Temecula's All Aglow

Tonight we ventured over to the sports park to watch a free Balloon Glow. For those of you not familiar with our beautiful city, Temecula is known for a handful of things including its hot air balloons. It is something I personally find to be quite a wonder an occasional morning as I am leaving our house for work. This evening we thought we would take advantage and allow our family to be submersed with the balloons. Briz and I thought it was pretty cool, Tay thought it was okay, and Brennan was more interested in the baseball diamond. Briz has some great pictures and a story about a Gorilla and a Banana I am sure he will share at a later date.

Love is Blue for the Expert

Our Taylor Rose is very mature. I joke all the time she is 4 going on 14. She enjoys playing with the older girls on the street, and can always pass off for older than she really is (a problem I know we will need to confront later). Taylor also has profound thoughts and can express herself artistically. A couple of examples come to mind, A few weeks ago she was listening to "Love is Blue" by Paul Mauriat. Briz has the instrumental version which Taylor chose to add her own lyrics to. In the chorus:"My love is blue, cancel the world, cancel everything..." It is funny because her lyrics are consistent every time! Another time in the car, we passed a black truck on the freeway with some handwriting on the cab window. "You should get a truck like that Daddy" Briz did not pay much attention until she said "You should get a truck like that and on the back it will say the EXPERT." This peaked Briz's interest. "Tell me more" he said. "Inside you can put in whatever you want, and on the outside it will be black and pink. And you will drive on the freeway and people will say look, there goes the EXPERT." Briz and I were both pretty blown away.

The First Six Years

This is not our wedding. But it serves as a reminder for the incredible love we have for each other and our family.

We have been married for six years (happy anniversary honey). They say the seventh year is the toughest. I'm not convinced, although Stacey reminds me it has only been a few weeks since our anniversary. I'm sure a few weeks will turn into a few months, and then into another wonderful year of marriage.

The Beginning (Stacey's version)

So, I guess this is probably the best place to start. If you don't like mushy "dreams come true" type stories, you might want to skip through this.
Briz and I met one evening in December 1997. I was newly hired at Disneyland, and it was my first assignment to guest control (the people that direct you with flashlights) at the Fantasmic show. Here I am this energetic 18 year old with what was to be believed at the time, her dream job. I was more than anxious to be able to assist guests into viewing such a spectacular show. My lead (supervisor) that evening directs to Briz for an evening of training and shadowing. As we are introduced under the Pirates of the Caribbean bridge I immediately feel that there is something about him. We work the entire night together and I go home knowing the next day I would have to return to my attraction (Storybook Land) and try to get the scoop on Briz from one of my managers. "Why a manager?" Briz was a skipper on the Jungle Cruise and at the time our attractions were considered brother and sister functioning under the same management team.
The next day I encounter a manger by the name of Kate and ask for the complete scoop on Mr. Briz. Kate tells me with despair that he is involved with another and has been for quite sometime. It made sense to me after all, first impressions told me he was a great guy. Knowing per our conversation the night before he lived in Moreno Valley, I figured this to be a great carpool opportunity. Phone numbers eventually were exchanged and the carpooling began. As we carpooled are friendship grew very strong. Through the years, Briz attempted to maintain his High School relationship, while I continued to date and had a long term boyfriend until October of 2000. By this point, my friendship with Briz was extremely strong, and the initial feeling I had felt when I met him in December of '97 never really went away (I just never realized it until then). As the year drew to a close our relationship became official with Briz professing his love through a poem and our New Year of 2001 starting with our first kiss. We knew now that we were committed in a relationship and there was no turning back.
Through the course of our five years we have laughed, cried, disagreed, and loved. More than anything we have loved. We have loved so much, we have two beautiful children and soon one day maybe more! Our relationship is truly unique. Not only are we friends, we are lovers, each others support, and a team. It amazes me sometimes our attitudes and willingness to have life bring on challenges and work through them with strength and optimism. The Journey that we began (whether we knew it or not) back in 1997 has been one that not many can say they have been on. As we continue on I can only hope that our love grows deeper, and whatever challenges that may come our way we continue to face together as a team supporting one another until the end.