our little vacation. =]

wow it's been a while. the reason? i went to see my family! :]

we went down wednesday night. it was all good, except for at the end the car wasnt shifting right going up hills & when we got there, it was smoking! =/ i'll explain why later.. so, anyways, it was absolutely awesome to see my family again! danita's getting so big! it's insane to see that's she's almost a teenager. i still kind of remember my mom being pregnant with her & the day of her birth [my memory's really bad because of my ptc, but i can remember parts]. she now has a fish, snail, & rabbit. :] plus, a neighborhood pony, but that's a whole other story...

delicia's living with my parents again for the time being, to save money because she's getting engaged this summer! :] it's awesome. her boyfriend is keith, a nice guy from what i've met of him, and they seem really happy so that's all that matters. the only problem i have is that i dont think i'm going to make it to the proposal & i really did want to. :[

my parents are doing great too. except my dad's not doing so well medically with his diabetes. :[ i really hope his doctors find a way to get it under control soon.

so i dont have enough time to write about everything, but here's some highlights of the visit:

thursday we all went to get our pictures taken professionally. even though we werent sure if they were going to, mom & dad ended up going with us. we got some great pictures! :] i can't wait to see the results...i'll have them framed & hung as soon as we get them!

we also went to see a house up there [since we're being forced by oakview to move this summer]. unfortunately, it wasnt quite big enough, but fay is always buying more, so maybe we'll find one in a future visit. for now, we're really seriously considering the one on dauphin street & plan to call about it asap to make sure it's still available, plus meet with the landlady again to fill out an application. so far, since we've been home, i havent been able to get ahold of her. =/

my mom had gotten a TON of toys for steve. on thursday night we went for a walk with my mom & sisters and tried out one of them: it's a little red car with a handle we can push. he LOVES it! :] he laughed so much the whole time we pushed him & even tonight we used it again & got the same response. :]

on friday night we went to see my grandmother. she's still doing good. :] it's been awhile since she saw steve, so it was nice to let her see him & how much he's changed. plus, i miss her too. :P oh and she just bought a new plasma tv... cory's so jealous! :]

we brought the car to gary [a local mechanic] on thursday & picked it up friday. he said the smoke was from oil leaking & luckily, he repaired that. but it'll still smoke until all the oil burns off the exhaust. it's not really a concern anymore, though, since he repaired it. the real problem is the transmission. there's a seal on the transmission that apparently goes bad quite often on taurus's. he said repairing that seal would require taking the whole transmission out [a 4-5 hundred dollar deal at least!] and in the meantime, the best thing to do would be a filter of some sort. unfortunately, he couldnt get a filter until monday & we couldnt wait that long. =/ until that's fixed, the transmission fluid will keep leaking & risk damaging the transmission & stranding us when the transmission dies. but luckily, the transmission at this point seems to still be doing okay so far & wasnt damaged yet from when we did run it on low/no fluid. but we're not driving it until we can fix that seal & when we did [coming home] we stopped every 20-40 miles & checked the fluid level, keeping it up so the transmission wasnt damaged. ::sigh:: it's always something. :[

anyways, steve's getting fussy, so i've got to hurry. here's some pictures:

me & cory on the way down.

dad holding steve.

delicia holding steve.

mom holding steve.

steve on one of his new toys. :]

cory & steve playing with steve's new toys.

mom & steve playing with the new toys.

is there anything else? :P

he's making a weird smile, but it's steve & my mom again. :]

he loves "the baby in the mirror" & always tries to touch him. :]

give me that camera, mommy! :P

mom putting steve in the car for the 1st time.

he got so excited & kept trying to stand. :]

me & cory right before the walk. :P

umm... yeah... :]

mom & cory with steve right before the walk.

adorable, huh? :]

sleeping on my parents' couch.

steve's wearing his new clothes from memere!

danita & steve. :]

gram holding steve. :]

he was worn out!

cory driving home.. he seems so serious! :P

cory's a college graduate now!! :]

yesterday cory graduated from college!! :] i'm sooo proud of him! it's a huge accomplishment!

reed drove down on friday for the graduation & brought gib & doug with him. friday night, right after they got here, we went & looked at a new house we might move into. it's nice, big [4 bedrooms & a full basement], and $200 less than what we're paying here for our 2-bedroom apartment. the only thing we have a problem with is that it's all on-street parking & we would prefer a driveway or parking lot at least. so we're still looking but it's a great option if we cant find anything else.

after the house hunting, we went to burger king, then watched an awesome movie [grandma's boy]. i highly recommend that movie & it is even funnier if you know our roommate mike. :]

yesterday was the graduation ceremony itself, which was just like any other, to be completely honest. steve fell asleep, mike got bored & played w/his yo-yo [lol], the works. but it was great to see cory finally get his degree. :] i couldnt be more proud than when i saw him walk across that stage.

after the ceremony, we all went with kim, drew, casey, jason, miguel, & drew's family to a park right outside lancaster where kim had rented a pavilion for the day. we had a nice cookout/surprise graduation party for cory & drew. the one drawback was that at 6 cory had to work, but only for an hour so he didnt miss much of the party.

then we went to an after-party at kim's house [minus drew's family]. me, casey, & kim bought a bunch of alcohol [captain, peach shnapps, smirnoff, md 20/20, etc] and accessories [cranberry juice, lemons, etc] for drinks & almost everyone got sooo trashed! i said almost because of course cory, reed, & doug didn't drink. instead they watched the baby & laughed at us drunk people. lol. some highlights: it was gib's 1st time drunk & he was so horribly obnoxious! :P kim made some awesome shrimp things, i got cake smeared all over my face, hair, & hoodie, drew & cory got pummeled w/water balloons, everyone enjoyed playing drunk sing-star, & drew popped his first champagne bottle. it was a good night all-in-all. :]

today we slept in [we didnt get home until 4 am last night! O.o] and spent the rest of the day just hanging out, playing video games, eating metro, whatever. :] reed, gib, & doug are staying just one more night & leaving tomorrow after we go to park city, but it was a great weekend.

oh and did i mention cory got me a dozen red roses & a card for mother's day? :] yea, he's that awesome. :]

steve at the graduation ceremony.

cory walking in [the pictures were dark =/].

he's the last one...

looking at the camera.
on the stage.

afterwards holding sleeping steve. :]

our little family. :]

all of us except gib.

this is the only picture i have with gib in it...

cory & brad.

my beautiful roses. <3
and i unfortunately didnt get any pictures at the barbeque or after-party. :[

summer's almost here!! :]

wow, the weather today was absolutely beautiful! i loved it. :]

so anyways, cory's finally done college & graduating on saturday..woot woot! :] but he had one library book to return & one last paper to turn in, so we went in to his college & dropped them off and saw a couple people [showing steve off of course :P]. after that, we got cory some ice cream, then we went for a drive through county central park, found a cute little play area, & played with steve for a little bit.

here's a few pictures:

steve & cory at thaddeus for the last time [except the graduation ceremony].

steve on the rocking horse.

rocking with daddy.

cory might be a bit big for it. :]

steve swinging & laughing at daddy.

doesnt he look adorable? :]

the long day wore him out. he fell asleep just after we got home.

edit: and i almost forgot, here's a couple pictures from last night. it's too late for them all, but here's some of me celebrating & drinking alcohol legally: