Abe The Babe turns 12!

Well,another birthday post to do....Abram turned 12 today! So hard to believe. For as stubborn as he can be and for as much as i get frustrated with him....I have to say that the thing I love the very most about Abe is that he is so appreciative and thankful for every little thing. He can't say enough thank you's for any gift or act of service done for him.
For example, our Valentine tradition is that I always make a nice dinner for the family and I set the table really pretty and festive and have a small gift for everyone on their dinner plates. You wonder how much it really means and if it is worth all the effort. Late on Valentine's night, as I was making the rounds tucking kids into bed, I came into Abe's room and he was just finishing up writing in his journal. He let me read his entry. He took up two whole pages describing our dinner and every single thing that we ate..even the color of the kool-aid, exactly what was in the salad, and that he thought the chocolate cake was the moistest ever! He described how the table was set and explained that we had red "charger" plates under the white china ones. It was so funny and so sweet! I really love that about him. He has hugged me a hundred times today and told me that this has been the best day ever, even though it was fairly ordinary. Tomorrow I am taking him and 4 of his buddies bowling. Should be fun.
He is turning out to be a great young man. He was ordained a deacon today. It was a really special experience for him and for all of us.

I love you Abe!

Happy Birthday Muk-Rut!!!

Sorry Amy, but your nickname is now exposed to all the blogging world! You will always be Muk-Rut to me. Even though I have no idea where that name actually came from??? mom, do you know??
As a little tribute to Amy on her special day, I thought I would list a few of my favorite memories with my little sis.

In the really early days....

1. You always wanted to sleep with me.
2. You sucked your thumb and it was always green and wrinkly, but you said it just tasted so good, you couldn't give it up.
3. Sometimes you would wet the bed and I would blowdry the sheets for you so mom wouldn't get mad (sorry mom, but you were a little uptight in those days! :)
4. You saw me get mad at mom once and give her a little finger gesture....(I can't believe I did that!!) and you copied me innocently only to have mom turn around and see YOU...and you got in trouble. sorry about that one!
5. Your two favorite toys were your black motorcycle and your green incredible hulk doll!
6. Even though you were only about 2 feet tall and weighed about 15 pounds....you would boss the entire family around and even tell us what to wear!

In your teen years....

1. You were a bridesmaid at my wedding
2. You got a boyfriend named Kelly
3. You cried when he left on a mission
4. You lived in a Tuff Shed behind Lane and I's duplex
5. You were Alex's favorite babysitter
6. We discovered "Dollar Days" together and laughed our heads off on the way home talking about ALL the things we bought for $1.00!!! (why was that funny???)
7. We tried to be "RockStars" together!

In your adult years....

1. You cried when Kelly came home from his mission
2. You were a beautiful bride a few months later
3. You turned an old trailer look into a darling newlywed palace!
4. You were still my kids' favorite babysitter
5. You became a mother yourself
6. You became one of my best friends
7. You came to visit me in Georgia when I thought I was actually dying from homesickness
8. THat whole week, we hung out at the pool, and sang to Cheryl Crow's "Soak up the Sun."
9. I never cried so hard in my life as I did when you left me in Georgia!!
10. I moved to AZ and you came to visit me
11. We traumatized Taylor and Mariah by skinny dipping in my pool with them!! (sorry Taylor, I just had to let that secret out!)
12. We laughed our heads off that night too....did you pee in the pool??
13. We have had some great late night feet picking parties
14. We almost wet our pants getting our eyebrows threaded...we laughed so hard!

oh Amy, we have laughed and cried so much together over the years! THese are just a few of my memories, but I have many more. Some that are too embarrassing to blog about.
THank you for being not only my sister, but also one of my very best friends. THank you for loving me and for loving my kids so much. You have such a unique ability to truly love other people. You are my example of charity. I love you so much and am so proud of the person that you are.
I wish I was there to celebrate your day with you!

More pics of 18 year old Alex

So, I decided to add a few more pics....I thought these candybar posters turned out so cute that the kids made him....see if you can read what they say. Also a couple pictures of Alex and Cate. Yes, he has a girlfriend. She is adorable and we love her. It was fun night taking them out.

My "not so little" man

Here is a recent pic of my boy on his Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Alex!

It was a strange thing to wake up this morning and realize that I am the mother of an ADULT! How is that even possible?? I need to take some cute pictures tonight to post later so that I can show him off a little....but since it is his birthday, I am giving myself permission to brag/blog a little about him!
I don't even know where to start....I love this kid so much that it seriously hurts! He is such a bright spot in our family and things are always so much more fun when he is around. He has a certain charm and charisma that is rare in a teenage boy. I feel so blessed that I get to be his mother. He is a giant of a man in my eyes and I am excited to see what he does with his life.
He has never outgrown the need for daily bear hugs from his mom and never ever goes a day without expressing his love and appreciation for me.He will often text me from school just to say he loves me and to have a great day. That means so much to me.
Now, the countdown starts...as this is his last year at home. I am a sobbing idiot about it, even though nothing will be greater for him than to serve a mission.

Last night was FHE and we were all singing this goofy song that Abe wanted us to sing and Alex was just in the corner laughing his head off and then we all started laughing....and I just started to cry, thinking of our house without him here. In fact, the tears have started again, so I better just quit....but for all of you who are struggling through the days with your kids...please take it from me that it goes so fast! Before you know it, they are MEN and WOMEN! There were many days when Alex made me cry (they were not tears of joy!) and I wondered how I was going to raise this miniature lawyer!! He had a stubborn streak that would make your head spin. I try to keep that in mind these days as I am raising my true "ticket to Heaven" AKA...???
My advice to every mom is to try to look at your kids, not for who they are being at the moment, but for who they have the potential to become. Can I do this all the time? NO. I just keep plugging along just like all of you. But it sure is a nice little bonus when you wake up and realize that you have an 18 year old son who loves his parents, loves his siblings and most importantly, loves his Heavenly Father with all of his heart. It makes it all worth it! I love you Alex.

San Antonio Trip

I just got back from a weekend trip to San Antonio, so I finally have something new to blog about! Becky and I went for a business training conference and we had a blast! San Antonio is a really unique city and we did have some time to hang out on the Riverwalk and site see as well. We visited the Alamo, and we did alot of shopping and eating. Lane flew in for about 24 hours(probably to check up on us after we told him we got serenaded at a Mexican Restaurant!).
The weather was a little cool, but still nice. We actually ran along the Riverwalk one morning and it was the best "runner's high" I have ever felt! Brooke, you would have loved it!
It was so much fun to have some girlfriend time with Becky (even though Lane honed in for a day) just kidding...it was awesome having Lane there. He kept us focused on our purpose, which was business. But we managed to have alot of fun as well.

I have been away from blogging for so long that I can't seem to get any text under my pics, so I will just tell you that the 2 cheesy smiling business men are the ones that kept forking out money to have the Mexican guys serenade us! Until we finally told them to GIVE UP....WE ARE MARRIED! SO, thought I would post their pics. It was pretty funny. Beck was laughing so hard I thought she was going to choke and I would have to do the heimlich!

I gained so much from the conference, not only business info, but alot of personal development and many new friends from around the world. I really love it! It is very rewarding in many ways for me to be a part of Usana.

By the way, still no word from my neighbor down the street, but I will take everyone's advice and take some cookies down one of these days.

The 12 Days of Christmas gone WRONG??

OK, figured it is seriously time to update my blog, since it is long past Christmas Eve! I do have one more lingering holiday issue on my mind though, if you can please bear with me.
Here is my dilemna.....
Our family decided to do "The 12 Days of Christmas" this year for an older single neighbor lady up the street. All we really know about her is that she LOVES animals, I mean, loves them like no one else I have ever seen. She adopts every stray, injured or homeless animal that she hears of, and all the stray neighborhood cats are always lurking around her house because she feeds them well. Many of the neighbors make fun of her, but she has always been very nice when I have talked with her. She has no family that I know of, and so we were excited to do this for her. After all, everyone loves to be a little spoiled for Christmas- right?
So, we carefully picked small gifts that we thought she would like or need and the kids had fun sneaking up to her door each night after dark and leaving the package.
Most of the gifts were just fun things, but a few of them were obviously LDS, as we also hoped that this would be a good missionary experience. On the last night, Christmas Eve, we wrote our testimonies in a Book of Mormon and put our family picture in it. We also put a cute pair of pajamas with that....since that is our family tradition, to get new pj's on Christmas Eve. We were hoping that she would be home because we all went to her door and were going to carol as we delivered the last gift. (my big kids were so excited ! ha ha) Well, she wasn't home and so we left it.
ok, this is the wierd part....she has never said anything about it and has never even made eye contact with any of us since! Please don't get me wrong, we obviously did not do this to get anything in return, but I just think it is so strange that she has never acknowledged it in any way. I feel really awkward about it now and wonder if it all may have offended her. She has always been so sweet to the kids, and even adopted their pet rats that they got for Christmas the year before (the newness wore off real fast! thank goodness!)
Anyway, I don't know what to do now....she may just not know what to say,or she may think we will try to convert her if she thanks us.....I am stressing about it, because we had a friendship starting, and now I feel like our good intentions may have really messed things up.
Do any of you have any thoughts or ideas for me???