.jeri.

Well, another week and weekend are past, and I'm more and more grateful for the family that I have. My sister-in-law and two nephews have been staying at Ric's parents' place for the past week, and we were over pretty much every night to hang out and chat, show the boys our new kitten, bake cookies, and even just read books quietly in the same room together. I like that we're all so comfortable with each other.

Friday afternoon the three were driving up to Palmdale for Saturday's reunion, so I had an afternoon with nothing to do. I made plans with Dee and we drove out to Crystal Cove for some hiking (trail review to come) and to hang out at the beach. The waves were huge and awesome, and we couldn't help being mesmerized by them. We drove home and got our husbands and then had dinner out together at Baja Fresh.

Saturday Ric and I got up bright and early and drove out to Palmdale for a family reunion. It was his grandparents' (his dad's parents) 67th anniversary, which sounds insane to me. Grandma couldn't make it, unfortunately, since she's still in the hospital, which made grandpa pretty sad. But he was glad for all the company of everyone who came: Ric's aunt and uncle, his cousin and her three kids, his brother and sister-in-law and their two kids, and his parents. We had a photographer come and take some portrait shots of all of us. Hopefully they'll turn out decently, since it was hard to get some of the kids to cooperate. We spent the morning hanging out, then the kids went to swim while some of the adults went to visit Grandma. I stayed to help watch the kids in the pool and then went to hang out with Angie and the kids in their hotel room for a while, then we all headed back for cake and more talking and reminiscing. It was good to see everyone and seemed like a short day with not enough time to visit with everyone. We definitely have some future plans brewing, though! Ric and I drove back home and I read for a while before knocking out early.

Sunday we overslept for church, so I called my sister and we drove out to Irvine to see Food Inc. Once I got out from the movie, I got a call that Angie and the kids were in a car accident while driving back from Palmdale. Angels do exist, and despite running into an embankment and rolling the car over a couple times, all three of them survived with just a couple of scratches from broken glass. My heart nearly stopped when I heard the news, and once they came back to Ric's parents' place after being at the hospital for a while, we heard their stories and were amazed at how God took care of them and sent plenty of good people their way throughout the whole experience. We spent the evening just being glad to be around each other.

Up this week, I'm going to see Jarvis Cocker at the Wiltern with my sister tomorrow, I'm running some errands on Tuesday, I'll try and squeeze in Night at the Museum 2 at the cheap theater on Wednesday or Thursday, our work's having an Italian potluck on Wednesday to commemorate the Bocce tournament (my team got 2nd), and on Friday we'll be hanging out with Ric's aunt, uncle, and cousin who are visiting from Idaho.. or Iowa.. one of those I states.. I can never remember.

As for updates, well, I've got three healthy family members who survived a horrific accident but are pretty traumatized, a depressed grandpa who just wants to be with his wife, a grandma who can't communicate well with all the pressure on her brain and doesn't seem to have a good prognosis for survival, and a worn down aunt and uncle who have a lot of responsibility on their hands. And that's just the family who've got me worried, nevermind the many friends I'm anxious about between loss, jobs, health, and everything else. But one awesome praise is that my college mother figure who I worked with in the library is coming back to work tomorrow after about 7-8 months off due to a bout with cancer. Life certainly has some strong ups and downs lately.

Here's hoping you all have a great week and take the time to appreciate your loved ones.