HAPPY NEWS!!!!!!

Hi everyone! This is Staci writing...I flew up on Wednesday night with my boyfriend Octavio. Last night we all went to the big Mariners/Reds game (the first time Ken Griffey Jr. has played in Seattle since he left about 8 years ago). Octavio, Kelsey, & I spent the whole day in Seattle being tourist-y. During the 6th inning (Mariners were losing 15-1), Octavio got down on his knee and held a peach (yes, a peach) out to me. It was cut in half and pitted. Inside was a ring!!!! He asked me to marry him, and, after the shock wore off a second later, I SAID YES!!!!

(When Octavio & I first met , he had a dream that the devil was chasing him. Everyone was using guns & bombs to fight off the devil, but it wasn't working. Someone told him peaches were the only way to get rid of the devil. So he frantically searched for a peach tree, a can of peaches, anything...then he woke up. When he told me about the dream, I said I wanted to be his peach! I had totally forgotten the whole thing until last night :-)

So last night, I called Levi & told him the news...he had purchased a ring for his his girlfriend Ericka a few days prior. He decided he couldn't let Octavio steal his thunder, so he went in the garage and started making some noise to distract Ericka. He was planning to put on some romantic music but something wasn't working, so he started messing around with the fuse box....and accidentally turned off the power for the whole house. So he walked in the dark house with a candle and proposed in the dark!

Ericka & I haven't stopped smiling ever since!!! She told me her face hurt. I told her my teeth were dry.

As for the old Dad, apparently he's been having daily nose bleeds. He told me he gets them mostly at night. They are due to the chemo. There is blood on his sheets and pillow case and lamp shade and night stand :-( This morning Octavio made breakfast in bed for the family, & I noticed Dad's nose was all crusted over with dried blood. And the floor was littered with bloody Kleenex and handkerchiefs. Other than that, Dad's face is really red (like Rosacea). It looks like he has broken blood vessels all over his cheek area. Ericka (a nurse) says it is from the steroids they give him during chemo. And, I've noticed also Dad's eyes look dried out like there is a film over them. They seem to bug out a little. Ericka says that is also from the steroids. So, there is all the Dad news for those of us who don't get to see him every day.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY MAELIE!!!!