Erica and a few girlfriends where on vacation. They met these group of guys, none whom Erica was interested with. One of the guys told Erica that he had a good friend that seemed like the perfect type for her. He decided to stay at the hotel instead of going out partying. Turns out Erica and this mysterious fellow was staying at the same hotel. The friend told Erica that mysterious guy would meet her in the lobby the next day.
Erica stepped off the elevator and looked at Brent carefully. He was wearing a white hat that said "Baseball is Life". He was cute. Seemed down to earth. Had a nice smile.
Brent could not believe his friends had found her. She was great! They talked for a few minutes, and Brent mentioned that his brother worked at a ski resort, and could get the girls free lift tickets.
"Come to my game tomorrow, we can figure out how to get them to you." he said. (smooth, huh?)
Now, Erica didn't ski. Nor did she usually attend sporting events on Sunday, but she told him that they would try and make it, not promising anything.
The next day, Erica and her friend Amy attended church at the college ward. Brent's game happened to be at the same college, so they walked over to see if they could catch him. They stopped at the ticket booth and asked for 2 tickets to the game.
"That will be 7 dollars please." said the guy behind the window.
The girls rummaged through their bags. They only had 6 dollars between them (they were, after all, first year teachers!). Amy wasn't too hip on going anyway, so they were just going to go back to the hotel when the boy asked,
"Are you two Shockers?"
What in the world is a Shocker? They thought.
"Because if you are (wink, wink) then you can get into the game for 3 dollars each" He smiled.
"Ummm, okay." Erica handed him the money, a little confused.
He gave them their tickets and they walked into the stadium and found some seats. The first thing they noticed were all the people wearing gold and black. Everywhere. They were the WICHITA STATE SHOCKERS. Ah ha! Now they at least understood the boy at the window. They looked down at the field. A bunch of guys, wearing the same uniform, in hats. How was she supposed to remember which one was Brent? She had only talked to him for a few minutes... She and Amy spent the rest of the time playing the guessing game as to who they thought looked most like the cute boy they met last night.
When the game ended, Erica and Amy had no idea what to do. I'll just stand here until one of those boys acts like he knows me...if nothing happens, we'll just leave. Erica thought. Sure enough, one of the Shockers waved to her to come down. They talked with Brent at the edge of the fence. Erica liked his smile, and especially liked that it didn't feel like he was trying to "pick her up". He seemed genuine, and kind. Brent liked that she laughed a lot.
They talked about home, and he mentioned that he had not been able to get back for a while, and that his mom was worried about him, since he just had surgery on his hand.
"Give me your mom's phone number." Erica said. "I'll call her and let her know I saw you, and that you are doing fine." She knew that her mom would have liked that had their situations been reversed.
Amy wrote down the number in her planner (she was always so prepared) and they all said their goodbye's. Brent was leaving that night to go back to Kansas, and the girls were headed out the next day to fly home to Utah. Brent reached up to shake Erica's hand. As she put her hand in his, time stood still for a second--like it was in slow motion... as though this moment was important somehow. She looked in his green eyes, and smiled. What was that?? Like I am ever going to see him again... She thought. He hadn't even asked for her number, and all she had was his mom's number. Nothing was going to come of this.
Brent thoughts were similar. I really want to get know her, but how? He slipped his hand away from hers, and figured he would never look into her dark eyes again.
The flight from Hawaii to Utah left really early, so the girls spent most of the flight sleeping. Erica kept having dreams about the hand shake... and his eyes.
Meanwhile, in Wichita, Brent called his mom.
"Did the Easter Bunny bring you something nice?" She asked teasingly.
"He did, mom. But I don't even know her last name, or have her phone number."
His mom about dropped the phone. HER??? She knew her son. She knew that he had never been interested in a girl during baseball season. He never really talked about girls at all. She was ecstatic. Maybe there was hope for him after all!
Life got back to normal in Utah, and it was almost 3 weeks before Erica remembered that she was supposed to call Brent's mom.
"She'll think I'm a weirdo or something..." Erica told Amy. "It is too late to call now. What am I supposed to say? 'Hi. I'm a girl who was in Hawaii and met your son for five whole minutes.' "
"Just do it." Amy sighed. "You told him you would. I have the number right here." she handed Erica the paper.
The phone rang 4 times, and just before Erica was going to hang up, an energetic voice answered "Hello?"
"Um, Hi. My name is Erica, I..."
But she didn't get to finish her sentence.
"ERICA!! I have been waiting for your call! I am Wendy. I am so excited to meet you. We have to go to lunch. I am dying to tell you about Brent. Give me your phone number so we can keep in touch." Wendy spoke so quickly, that before she knew it, Erica had agreed to meet her for lunch that weekend.
What just happened?" Erica asked as she got off the phone.
Brent called her the next day.
"Sorry about my mom," he laughed. "She gets a little excited."
"That's okay. My mom is the same way." Erica replied. (She had gotten the I told you you would meet a boy in Hawaii look from her own mom earlier.)
They talked for hours. About everything. It was like they had known each other for years.
Saturday came. Erica was a little nervous. She made her mom go with her so she wouldn't have to be there alone. They were going to meet Wendy at the Olive Garden. All of this was a little strange for Erica. She had only talked to Brent a few times... and now she was meeting his mom? Things are moving a little too fast. She thought. She was not one to jump into anything. Life was great the way it was, and this all seemed just weird. But... it was only lunch. What could happen at lunch?
Wendy and her daughter Annie greeted them inside. When they got to the table Wendy plopped a large box in front of her.
"Here is my favorite picture of Brent." She reached in the box and pulled out a framed picture of him in a game diving for the ball. He was parallel with the ground.
"If you don't end up marrying him, you can just give it back to me." she said matter-of-factly.
GULP. What?? Marriage?? Erica almost spit her water across the table. She glanced over at her own mom, who was just as shocked as she was. She couldn't help but smile. Brent had warned her that his mom was a little excited about the meeting, she had no idea her wedding had been planned!
The next hour was spent looking at every newspaper article ever written about Brent, along with photos, awards, the works. The waiter even commented that he wanted to hire Wendy as his PR person. :)
Brent didn't call her for over a week. (he says now he was playing his cards right). He may have been right. The other boys Erica was seeing were driving her crazy. Calling too much, coming over too much. She would go out with someone a few times, then really just never want to see them again. She wasn't harsh, but had no interest in wasting her time. The boys wanted too much from her. She didn't want to get married yet-- and for some reason, in Utah, if you date someone 3 times, you are practically engaged. Brent was the only one that was not leaving 5 messages a day on her phone. It was refreshing. But when he didn't call at all, she started to wonder if he had forgotten her. She picked up the phone and called him. Again, they talked for hours, and he mentioned that he would be coming to Utah for a few days after the season was over. Would she like to go out?
He pulled up in front of her apartment. Erica and Amy spied on him through the blinds as he walked to the door. He wore a white shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. Not exactly Erica's style, but the boots did look okay on him, and after all, he did live in Kansas. He came bearing gifts. He gave her a necklace with a small charm in the shape of a baseball glove, ball and bat, along with a stuffed monkey with a baseball uniform on. They went out to eat, then came back to the apartment and watched "The Little Mermaid". They talked until morning.
Brent was invited to play with the Olympic team that summer. He would be gone until school started again in the fall. He asked Erica to come see him play in California.
It was that trip where it all changed for Erica.
Erica and Brent ended up getting married. They wanted to start a family of their own. They struggled for six years with infertility. They decided to try adoption. They heard of this young girl, who was only 15 years old and found herself pregnant. She was such a strong young lady. She could have taken the easy way out, but instead she chose to sacrifice her body, her time, and so much more to bring her son into this world. To bring our son into this world. Erica and Brent were so thankful for their adorable little boy that they have waited so long for!
So, Erica, Brent, and Baby Jacob were a happy little family of three. They had a beautiful son and life was good.
But they knew there were more children in store for them. They finally made the decision to try in vitro fertilization.
Erica gave herself tons of shots to get her body ready:
(Erica used to be skinny too...that would soon be a memory!! haha! :))
Pretty soon they had two embryos ready to be emplanted.
Our first picture of the twins:)
Erica became pregnant!!! At first, only one baby showed up at 5 weeks. They could see only one heartbeat. But at 12 weeks, after a terrible bleeding scare, an ultrasound proved there were two little ones in mom's belly.
They couldn't have been happier.
Really. Beyond happy. Tears of joy happy.
TWINS!!!!
Mom's belly grew quickly. (Along with the rest of her body...)
Honestly, the poor mother didn't know if she could grow any bigger! At 28 weeks, she was taken to the hospital for early labor. She knew the babies were not ready, and was put on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. This was especially hard since the daddy was living in Anaheim playing baseball and the mommy was in Draper, Utah. Erica and her son moved in with Erica's mother so her family could help take care of them. It was hard on the mommy and daddy to be apart. (Erica may have been a little bit grumpy about it, but we can cut her some slack- she was making 2 babies ☺)
The daddy visited as much as he could, and the mommy and her family watched the TV with anticipation hoping his team would lose in the play-offs. Well, at lease SHE was hoping they would lose.
What?!
You heard me. She rooted for her husband's team to lose. Lose. Lose. Lose.
Then daddy could come home.
Try carrying twins without a husband around before you judge... ☺
Anyway.
Back to the story...
Finally, the day came for the family to meet their new babies! The night before, the daddy took these pictures of the last day the babies would spend in their mommy's tummy.
And that is what 95 extra pounds looks like! Notice the cankles... ouch. There was also a terrible rash from her skin being stretched to the limit and... wait. This isn't about mommy.
The twins.
On September 30,these two beautiful babies were born:
Bella came first at 9:34 am weighing 5 lbs 15 oz. (Pictured on the bottom)
Sofia came only 2 minutes later, weighing 4 lbs 7 oz. Her wrists were the width of the mommy's thumb...
They were both healthy and strong. Sofia had to have a few oxygen treatments, but other than that, no problems. Mommy couldn't believe that these two babies had grown inside her.
It was a miracle.
So many people came to adore the twin girls...
Since the daddy was still playing baseball (they DIDN'T lose), he was supposed to head back to California the next day. But mommy had some complications, and he stayed one more day. He ended up flying back and forth each day until the family could take the babies home. He did almost all the night feedings and stayed with the mommy as much as he could. What a trooper.
The twins were so small! They barely fit in their carseats. They went back and stayed at Bita's house until the baseball season was over. Bita helped so much with feedings every two hours. The mommy and her cherished the first few weeks with the new babies.
Halloween was the first holiday this new family of five spent together.
When they were 8 weeks old, Their daddy blessed them both. It was a beautiful day. They knew Heavenly Father had saved these babies especially for this family.
The girls grew fast...
... and played together all the time. The mommy and daddy would listen outide their room and hear them giggling. (They still do!)
It was also really fun dressing them in cute outfits!☺
Bella was a happy baby. She loved to cuddle. Her smile lit up a room.
Sofia was also very happy. She was spunky and loved to laugh.
And it sems like it was just yesterday that Erica and Brent met. And because this post has gotten so long, I will have to come back and post the story of Cai later.
1 comment:
Love this post! I have to admit, it sort of freaked me out too when Brent's mom started talking about marriage! Now you better post about Cailyn, she's feeling left out!
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