My mom's funeral

Finally I have a few minutes to write about the funeral. My mom Luz Idalia Sotomayor was born on November 8, 1934 and died on April 7, 2011. The funeral service was very nice. She was very sick with leukemia and everyone that I talked to said how brave she was and how hard she fought this desease. She never complained, she kept going eventhough it was very uncomfortable and painful for her. The Sunday I was there before she past away she went to church with me, she made a big effort to go. Sitting was very uncomfortable for her so during Sacrament my brother brought a more comfortable chair for her to sit next to our bench. She only lasted through Sacrament and we went home. It would be her last time going to church. The Sunday after her funeral it was fast and testimony, my brother and I bore our testimony and thanked the Ward for all they had done for us during this difficult time. Pretty much all of the testimonies were about my mom, it was a beautiful meeting. When we joined the church in 1974 the church had only been in Ponce for about 3 years, it was fairly new. We were one of the first families to join, my parents were considered "old timers" in the Ward. The sister who spoke at the funeral service had been one of my mom's counselors in the Stake Relief Society. My mom was the first Ponce District Relief Society President and then the first Ponce Stake Relief Society President. I always remember how hard she worked in her calling. She had a full time job, two kids, and a demanding calling. During that time there wasn't a whole lot of books translated into Spanish so my parents had to translate a lot of what they taught in the church. I remember her making posterboards for her meetings, and at that time they did not have access to computer websites that gave you ideas and pretty much everything is done for you. My mom had to do it all!! I used to go with her to her Stake meetings. I would accompany my parents in their assignments around the Stake, my dad as a High Counselor and my mom as RS president. I was very proud of them. They taught me how to work hard in the church. My mom would always say "It takes a lot of sacrifice to be a member of the church". When I got to the funeral home my mom had already been dressed in her temple clothes but I got to put her veil on before leaving for the cemetary, while all of the past and present Relief Society Presidents stood guard in front of the casket, that was neat!!

Sign in front of the Funeral home.

Sister Gonzalez, She is in my mom's Ward and helped dress my mom.

At the cemetary.

My Aunt Ana, my mom's sister, she did not feel good during the funeral and we had to take her to her car. She is 96 years old. She was 20 when my mom was born. My mom always took me to see her whenever I came to Ponce to visit. They were very close. She kept crying and saying that she will never see her again. She is not a member of the church and so it was sad to hear her say that.

With three of my mom's siblings. My uncles Vicente (Tio Tito) and Guillermo (Tio Willie) and aunt Ana (Titi Ana).

With my nephew Gerald, and cousins Enid, Iris, Rigo and aunt and uncles.

With my moms cousin, Rosita, her brother (I don't remember his name), my uncle Willie, his wife, my aunt Aida, their sons, my cousins, Willito and Luisito, Conner, Parker and me.

My cousins Enid, Iris and Rigo.

So much fun!!

I just came from church, I taught the Young Women a Zumba class. They asked me on Sunday if I would do it. I had to quickly borrow the CDs from a friend and had TWO DAYS to prepare a routine. I lost 2 pounds in 1 day, I worked out 3 hours straight trying to figure out what songs to teach. I had to choose the songs carefully and the movements carefully. Some Zumba music can be a little bit bad to be played at the church and some of the movements too. I had a BLAST!! Now I really want to be certified so I don't have to borrow the music from someone else.

Elder Hanson

On Saturday Brittany mentioned to me that one of our neighbors from when we lived in Utah was here on his mission and she thought he was in our area. Dean Whitworth was 5 years old and one of Alison's friend from our neighborhood in Provo. So yesterday at church there were some missionaries in the hallway from another Ward, we have sisters in our Ward, and I asked if they knew who he was and then I noticed that one of the missionaries was an Elder Hanson. I told him that I was sister Hanson and asked him where he was from. He said from Idaho and I told him that our Hansons were from Shelley, and he said he was from there too!! I told him that he was probably related to Brent. So I went and got Brent. They started talking and we found out his great-grandpa was Melvin brother of Alfred Raymond!!! I think that is neat. Oh and they thought the name Whitworth sounded familiar but they did not know what Ward he was in.

Happy Birthday Parker!!!

Today Parker is 15 years old. It is hard to believe!! He can now get his learner's permit and he will be able to drive. That is weird!! Parker is an awesome young man. He likes to be at home. He is easy going, easy to get along with. At times he gets an attitude, but most teenagers do. He loves his family. He doesn't ask for a lot, he is pretty content with what he has. I wanted to take him out to dinner tonight and I thought that going to Rain Forest Cafe or the T-Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney would be fun, but instead he just wanted a bacon cheese burger from Mcdonald's and he just wanted to eat it at home. He is so SMART. He likes to get good grades and does well in school. I feel blessed that he is my son.

My mom

I will do a post on the funeral later but these pictures I took of my mom during my visit to Puerto Rico in November 2009. She still looked good and strong.

With her sister, Ana, who is now 96 years old. She had a very difficult time at the funeral.

With my uncle, her brother Rafael. He wasn't able to make it to the funeral. Two days after this picture was taken my aunt Lipi had a stroke. She has been very sick since and my uncle does everything for her. They live in Miami and it was hard for him to leave my aunt.

At pizza hut, she loved going there.

Conner's birthday

Today Conner turned 7 years old. I love this boy so much. He is funny, silly, loving and gets very emotional easily. His new thing to say to me these days is "I love you so much I could cry". He loves to cuddle with me, to be read to, he never forgets his prayers and reminds us to have family home evening, he also loves to sing the primary songs. But most of all he loves his brother Parker. Parker is everything to him!!! The other day I was telling him, after picking him up from school, that when I pick him up is the best time of the day because we are together, he then said "NO, the best time is when we get home and Parker is with us". He LOVES Parker, he wants to be with him ALL the time, which can drive Parker CRAZY.

Today we had lunch together at his school.

Spring Break: Puerto Rico

The week went by so fast. We had a good time, leaving was very hard. My mom doesn't want to do much. She wants to be at home most of the time. We took her to the "plaza" (downtown) where we can sit on the benches and enjoy the view and have some ice cream. We took her to the pier where she could eat some typical Puertorican food and again sit and enjoy the ocean view. She had complained that she didn't have anything to wear so we took her to the mall, we had to borrow a wheelchair because it is hard for her to walk that much, and bought her new clothes. It was hard to see her though, she has lost a bit of weight and has aged a bit since I last saw her. She doesn't have the energy to clean the house like she always did. Bronson and I helped sweep and mop. I cleaned the kitchen and Bronson took a whole day and cleaned the yard. The yard looked really good when he finished. Leaving was very difficult. On Friday while we were in San Juan my brother called and said my mom needed to go to the hospital. My brother and I took her to the hospital. When the nurse came to draw blood it was very painful for her because they can only do it on the right arm. Her right arm is already very bruised and it hurts a lot. Her left arm is permanently swollen because they were not supposed to draw blood from it and they did. My mom had a mastectomy on the left breast and because of that they can't draw blood from that side, about two months ago in the hospital she did not tell them (she forgets things) and they did, leaving it swollen. It was hard to hear her cry in pain when they pricked her, she looked very frail in the hospital bed. The whole week she kept asking me, "when are you leaving?" On Friday she asked me at around 7:00 PM (before the hospital called to say her room was ready) and I told her I was leaving that night, she then said she better say goodbye right then because she was going to bed. She did not seem sad or anything like that, she isn't really showing a whole lot of emotion, I am glad I did not want her sad. The hospital called not too long after she went to bed so I had to say goodbye again in the hospital, she was under the effect of sleeping medication so she just said goodbye. I on the other hand had to quickly go out of the room because I started to cry hard and did not want her to see me. It was sad to see her there, before the sleeping medicine worked she became anxious and just could not lay down. She gets really fidgety and can't calm down enough to sleep. I can't imagine having cancer and having to have transfusions all the time, knowing that it hurts and having a feeling of desperation and helplessness.

At my brother's house.

With my friend Mildred at her house.

Eating ice cream at the Plaza.

In front of a sand sculpture with my friend Taili, her mom and daughter Nani. I have known Taili since we were in kindergarten.

Nani and Brinley.

At the old firestation.

At the pier "La Guancha".

Four generations.

At the mall.

My niece, Ivette.

Conner watching movies.

At Boqueron beach.

Brinley's Birthday.

My niece Cristina, nephew Gerard, and my niece Ivette.

With Taili.

Cristina, Brittany and Nani.

My brother putting some 70's and 80's music. He has a great collection and is very well organized and labeled.

At the Castillo Serralles. We went to see the castle but it was closed. We went back the next day and took the tour. I have always wanted to see it. I grew up seing the castle from a distance but never took the tour, it was time.

The cruceta. We went up to the top and saw Ponce from up there, again I had never done that.

Butterfly garden at the castle.

The garden in the back of the castle.

The view from the Cruceta.

The view of Ponce from the Cruceta.

The Japanese garden at the Cruceta.

Conner and his cousin Gerard.

My brother Jose and Brinley.

At the El Morro fort in San Juan.

On Cannonballs. Bronson, Brittany, Conner, Nani and her sister Leisha.

A garita or Sentry box.

There are many of these garita's through out the fort.

Inside the lighthouse.

Lighthouse.

Lighthouse.

That neighborhood past the El Morro is called La Perla, my grandparents lived there when my dad was born. My aunt told me that they lived in a duplex, their neighbor worked at the lighthouse and my grandpa worked for the US coastguard.

La Perla neighborhood.

On a cannon.

A garita or Sentry box.

Old San Juan.

At the mall in San Juan called Plaza las Americas. My aunt Aida, my dad's sister and the only one of his siblings that is still living. She is 85 years old. My aunt and uncle have lunch there everyday and then go walking around the mall. They looked in pretty good health.

With my friend Mari. We grew up together in the same Ward in Ponce. She now lives in San Juan with her family. She took her lunch break and came to see me at the mall.

Leisha and Brittany.

On the way back everyone was tired.

My whole life I had said that I would never drive in San Juan. I can't believe that I did it, but I don't want to do it again!!! They drive crazy there.

At the airport waiting for our plane at 2:30 AM.