Mother's Day

I really hate Mother's Day. I don't know many men who understand this, but many, many women who do. Mother's Day got more difficult after my own fabulous Mother died.
I have even run away on several Mother's Days, just not to go to church.
(Ask Katie about the trip to Capital Reef.)

But, I ADORE my Mother's Day gift. Four years ago, for my birthday, my daughters and daughters-in-law gave me a scrapbook of my life. It is huge and was such an amazing surprise. Every year since, on Mother's Day, I get a new scrapbook of the last year. It is THE highlight of my year. I miss that I don't get to be with them when they scrapbook, but the end product is PRICELESS!!!!
Kelli is going out of town, so we celebrated tonight. I look at and devour the book. Everytime I look at it, I find loving details they have added to each page. The love that goes into the making of this book fills my heart with joy. My girls are sooo talented. I tried to do one page for our yearbook at school and it was the most stressful night ever. It amazes me how creative they are.
I am blessed with wonderful children and their spouses who love each other and love to be with each other. I can't forget the other joys of my life - Grandbabies!!!

I am getting so forgetful, that the books save those memories I would probably lose without the pictures. My family is my life and my top priority. This scrapbook is a real gift of love that is irreplacable.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Best gift ever. LOVE to you all.

Southern Utah Fun

Enough of the Birthday blogs for awhile. We have had some fun lately. We went to Wicked with Kelli, Jeremy, Ann and Todd. Fabulous show. It's the 3rd time I've seen it and it never fails to thrill me. Keith had the gall to say it was good, but it was just a show. I told him the SugarBowl was good, but it was just a game. (She shoots, she scores!) We took a trip to St. George this last week. Katie and her family weren't able to make it,

but everyone else was there. Keith was is Heaven, he got to golf 3 times. This is the first course and it was goregous.
Who cares where the ball went, it was just beautiful to be out there soaking it all in.


While the boys golfed, the girls got pedicures. Fun times.
Good to get pretty toes now that's it's flip flop weather.

Addi thought she owned the place.

After dropping her binky in the foot bath water, (yuck),

she loved toddling up and down the aisle.

Jermey talked all of us in riding the Bear Claw trail. I was a little nervous about riding it, but it was such a kick. The girls walked their bikes down a few steep hills, but we got braver as we went. Thanks Jer for taking us on such a fun trail and being patient with scared girls. And Thanks to Keith for picking us up on the other side of the trail.

Right before we left, we went above the Dixie to a place with a narrow crack through the rock that only 3 of us could get through. Those of us on the larger size, found other fun things to do.

Great Vacation, thanks everyone.

Happy 30th Darin

My cute son-in-law Darin is 30 today.  Darin came into our lives, out of our lives, and then back into our lives.  He has always impressed me by his character, dedication and devotion to his family and his Heavenly Father.

He is a fabulous father. He plays with his beautiful children and they love him.  I haven't seen him play princess with MyKelle, but I hear he's a pretty good Prince. 
Darin is fun loving and enjoys teasing, especially his mother-in-law.  He has more characters that he imitates, and beware when you talk to him on the phone. You never really know if it's Darin or some old guy (or woman). He does great voices.
Darin has always been an organized go-getter.  He jumps into to help without ever being asked.  He used to organize closets and drawers for fun. Darin loves to be busy and gets antsy sitting around.  He's a good sport to put up with us and we love him, for the husband, father and man he is.  Happy to you Darin.

Happy First Birthday to Addison

Happy 1st Birthday Addison.

You are the cutest little ladybug anywhere!

AND, you are the busiest little ladybug anywhere.

Love you tons baby girl.

We are glad you are in our hearts and our lives.

Love Poppy and JoJo.

"Honest, I didn't do it!"

Surprise!

I had a fabulous birthday this year.  We went out to dinner at Iggy's on Thursday and had a fabulous time.  Everyone one was able to come and I loved every minute of it.

Thursday night, Keith told me to have an overnight bag packed and be ready by 4:45 on Friday.

He picked me up and we went to Springhill Suites in SLC.  When we walked right by the registration desk, I got a little suspicious.  As he opened the door to the room, I saw it decorated with signs and balloons.  Then, my cute family jumped out and yelled surprise! Having them there was awesome. MyKelle was totally giddy. She had tried to tell me we where going swimming when she called me on my birthday.  I thought she just thought we were because that's what we did for Travis' birthday.

Keith had ordered pizzas and Katie made an amazing ice cream cake. We ate dinner and watched the Utes lose in the NCAA game.  Swimming was fun.  We had the pool to ourselves, however, it was a little cool.  The kids didn't seem to mind though.  I think we ought to do this much more often.   Thanks everyone for a wonderful celebration.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

My cute Daddy is 89 today. 89!!!!! He's still going strong, not able to do everything he wants to, but hey, he's 89. I told him he deserved to take it easy.

We tried to introduce him to video games - Pac Man. He couldn't quite figure it out, but had fun trying.
I posted some comments about him on Marilee's blog. Here's a few thought about him.

He tells all the grandkids that the family that plays together, stay together.

He made the best ski boat ever, and would work with you for hours -patiently helping you learn to ski.

He's told us for years to get out of debt and stay out of debt and to always pay more on your morgage than the minimum. (Look how smart he was with today's economy.)

He gives all the grandkids peaches for their weddings.

He can fix anything and then tells you that, "That's good enough for who it's for." Basically, that means it's perfect.

If you got in trouble, that just meant you didn't have enough work to do. Our parents really taught us all how to work

.He wants to do everything by himself. He wants to be independent.

He has taken some breathtaking hikes with my kids, especially Travis.

He's the best Daddy a girl can have. Love you Dad and Happy Birthday.

Happy 28th Travis

28 years ago tonight I saw the Jazz Singer. How do I know? Because it was the night before my cute son Travis was born. Travis was born already having a best friend, Adam. Travis didn't really need to talk, because Adam always told me exactly what he wanted. So, Trav didn't talk early, BUT he walked at 8 1/2 months old and he hasn't stopped yet. Not when he broke his back, broke the growth plate in his toe and didn't tell me it hurt for a week (had to have surgery to repair), got pneumonia, got burned at the age of 6 months over 15% of his body, etc. etc. Yes, it seems everything big happened to Travis. He has a high tolerance of pain and never complained about any of it, however, if he said he hurt, I immediately called the Doctor.
He is the father of my darling granddaughter, Addison. SURPRISE, he is a fabulous loving daddy. He had surprised me at every turn with his devotion, helpfulness and love for this tiny gift from heaven.

Just look at the love and adoration in this face.

He married his true love, Natalie. They are crazy and have fun together. They also make plans for the future. They support and are loving toward each other in ways they don't even realize. On a recent trip, Natalie was so understanding when Travis went swimming and lost the keys to the rental car in the ocean. (That turned out to be an expensive swim.) But then, the next day when Natalie was sick at Disneyland, Trav left with her and stayed with her the entire day instead of returning to play with the rest of us.
I was so proud of Trav when he graduated from nursing school last year. He so enjoys working at Lakeview and McKay Dee in their emergency rooms. One of my finest moments as a mom was when a co-worker had been to the emergency room with her husband and told me what a fabulous job Trav did in taking care of him.
Trav loves his brother and dad. He loves to golf and ride motorcycles and support the Utes with them. Trav has never been a person who loves to be around a lot of people (thanks Papa). One trip to Oregon, we knew he was with us because the food was gone, but we didn't see a lot of Trav. He was reading The Work and the Glory books in his tent. (That was back in the days when everyone called him the prophet. I've never seen a kid so intent on reading scriptures an preparing for a mission.) On vacations as a kid, we'd go on a hike and never see Travis, he just couldn't wait for us slow people. Papa has loved his hikes up the back side of Timp and Angel's Landing in Zions.
I love Trav. As a young kid, he was the one I depended on to help me with everything. He never complains about a job to be done, just shows initiative to do it. He is his own person and doesn't need validation from anyone. He's ambitious, reliable, responsible, funny, and my joy. You're a good man, Charlie Brown. Happy Birthday.