Life and Death

Aaaaand we're back!

Life is a weird thing, man. My saintly grandmother, Renee Simmons, passed away and last weekend we attended her funeral. It was awesome. Her death was not awesome. No, far from it. But her funeral was awesome. And why shouldn't it have been? She was an awesome lady. We shared a mutual love for the song, "Have I Done Any Good?" My grandma was definitely more experienced and refined in the application of the song to her life. Now she's with her true love, Mister Curly, once again. And what a beautiful thing that is. 

Ah, what a fantastic lady. And to prove it, one of my most favorite quotes from her, 

"...and ya know, life, well...life just sucks sometimes!"

Right on, Grandma.

I also on occasion would ask her if she had been born in a different time, with different resources, opportunities and could go to school and have a career, what would she do/study/be? Hypothetically. Each time I presented her with that question, she got the same frustrated look on her face, like that was the dumbest question she'd ever heard, and had the same answer each time. That there was nothing else in this whole world she would have done than raise her 7 children and support her husband. Even if she could have, she knew she had fulfilled the most important calling there is. Which she fulfilled with grace and beauty.

Yep, she was the coolest, and she will be sorely missed.

But where there is death, there is also life! 

We went to the doctor on Monday and got to skype with the little babe inside me. He says hey.

We found out that we have a little BOY baking in the oven, as clearly indicated by our wonderfully tactful doctor with the word, "PEEPEE." Maybe not the phrasing I personally would have chosen, but hey. As long as we all understand, right? Right. It's a boy! Woohoo! Little Tommy Jr. pluggin' along in there. I have this app on my phone that tells me details about the growth of the baby each week. This week it informs, " a waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on the skin to prevent it from  pickling in your amniotic fluid."  Um...babies would pickle without this stuff. Like...a cucumber...changes to a pickle. Pickled herring! Pickled pigs feet! Man, God is one smart cookie. He thinks of everything. 

Which is why even among the tragedy of death and the apprehension of life, everything is alright. God has already thought of everything, so it's all good. I sure do love that little boy. Soon I will meet him and it will be so sweet. What a precious time to be found living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad, or made someone feel glad? If not, I have failed indeed.

What have we done?!?

So Teejay and I have given in and taken the plunge into the unknown realm of blogging. What the heck. Welcome to the bandwagon. We have no clue what's going on, so bear with us. We visited "adjectivesthatstart.com", searched under the Bs, and then finally decided on the Beach Brigade after having to decide between the balding/ballistic/buttery beaches. What a handy website. Fulfilling all your adjective needs since 2005!

I feel obligated to do an introduction or something, so I'll just copy and paste this little thing I wrote about us when we got engaged. Word. 

"Once upon a time, there was a boy and there was a girl. Both were small in stature and nothing too impressive to behold. The turning of the world brought them together at the awkward, painful age of 15 in an equally awkward and painful tenth grade biology class, 2005. Their love began innocently, as nearly all love does, with the boy taking notes for the both of them as the girl would fall asleep on her arm in the middle of lecture. This was the first of many signs of affection the boy would display, and eventually the girl woke up and loved the boy in return.

High school passed by them like something of a dream; prom, homecoming, sadie hawkins, homecoming again, prom again. Fist date, first hand hold, first kiss, first love. A carefree, sunshiney kind of love that kept them a few inches off the ground. But, like any epic love story, a conflict must arise, and so it was for these two young daydreamers. Graduation brought tribulation, growing up and life decisions. A whirlwind spanning three years began to spiral around these two, bringing them in and out of love as they had relationships with other people, foolishly believing they could somehow forget each other and be with another...all the while an epic saga of letters and emails were sent over oceans, years and hearts as they both served LDS missions. Though at times both believed they had moved on, fate had other greater plans in mind. 

After 3 long years, the high school lovers were brought back together in a fusion of love, time and all things awesome August 2011. And now this boy and this girl, with their love 7 years in the making, will seal the deal, never to be apart for another day of their lives. 

TJ and Samantha 

Leap Day 2012"

So basically, we love each other. Now we've got a little bouncing baby Beach bum baking in the oven, due to make its debut February 24, 2013! Buy your tickets now, this event WILL sellout.
So, we blog. We're bloggers. We be bloggin'. Ahoy!

2005

We may be better looking now than we were back in the days of our juventud, but we're still pretty weird and awkward. Bienvenidos.