The Year that Was

       In December of every year I sort through all the photos I've taken that year so that I can put together a calender at Shutterfly to give to all the grandparents.  My reaction to this year's crop of photos is along the lines of good grief, what a year. 

January 2010

     My grandparents house was burned to make

way for a new elementary school. 

   I miss this house. 

I miss my grandparents.

The day after I learned the house had been

burned I started this blog.
 A few days later I wrote about
losing the house.

http://adayinthelife-julie.blogspot.com/2010/01/june-20th-1962.html

February 2010

My parents bought a condo in Nashville (finally).

Owen and Sarah helped measure the empty rooms.

The room above is two and a half Vallejo kids wide.
We are all happy that they are here now.

March 2010

The kids and I spent a few days in Orange Beach.

They were so sweet to each other on this trip.

Almost nine and just turned six were fun ages.

April 2010

My parents were in a car accident on

Good Friday and my mother spent many weeks in

in a rehabilitation facility afterwards.

It was a tough couple of months, but she was able

to get some really good therapy

that she could not have received otherwise.

   

May 2010

Owen had his first sleepover (for his 9th birthday)
the same night that Nashville had a 500 year flood.
Owen's friends were marooned with us for
two extra days and our dog died -
not because of the flood, just during it.
Not sure what I'm going to be able to plan for this
year's birthday that will top last year's party.

June 2010

We traveled to DisneyWorld with the Barts.

Owen ended up in he ER as a result of a stomach bug

but the first days of the trip and  the last days of the trip were great. 

We had a view of the Magic Kingdom from our room!

July 2010

This is a photo from our Vallejo Family Vacation

in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Our trip coincided with the arrival of

oil on the beaches from the BP Oil Spill but

we learned a lot about blimps and Coast Guard helicopters

and the impact of oil on the environment.

Also, the view from the condo was like having

box seats to a natural disaster and I

like having box seats to just about anything.

August 2010

New floors!

Our basement finally shed it's "flood chic" look and the

new floor is a vast improvement over the old carpet.

September 2010

My parents celebrated their 45th

wedding anniversary on September 4th.

Lots of lessons here about endurance

and perseverance.

October 2010

The kids and I spent a few more days in Orange Beach. 

We met my aunts and cousin there.

It was the most beautiful week

we've had at the beach in a long long time. 

While we were away Joel was in an accident

that totaled his car - but he was fine.

Also in October . . .

I visited Washington, DC and fell in love

with the place.  Hoping to go with

Joel and the kids sometime soon.

November 2010

Joel ran the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon

and the kids ran the last mile of the Kids Marathon

(they had run the first 25.2 miles in the weeks

leading up to the marathon).

Sarah is crying in this photo because she got trampled

at the starting line, but she finished her race.

December 2010

December was busy in a good way with nativity plays,

basketball games, dinners with friends and family,

present wrapping and opening and general merry-making. 

Best of all, we woke up to snow on Christmas morning.

December is a good way to end a year.

To sum up:

2010 was not an easy year, but it was a good year. 

We survived some things and we made the best of others. 

At the beginning of 2010 I wrote a list of what I wanted

to accomplish during the year and the first item on that list was

"Choose Joy - breathe deep, let go, choose joy."

It became my mantra for the year and I know it kept me saner

during the flood and the many trips to the rehab hospital.  

I'm still working on my list of things to do in 2011

but I think "Choose Joy" is going to stay somewhere near the top. 

Sister Mary Donalda

My Grandmother

Sr. M. Donalda

My grandmother, Mary Walsh, was a nun. Briefly.
She joined the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul
in Ontario, Canada on August 14, 1919.
She was sixteen years old.

According to my Aunt Maureen (and I am quoting her email here):

"I don't know exactly when she left.

She was ill and couldn't stand the rigors of the convent (they felt.)

They paid for her to go to Brooklyn New York to St. Mary's nursing school.

She was working as a nurse when she met grampa.

He was a patient. And the rest, as they say, is history."

My grandparents were married in 1933 (I believe) and had

six children - Greg, Maureen, John (my dad), Eileen, Anne and Grace.
One more interesting family story to add to the mix.

Make Mom Laugh

     Looks like Sarah has decided that the best way to get things done is to make a list of all she needs to do and then set about doing it.  I have no idea who she gets this from. I found yesterday's list when I was cleaning the kitchen this morning.  It may be the best "to do" list I've ever read, especially numbers 7 and 8.    My to do list for today includes wrapping more presents, figuring out how to cook a turkey (again), cleaning the living room and helping the kids make a gingerbread house.  After reading Sarah's list I'm going to add "Be Merry" to my own list because sometimes the "merry" in Christmas isn't a given and you have to remind yourself to do it. 

Dear Santa

Two letters to Santa that I've 

mailed to the North Pole this year.

Dear Saint Nicholaus or Santa Clause,             Are you having a good year so far?  You  know it’s coming to your favorite time of the year.  In several days it will be time to saddle up the raindeers and don’t forget to put Rudolph in front.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Glory to God. From, Owen Vallejo

    His wish list included legos and action figures

and nintendo games and books.

    

Dear Santa,             Thank you for Christmas.  And can you say hi to the raindeers for me? Love, Sarah Grace 1. Barbie Dreamhouse 2. AGD bike 3. AGD table and chairs 4. AGD cat 5. AGD sleigh and antlears

On Sarah's list, the abbreviation "AGD"

should be read as "American Girl Doll."

Love the spelling of "raindeer" on both of their lists

and Sarah's spelling of "antlears."

Kids are fun.

December 14th, 1996

We were married

at Holy Ghost Catholic Church

in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The wedding mass began at 7pm rather than

6:30 (like I had originally planned) because my

mother said it was bad luck to get

married on the downward stroke of the clock.*

 

The Pre-Wedding Huddle

with my beautiful bridesmaid friends.

Joel spent his time before the wedding

hanging out with his best friend, Albert,

and reading comic books.

     When Joel proposed to me at the Ruby Tuesday's salad bar he had very few requirements as far as the wedding itself was concerned.  His one request was that we not get married in a hot month.  Because the wedding was going to be in Knoxville that eliminated the months of May through August and of course UT's football season took the remaining fall months out of contention.  So, December 14th it was.  Looking back on it now I think we had a nice wedding. Our reception was at the Knoxville Museum of Art and there was cake and hors d'ouvres and dancing.  It wasn't elaborate but it was pretty much exactly what we wanted.      

* I didn't want to get married at 7 o'clock because "7" is an odd number and I'm not a fan of odd numbers. After some reflection however,  I decided that the 7pm wedding start time cancelled out the fact that our rehearsal dinner was on Friday the 13th  (because those two odd numbers make an even number).  To sum up, Joel wanted a nice cool wedding day and I wanted one that was divisible by 2.

How I Met Your Father

Spring Semester 1993

Des Moines, Iowa

Mock Trial Competition

      Joel and I met in a Constitutional Law class in college. Somebody asked me to go to a midterm study group and Joel was there. He had taken no notes in class that semester, preferring to draw pictures in his sketchbook instead. I had taken excellent notes. At the end of the night he asked if we could go to Kinko's so he could make copies of my notes.  So we did and he did and then he had the nerve to make a better grade on the midterm than me.  Not long after the midterm we ended up on the same Mock Trial team - he joined because he wanted to go to law school and he thought it would look good on his resume while I joined because being on the team exempted me from writing two term papers. A little less than a year after we met and a few days before Joel started law school we went on our first official date.  After an initial awkward moment where he thought I said that dating would not be a good idea we were officially a couple and we both knew that night that we were going to be together for the long haul. So far so good.

A Tale of Two Pageants

The First Grade Nativity Pageant

c. 2007







Owen Vallejo
Black Sheep

      When Owen was in the first grade he was cast as a sheep in the class Nativity Pageant.  While I was hoping for something a little grander like wiseman or shepherd, I made peace with my son being a sheep.  Due to a shortage of costumes that year I volunteered to make Owen's sheep suit and given creative control over the process I decided to make him a black sheep. I didn't want him blending in with the rest of the herd. Owen really got into his role as the black sheep and he decided all on his own that black sheep only have three legs so they fall down a lot when they walk even if you ask them not to. He took one of his very first trips to the principal's office during play practice that December because he was so committed to his three legged black sheep character.  He did make a cute sheep though.



Sarah Vallejo
Sheepette

     Sarah is a first grader this year and she's been talking about the Nativity Pageant on and off since school started in August.  I knew her chances of being chosen as Mary weren't great - she lacks the serene countenance needed to portray the Mother of Our Savior. She's also not blond.  I was fairly secure in the knowledge that my daughter would be an angel in the pageant though (because the girls are always the angels).  I was looking forward to dressing an angel. Imagine my suprise then when I heard that Sarah has not been cast as an angel in the pageant.  She's going to be a sheep.  A sheep!!  While on some level I applaud this avente-gard approach to casting, there's a part of me that feels a little robbed.  As the mother of a daughter I wasn't mentally prepared to be dressing livestock again.  Sarah has made peace with her sheepness and even suggested that she could be a black sheep like her brother.  Owen has said she can be a black sheep if she wants but deep down I think he wants to hang on to his black sheep status.  Also, two black sheep in the family seems redundent.  Sarah and I are working out the costume logistics - how much fluff is too much fluff? can sheep be sparkly? or pink? It's going to be interesting to see how her costume turns out. In some way it also seems fitting that she's a sheep like her brother.