower. I would surprise my brother sometime that evening, make the rehearsal on Sunday, the wedding on Monday and fly back to Japan on Tuesday.

Here are my girls on the way to the airport.


These pictures were snapped just before we reminded Charlie that we were heading to the airport to drop me off. She cried the entire trip and then had to be pried off of me outside the terminal. It was heart wrenching... I plan to never leave her like that again if I can help it.

Mom and Jalynn (my niece) picked me up in Vegas. We decided to go to the house and change because Jason and Charles weren't there. But when we turned on to the street Mom saw CT's car, apparently they had forgotten something. I ducked down hoping that they wouldn't see me as we turned into the driveway. They were both walking up to the car and I couldn't help thinking how wack my surprise would be if they walked up and saw me wedged btw the dash and passenger seat in a lame-o attempt to hide. But Jason, realizing they needed something from CT's car, stopped about 3ft short and said something to CT which made them both turn around. I saw my chance and took it. I sat up, rolled the window down and yelled at them. Jason and CT were about 3 & 5 ft from the car. They both jumped- like seriously, they got air- and turned around. Jason grabbed his chest like he was having a heart attack and when they both realized it was me, Jason yelled, "That's what I'm talkin' about! Man I knew you would be here, I mean I hoped you would be here... Man... THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!!" A phrase which he repeated over and over every other time he looked at me the the whole trip :)

My older brother was also shocked beyond belief and super happy. We then went inside and surprised my Dad before heading to the bridal shower.

The shower was held at Buca de Beppo. I met Blair's grandma and a couple of her aunts and cousins.

Here are my favorite pictures.

Blair's family.

Plus us.

If you ever eat at Buca de Beppo and reserve a private room I would advise you to specify that you do not want the "Pope" room. That's him in the box looking at us.

Here's another angle.

Very creepy.

Blair had a "lingerie" shower. If I'm not mistaken this is her, her mom's and her sister's reaction to her Grandma's gift.

Blair had also arrived to town just before the shower and Jason hadn't had a chance to see her yet so he surprised her with some flowers.

Wedding Day.

JT and Ahmad.

Me & JT.

The wedding was held in an outdoor garden just off the lake. It was beautiful!!

I went the Carrie Bradshaw route with my outfit.

Jason, Mom and Blair's Mom just before the ceremony.

My nephew in his baby tux.

Mom after lighting a candle.

Jalynn & Blair's niece Sydney.

Blair & her Dad.

The happy couple and my folks.

CT, Dad, Jason, Blair's Dad and her brother.

Me & Jason after the ceremony.

The Mr. & Mrs.


The reception was very fun and very emotional. There were lots of speeches and tears. Lots of drinking- I stuck to Shirley Temples of course :). Lots of dancing which of course included the Cha Cha Slide (my favorite) and even a You Got Served- type dance competition btw the kids- hilarious!

Another SUPER cool thing was meeting Jen. Jen is one of my "blog followers" :). The crazy thing is although she's a good friend of Jason and Blair's, she followed my blog for the longest before even realizing that I was Jason's sister. She found my blog through Brianna's blog which she found through Jasmine's blog. Jen's an aspiring photographer and since Jasmine Star is the most awesome photographer on the planet, Jen along with countless thousands, follows her blog. Anyway meeting her was really fun so I wanted to make sure I shouted out Jen- What Up!

Back to the reception.

Introducing Mr & Mrs Jason Thomas!

The cake.

Mom & Dad.


CT, Unuva and Chance.

Me and my little brother, again.

Jason and Jalynn having a father daughter moment.

"The Thomas' "

I love you guys!!

WTH!!!

I have 2 issues...
1. Sierra decided a couple months ago to boycott potty training.
2. The parasite living inside me (and I use the term "parasite" with love) not only drains my energy and makes me throw up my food, he's (I'm calling him "he" for now) also managed to give me an extremely weak stomach. Which I've never had.

These issues are manageable on their own. Yes, I wish Sierra was potty trained but she's not really behind, she's barely 2. The only thing that sucks about it is that pull-ups are so darned expensive. Yes, morning sickness- or "all day" sickness as is my case- sucks but it comes with the territory. It happened with both my girls and I honestly thought going through this pregnancy with NO sickness was too good to be true anyway.

However, these issues can NOT co-exist. Why you ask? Within the past week I have thrown up 3 times while changing Sierra's poopy diapers!! This is a huge blow to my psyche. Moms don't throw up while changing poopy diapers! That's the type of mess Daddy's pull- no offense to the Dad's out there. And don't even get me started on the times where changing her diapers threw me into dry heaving fits prompting Marcus to rescue me and take over!!!

Anyway today marked a turning point. As I was leading Sierra to her room for her nap she paused at the door and gave me a glimmer of hope.

"Poop."

"What Sierra, you have to go poop?"

First she shook her head, "No." Which btw is what she always does.

So I ask again,"SiSi, do you have to poop on the potty?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Un-huh, " and with that she walked in to the bathroom.

Now for some of you that may not seem like much but for for the parent of a child who likes to hide whenever she's going poop and would go anyplace BUT on the potty seat, it's huge. Also I thought that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't have to change a poopy diaper today- which as I mentioned earlier has become more and more difficult for me to do.

I sat Sierra on her potty seat and a couple minutes later she called to me and told me she did it... and sure enough she had!!!

YES!!!! Could this be?? Has Sierra made a turning point???? Am I really going to be free from the physical torture and psychological shame that comes with throwing up at the sight/smell of your own baby's diaper??

Smiling, I began to empty the potty seat into the toilet.
And just as my tiny little ray of hope began to turn into a full blown beacon of light... you guessed it... I threw up all over the place.

Soooo.... let me just make sure I'm getting this right.... you're telling me that now I can't even empty the potty seat into the toilet at full arm's length without getting sick?? WTH???!!!

Lord help me.

Coming soon to a blog near you!

To those of you who have been waiting patiently, I haven't forgotten to write about this.

It's coming soon :).

In the meantime, here are a couple pictures of my brother and sister-in-law.

Can I just tell you guys how awesome Blair is and how happy I am that my brother married her!! She loves him, she loves my niece and I know that she will take care of his heart which is all I could ever ask.

By the way, he's almost 6'5", and she's wearing flats. Their kids are gonna be HUGE!!!

More to come....

Oh the joys!

Pregnancy is wonderful.
For me it's typically more wonderful after the first tri-mester and unfortunately this pregnancy is no different.
Why is it that some women get sick when some sail through?? Now look, on the whole I love being pregnant. My skin is better, my hair is better, I have that "glow" and people are super nice and pleasant cause- let's face it- everyone loves a pregnant lady. But damn, seriously, does it really have to be this rough? I've spent the past week or so in a constant state of nausea. Running back and forth to the toilet so my body can rid itself of whatever was just put into it.
When I was pregant with Charlie I remember being told not to spend too much time worrying about what I ate because if I ingest something that is harmful or that the baby doesn't like, it'll just get rid of it.
Apparently this baby does not like food- of any kind.

Wish me luck!

Wedding Day in Vegas

I'm in Las Vegas. I got here on Saturday. I'm exhausted, exhausted, exhausted but I'm SO excited because my little brother is getting married today.

He didn't think I would be here. Neither did I. You see, although my brother has been engaged for about a year, he and his fiance settled on their wedding date only a couple of months ago. They settled on their wedding date after we'd already planned and paid for a 3wk trip to the states for Devon's wedding- a trip that had us leaving the states on April 9th. When Jason told me his wedding would be scheduled for May 25th, I didn't know how we could make it work. Marcus wouldn't be able to take time off from work again, because of that space-A (free military) flights wouldn't be an option, and putting Charlie and Sierra on a plane to go to the other side of the world again would be h-e-l-l for them. I just didn't see how we could do it.

Now I know people who aren't close to their siblings and being at big events is no big deal. But my family is beyond close. In fact I don't know anyone whose family is closer than mine. My brothers and I have a permanent bond and a closeness that people notice immediately and it killed me that I wouldn't be here. In one conversation my brother and I had, I found myself saying, Maybe you could skype me in!!! Lame I know, but that was the only way I felt I could be there and see it happen in real time. Anyway the whole thing sucked! Everyone knew that it wasn't right that I would miss this... I couldn't NOT be there... we had to make it work somehow!

So, at 11:50am on Saturday I got on a plane in Okinawa and after a connection in Tokyo and another in San Fransisco, I arrived in Las Vegas. It took 16hrs and 40mins but I made it. I gave my family an awesome surprise and, more importantly, I was able to give my little brother the best wedding present I could give him, me... those are his words btw :).

I'll post pictures soon!



ps- this is slightly off topic but I have to add that I have the best husband ever!!! Not only did he squeeze out an extra 3days to take off from work so I could be here, but he is doing a great job being a single dad while I'm away. If you know him, send him a message on facebook and tell him what a good job he's doing!

Photos from Vegas

The hardest part about being here in Okinawa is not being able to see my parents and my brothers. So it goes without saying that I had the best time of my life while visiting my family in Vegas. The best part is we don't really do anything. We just sit around and talk and laugh, even when we're not talking it's great just being around them. It's like I walk into my parents house, I hear my nieces running around, I see my brothers in the livingroom, I smell good food cooking in the kitchen and I'm instantly happy and warm inside. So here are my favorite pictures of my favorite people during my favorite part of our trip back to the states!!!

Enjoy!!

Here are my girls and my niece JJ on our way to Circus Circus.

Leaving with our spoils!!

Charlie, her cousins JJ & LaLa and Uncle JT showing us their moves before Chuck E Cheese.

Mmm, mmm, good...

My nephew Chance- the latest addition to the clan and the only boy.

Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

When Chance was born I could not get over how much he looked like Sierra, which I guess makes sense because my older brother and I look a lot alike. Even still it tripped me out when I looked at him and saw a little brown skinned version of my baby. I wondered if the resemblance would still be there after 6mos...

It still trips me out!

Here they are getting to know each other.


I tried to snap a few photos of all the grandkids smiling- or at least looking- at the camera.

Yeah, that's pretty much impossible.

On the first Saturday of every month Home Depot does arts and crafts for kids (that's any Home Depot in the country for you moms out there). Marcus and I took the girls to make planters and plant flowers.

As always, Sierra chose blue and Charlie chose Pink.

When doing things like this with a near 2yr old, you can NOT expect to come home clean!!!

SiSi and her friend Malachi.

Since this was the first time in a long time my parents got to see all of their children and all of their grandchildren together, we decided to take some pictures- LOTS of pictures!

The Thomas men.

My parents with the Grandchildren.

Where's Sierra you ask? She was too busy getting stuck in Chance's walker to be bothered with our silly photos.

The original Thomas Clan.

All of our additions.

This is Charlie's idea of personal space.

Last but not least, me and my Supers!

My Mom

People always tell me what a good Mom I am, and I agree that I do alright. But the truth is, I'm just busting my behind trying to follow an impossible first act.

I wish I was as good a Mom as my Mom was!

My Mom was, and is, a true Superwoman. During my entire life she worked a full-time job at least an hour away but she stayed on top of everything. Our house was always clean. Laundry was always done. Dinner was always cooked- seriously we never ate out. She was present at every sporting and school event. In fact, I can't remember a time when she wasn't there, ever. When Jason and I were in elementary school she even worked the 3am shift at GM so she would be there to pick us up everyday. How she managed to run our household, work full-time and never be absent for any one thing in our lives is beyond me!!! And she wasn't just physically there- she was present, she was involved, she was our best friend and everything a mom should be. She also extended herself over the years- and as a matter of fact still extends herself- to our many friends who may not have had parents like ours. On top of that she always looked fly!!! I mean hair and nails always done, makeup and heels always on.

Now, since I'm certain there weren't more hours in the day back then, the only explanation is that my Mom is indeed a superhero and the powers apparently skip a generation. Cause I stay tired. Shoot, Marcus'll tell you, if I manage to get earrings on it's a pretty big deal.

My point is if there is anyone who thinks superheros aren't real they surely haven't met Lois Ann Thomas.

Here's to you Lolo :).

My Superwoman. Look at her- in her sixties and still as cute as any 40yr old I know!!

I love you mom. I really hope I've inherited your mothering skills... and your ageless skin :).

I AM...

... Preggers Fierce.

You heard it here first- baby #3 is on it's way!! We just found out and I am super excited!! More details to come...
:)