Sunday, June 17, 2007

Celebrations

This past weekend was a multi-celebration for my family as well as Jojo's.

First, my mom's birthday was on June 16th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mother-Bear! I know you wanted a quiet birthday this year and that you specifically requested no big parties or lavish celebrations. But nonetheless, I wish you a multitude of blessings and lots of love on your birthday. I hope you know that even if we are miles apart, I am sending you my thoughts and prayers on your special day. Many more wonderful birthdays to come and hopefully for the next one we'll be there to celebrate with you in person! I love you, mom.

Then on Sunday, we celebrated Father's day (over the phone with my day) and at the Sea Empress restaurant with my father-in-law. Father-Bear, HAPPY DAD'S DAY! I love you, pops. Know that through the years and even if I am at the ripe old age of 32, you are still my "papa" and the best dad in the world as far as I'm concerned! My father-in-law is a close second. And hopefully soon, Jojo will be part of that special group. BTW, happy father's day to all my friends who are dads too. It's so great to be at that time in our lives when so many of us are starting families. A special shout-out to one of my best friends, Tash, who was recently blessed with a baby girl.

On the 18th, my in laws will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. Ruby anniversary! To commemorate such a milestone, yesterday they renewed their wedding vows at the St. Maria Goretti, a beautiful and intimate church in Long Beach followed by a reception for 60 close family and friends at the Doubletree in Carson.

It was a great afternoon filled with good food and lots of great people. In honor of my parents in law, we (my SILs and BILs), plus all the grandkids put together a program filled with video presentations, singing, toasting, speeches and of course dancing!

Here are some pictures of yesterday's party:


Here are my in-laws with Father Jun (my FIL's first cousin too) right after the mass. Doesn't my MIL look beautiful? - hard to believe she's over 60 and has 7 kids and 11 grandkids!

Here we are at the Doubletree. (my hubby, me, Lee, Edel, Sydney and Jojo). The dancing part of the program has just started. The deejay was really creative starting off with songs from the 60s and 70s to get the older folks on the dancefloor. After that he played 80s music - which is pretty much our generation. Then he played hip-hop music and my nieces and nephews got on the floor. Finally when everyone was into the dancing - he played crowd favorites such as the ever popular YMCA, Achy-Breaky Heart, and even I Will Survive! Everyone had a pretty good time!


My in-laws with some of their family and friends based in California. Some of my hubby's uncles and aunts drove all the way from San Deigo, Santa Barbara and San Francisco to join the party.

My in-laws (minus the spouses and grandkids) - (from left to right): my hubby, his sister (Tracy), dad, mom, sister (Karen), brother (Lee) and youngest brother (Jay). My two other in-laws (Len and Ogie) are still in Manila with their families. They couldn't make it here for the event but while we did our program, they called long distance and the call was patched through and we got to hear their greetings. It was a very touching moment and brought tears to my MIL's eyes.

My hubby and me. I was still all smiles for the camera but after 2 hours at the Church and 4 hours of dancing and entertaining, my feet were killing me (standing in strappy sandals with 3 & 1/2-inch heels can be pretty painful!).



My in-laws wrapping up the party with a few words of thanks to everyone for joining us on this really special day. My FIL had the audience cracking up while my MIL was as poised and proper as ever.

I was looking through our pictures and realized we had very few pictures of my nieces (who looked like fairy princesses in their white gowns and flowered sashes) and my nephews (handsome in their barong tagalogs). I hope to post some of their pictures here soon.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The festivity of celebration is bolstered with the presence of the family, relatives and friends. Capturing them thru photos can make such occasions more memorable.

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing the pics! Love your dress! super nice and bagay :)

seeing the pictures reminded me so much of your wedding...parang kailan lang :)

Belated Happy Birthday to Auntie Judy and Belated Happy Father's Day to Uncle James :)

S said...

Love the pic with the pseudo gang signs!

Junarakasa said...

Thanks LES. I was medyo guilty nga lang kasi we were suppose to wear red and my dress was obviously not. But my MIL was cool about it and ok na rin na medyo purple/fuschia yung color.

You're right, it did kinda seem like my wedding. I think kasi the colors were red din. And syempre almost same yung cast! :)

BTW, I really like your multiply site and visit it often - kaya lang I haven't posted a comment kasi di ko kilala yung mga nagco-comment :) Keep up the good work though!

Hi SAREET - Welcome back. Am so glad you are back to blogging. I've been visting your site the last few weeks and was wondering where you went! Glad to see you are back with more Vegas, Pig and weekend adventures.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jo! :)

thanks for visiting my multiply...although it's mostly pictures lang and nonsense blogs :)

you're looking great talaga :) the color of the dress is really nice! okay lang if you didn't wear red kasi parang fit din yung color ng dress mo :)

Anonymous said...

btw, i love the 2nd picture...yung parang naka "patawa" pose :) parang super you're all having a great time :)