Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Victoria Jean Vargas was born on Cinco de Mayo in Los Angeles to her parents Jennifer and Joseph in May 2007. With her Hispanic heritage, this was a great honor to be born on the Cinco de Mayo holiday. She was a beautiful baby weighing seven pounds, eight ounces. After she was delivered, her parents were the first to hold her. She had the most beautiful light blue-ish gray eyes. Grammy Jeanie, Jennifer's mother, helped with Victoria for two weeks after she came home from the hospital. Grammy stayed in Victoria's room and it was a great help to the couple. Her parents and grandparents always showered Victoria with love, hugs, and kisses. They often said, "I love you," and Victoria quickly became a hugger as well.

Victoria was very smart and hit milestones quickly. Even her doctors said she was physically advanced and ahead of the bar. She loved watching Sesame Street, as her favorite character was the adorable red Elmo. She also liked watching Sponge Bob on TV. She was at Aunt Angela's house when she took her first steps at eleven months. Once she could walk, she was running.

By the time she could speak, she called her mother mama or mom, while she called her father papa. For the last few months, she called him daddy. She loved watching sports with her dad. Joe took her to many high school football games at his alma mater Servite High School. She also liked to watch football games on television. If you were flipping around the dial and she saw football on a station, she'd say "Stop," because she wanted to watch the game. She even had a football in her room.

Last year, Joe took Victoria to Mammoth Mountains and she loved the snow. She went sledding and had no fear. Instead, she just had a big smile on her face. She was so excited to see the snow. In the summertime, she liked going to Seal Beach with her dad and walking on the sand by the water's edge. Jennifer and Joe took their daughter to Disneyland and there was so much to see. She especially enjoyed the Dumbo ride and the Tea Cups.

Victoria absolutely loved music. She liked hearing the theme songs to her favorite shows, such as Sesame Street. When the family recorded a Gwen Stefani concert, Victoria learned how to dance by watching that tape over and over again. For two or three months, she'd watch that concert. Her favorite film was Wizard of Oz. She'd ask everyone in the family, "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" She'd sing along with Judy Garland to the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Joe even bought her a pair of red slippers that Victoria called her "Dorothy Slippers." Jennifer had a hard time getting her to take off the red slippers and it was so cute. Victoria also liked listening to popular music. She could sing along to Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi." She'd pick up the lines to a song and she'd repeat them.

She was very close and bonded with her uncle and cousins and she often asked, "Where's uncle and the cousins?" And she always told her mom, "I love you mommy," and she told her dad, "I love you daddy." She told her all of her grandparents, "I love you." She was a loving girl, who was always aware of everyone in her life, checking their whereabouts, loving them and making sure they were okay.

Active and exceedingly bright, Victoria was recently mastering the cell phone. She could punch in access codes and take photos with the phone. She especially liked sending e-mails with her Grammy Jeanie's cell phone. Victoria was verbally expressive as she used her hands to tell stories. She loved bouncing in the big outdoor bouncers. Her uncle owns a bouncing company and so when she went to Granny's home, she asked, "Is uncle going to bring the bouncer?" Victoria was smart and she loved hearing books read to her. Her favorites were pop-up books, but she also loved musical books and books with good stories. She'd even talk about the storyline. She especially loved stories about butterflies and she liked things that fly.

At her daycare, the twin teachers and her friends loved Victoria. There are many photos of her hugging her friends at daycare. She liked drawing pictures at daycare and she gave gifts of her drawings to family members. She loved to color and paint. Her grandparents bought her an erasable easel and she was learning how to write her name and the numbers. Victoria also loved doing puzzles with her father. And, she liked big activities with her mother. Victoria's favorite color was pink, and she liked purples and reds, too. With her Papa Lias, she liked helping him take leaves out of the pool. Her parents made sure she had swimming lessons early on and she was comfortable in the water.

Very affectionate and loving, Victoria became good friends with her cousins. She went to a few birthday parties and always had a good time. She was very good at mixing with other kids, as she was not timid or shy. Instead, she was very social, assertive and confident. She always enjoyed playing. One of her favorite things to do was baking chocolate chip cookies with her mother, Jennifer. They'd bake a batch of cookies and sit down and enjoy drinking their hot chocolate together. Victoria loved hot chocolate. She liked going to Starbucks with her father. She'd drink the kid's hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. She liked that they wrote her name on the cup and they'd add a happy face for her. She really enjoyed that special smiley face drawn just for her.

Victoria loved the golden arches, as her favorites were the Chicken McNuggets. She liked having what she called a "Hang-a-burger," which was her name for a hamburger. She also enjoyed eating pizza. Even when her grandparents took her out for rice and guacamole, she saw the golden arches across the street and said, "I want Chicken McNuggets." Her comment made the man sitting next to them laugh. She was very assertive and knew what she liked. Victoria loved Chuck E. Cheese so much, it was hard to get her to go home after a few hours of play. She liked ordering a vanilla or chocolate ice cream treat from Baskin and Robbins. When her dad recently bought sherbet for himself, she asked for a lick and immediately switched and gave him the chocolate ice cream as she traded up for the sherbet.

At night, Victoria wanted to play but she went to bed easily. When she was with her father, they'd sit on the glider and watch the Sprout Network. She'd drink some warm milk or juice and he'd put her down and she'd fall asleep and sleep right through the night. She did have a habit of crawling into bed with her mother or father or grandparents. They'd wake up and Victoria would be right beside them. One night, she woke up her father to tell him, "Papa, move over, you're on my side of the bed." It was so cute. It was easier to make room for her instead of sending her back to her own bed. She liked to snuggle and lay by her parents or grandparents. She had love for her family and she had love for animals. She loved her two pugs, Ace and Ginger.

Last Friday, her father dropped her off at daycare and she said, "Bye, Papa, I love you," and he gave her a kiss. On Saturday, Jennifer, Victoria, Grammy Jeanie and Papa Lias went to the Arcadia mall and Victoria kissed a pair of pink shoes. Her Grammy Jeanie bought those shoes for her. When she saw the Sweet Factory, she looked around at all of the bins and she settled on some gummy bears. She was so excited to have a little bag of the gummy bears all to herself. When they went to the Fish Aquarium store, Victoria stood and admired all of the beautiful fish along with the puffer fish and the plecostomus. She paid attention to detail. The family finished their day by granting her wish to ride on the carousel. She first rode a horse that went up and down. Then, she really wanted to ride on the dolphin, so she took a ride on the dolphin as well. They finished their day at Panda Express, because she liked the noodles. They followed dinner with a treat of a chocolate cupcake with vanilla marshmallow frosting. She loved that treat.

Victoria had been growing up into a sweet little girl. She'd drink from a sippy cup and she loved wearing lip gloss. Her Grammy Jeanie liked singing to her, especially the song "You Are My Sunshine." Victoria liked daisies and the little yellow flowers that grew in the grass. She'd pick the little flowers and carry them around. She loved to run and she loved balloons. If she saw another child with a balloon, she wanted one. If you got her a balloon, it was in the house for two weeks. Mommy and Victoria would spend hours in the backyard as BG (Big Girl) rode her tricycle, battery operated car from the Mendoza family, and her new battery operated Barbie car with radio just like Mommy's car. She loved the outdoors, running and playing. She loved her sidewalk chalk as well. She was always playful and loving as she had insight beyond her years.

Victoria Vargas was energetic and pure joy. She was assertive and yet calm and affectionate. She had a fairly complex set of emotions and was always full of energy. She was intelligent and she was a leader in her daycare room, always directing traffic. Victoria was brilliant, adapted easily and she was spirited. She'd run up and kiss her family, wanting to do fun things with them. Her family was everything to her. Victoria's entire family will miss everything about her especially her loving, caring ways. While she only lived for a short while, her family is forever grateful, as she enriched their lives and made everyone better individuals. Grammy Jeanie said, "She'll always genuinely shine like a jewel, as her memories will always be with us."

This loss has been so difficult for the entire family, as Victoria was greatly loved by everyone. Her grandparents are in the process of creating something special in Victoria's memory, to help educate other parents, as that will be her legacy.

Victoria is loved and remembered by her mother Jennifer; father Joseph; grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, her teachers and many friends at her daycare.

A memorial fund has been created in Victoria's memory.

Mail to:

Wells Fargo
745 Naomi Avenue
Arcadia, CA 91770
Account number: 3905522524
in memory of Victoria Vargas