All because 2 people fell (and stayed) in love...

These are my grandparents Portela. I have way too many memories of them for this blog. Some highlights include fishing with my grandpa and having him say "Stephanie, keep your voice down, you're scaring all the fish away!" He has always had a secret, or not so secret, stash of candy. We will barely sit down to play cards and he'll get the one pound Hershey bar out of the drawer and plunk it in the middle of the table. He doesn't like to lose when playing cards, and he will bend the rules a bit to keep that from happening (though it rarely works against grandma). When we were in Vegas and I was under the legal age of gambling, he came to our hotel room door at 6:00 a.m. and yelled "Who wants to play the nickel slots?!" He would make sure I moved around a lot in the casino so as not to get caught. That rarely ever worked and I was kicked out of several casinos. If I recall, they were also kicked out for allowing me to gamble. He would take us grandkids up to the gas station and buy us lottery tickets. This is also the man who broke up with a boyfriend for me by saying within earshot of said boyfriend "Well shoot Steph, it's too bad there is no spark between you and Will and you are going to break up with him. He's a good lookin' kid." The look on Will's face when he came out of the bathroom Grandpa knew he was in...priceless. That was one awkward ride from Phoenix to San Diego.

On to my grandma...my earliest memories are of her saint like patience while trying to teach us to paint. I am no artist and was easily frustrated, but she would hold my hand and practically paint my picture for me. I cranked out some pretty amazing paintings. I have no idea why they are so similar to the paintings my cousins painted. When I had to stay with them when Tyson had cancer she would let me eat Lucky Charms and promised not to tell my mom. My grandma was the first person I told when I decided I wanted to find my birth mother. She was very understanding and interested in the process. She taught me how to play video poker, until we got kicked out. She didn't just hit the dollar once on the wheel on the Price is Right, she hit is twice. She taught me to pack snacks for later when visiting a buffet because when they say all you can eat, they don't give you a time frame for which to eat all you can. She taught Jake how to play hand and foot and I can hardly beat him. She says words like "Gadfree and Skaliwag". She is the leader of our family "ya ya" sisterhood and still says things like "I would be nothing without your grandpa".

We recently went to Bear Lake to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. It was the first time in many, many years that the whole family came together. I do find it mind boggling that from these two people who made the choice to get married 60 long years ago came 5 children, 15 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. Add in all the spouses and that's a whole lot of people. Doyle and Helen know how to have fun, love with everything that they are, and will forever be my heroes.