Wow….we are so emotionally exhausted but we are so grateful to have been selected to participate in the Every 15 Minutes experience. I know that all of us are forever changed as individuals and as a family. The whole experience was so amazingly realistic and each of our hearts have been touched in ways we never would have imagined. I honestly believe that I will remember this educational experience and the emotions that go along with it for the rest of my life.

I commend the students, teachers, rescue workers, SJFD, SJPD, the ambulance people, the trauma team people, the morgue lady, and everyone who was involved in putting this together. Thank you all for everything you do everyday to make such a positive impact on our lives and those around us. God bless.

Someone dies from an alcohol related collision. Kaileigh was chosen to participate in the program at her school as one of “the living dead”. When the school contacted us a few weeks ago and asked us to participate, we were both pretty emotional about it then. Less than a week later, our close friend Jon Maxey unexpectedly passed away. This process just became that much more emotional for Jono and I.

We both strongly feel that if Kaileigh’s participation in this event stops just one person from getting behind the wheel after they have been drinking, then the recent emotional rollercoaster we’ve been riding will be all worth it. And we’re kind of on the periphery of it. She was the one who had to be pulled from class today by the Grim Reaper and have her obituary read in front of the class by a police officer. Then she met with the other program participants and really got into the roll with the make-up, blood, etc. Some of the kids were taken to the hospital in “critical condition” and one student was DOA, her parents had to go to the morgue. I don’t know if I could have handled that. The phone call was hard enough….

I thought I would be pretty ok through all of this. I teared up a bit at the parent meeting a few weeks ago, and have been emotional ever since, with Jon’s passing, and then thinking about what would be happening with this and how it would possibly be if something like this ever did happen to our family. Then when the SJPD called me this morning, even though I knew they would, the call just seemed so real. I had to keep it in the back of my mind that we were just acting, that Kaileigh really is ok, she’s still my baby girl. But then not getting to see her until tomorrow, certainly adds to the realism of the whole thing.

This evening we went up to the school to meet with the firemen, paramedics, and the other families who were chosen to participate. On the way to the gym/auditorium, gravestones have been set up to represent each of the students who were involved. A bit shocking to see our daughters tombstone

Tonight I am going to sleep knowing that I am blessed, that my family is safe, and praying that this is the closest I will ever get to having this alternate reality.

I’ve been sifting through our old digital photos, trying to get them sorted into at least some kind of category (like year!) and in one humongous “photos” file, instead of a little in this file, and a little in that file. Anywho, I recently stumbled on some holiday pictures from my first Christmas in 2000 with John and the girls. They were so small!!

Just so I don’t forget

Appetizers

Shrimp with cocktail sauce

Cheese Tree

Pampered Chef Pizza Ring

Olives

Main Course

Santa Maria Steak (JB’s secret recipe)

Honeybaked Ham

Roasted Green Beans with Portobello Mushrooms

Crash Hot Potatoes

Butternut Squash

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

Red Velvet Cake Balls

mmmmmm, I can hardly wait!

Fresh baked from scratch banana muffins at 6:30 in the morning! What have I turned in to?!

We are blessed that we live in a home with such wonderful views of the lake, hills and city. One of the drawbacks to having such wonderful views though, is that we have very little actual wall space in the common areas because we have so many windows. John finally caved in to my nagging took my suggestion  to take down the surfboards and put them down in the garage so I could use the wall-space for pictures. And since then, the wall has been empty and I’ve done nothing with the empty wall, until today….

I hung my first picture:

John just laughed when he came home and saw this huge wall, with one tiny 5×7 picture hanging on it. But it’s a start right?!

Overheard this evening:

Next time I go to Taipei, I’m going to visit one of the tallest buildings in the world. It has an elevator that goes from the 1st floor to the 89th floor in37 seconds.

Oh is it that one that has the elevator that goes up-ways, side-ways, slant-ways….oh no wait, that’s just in Willy Wonka.

‘Tis not been a fun week at the Bautista house. First John-John was sick and throwing up, on his birthday no less. Then I was sick. Then Alanna. Then Kaileigh and then Jono both on the same night. Seems like the flu bug has made its way through our home and wanted to make sure we all got a little taste of the fun! Hopefully we’ve all had our turn for the season and can make it through the holidays and new year healthy.

Saturday, we spent the day at John’s alma mater, UC Davis. Every year they have a “Picnic Day” and open the campus up to everyone to check out what’s going on at the school. It’s sorta like open house. This was our second year attending and I thought this year was even more fun than last year. The weather was slightly breezy and a little chilly in the morning but at least it wasn’t raining like the previous year! We left Morgan Hill a little around 6:00 in the morning and got up to Davis by 8:30ish. We easily found parking and got seats for the parade. The parade was lots of fun!

They have a huge marching band which was awesome! It was cool watching these guys dance around with the big tuba’s and stuff.

I liked these guys all dressed up on the big bikes.

Can’t say I’ve ever seen a band play on their backs while doing the Rock Lobster before.

John-John got to milk a cow. His response: “Whoa”.

We watched Border Collies heard sheep, which was amazing!

And John-John got to sled down a big hill of snow!

It was a great day! I’m looking forward to next year!

So apparently I’ve blown my “blog every day for 30 days” deal with myself already. Does that mean I have to start over? Hmmmm. Since I made the deal with myself, that means I can bend the rules a little. Right?

The weekend seem to just fly by, especially Sunday. I had forgotten we had made plans to go to a friends house for dinner that night. I quickly made an apple pie and off we went! The kids played terrific together and they had a new puppy which was absolutely adorable. The company was entertaining and we had a great time.