Our last teenager...

I think our kitties love birthdays!! They hang around whenever they see presents.

Miss Andee-Lou turned the wonderful age of 13 last Thursday! We zipped off for a little Spring Break vacation the next day, so I apologize for not getting her birthday post up sooner!

With 3 teenagers living in the house, Jim quickly took his usual position for the opening of presents...
Andrea LOVES orange!!
You can't see it on her face, but she's super excited for this dress!!

Here she is! Miss 13 years old and all grown up!

These 13 years have gone by so quickly. It's hard to believe she's my little baby! We're already on the look-out for boys...

With the three oldest kids off to college this year, I'll be able to spend a lot more time with Andrea (and Riley). I'm looking forward to it!! Andrea loves a lot of the same things that I do... shopping, cooking, scrapbooking, and soon sewing!

So, Happy Birthday dear Andrea! Your family loves you so much. You are one amazing teenager!

What a trip!

Andrea, Marissa, Sis. Dalton, Lexi (Trevor's girlfriend), and Jacquie

I have many posts to upload from our wonderful trip to Utah. This picture is already loaded thanks to my sister-in-law, Suzanne!!

My wonderful nephew Trevor came up with the great idea to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast on Sunday morning. It was awesome and we all loved listening to the choir. It was a big crowd at the Tabernacle. There were many distinguished guests. How lucky for us!! Not only was Pres. Thomas S. Monson there but also Sis. Dalton, the general young women's president. She was so kind to let all the young women get pictures with her. We had to wait a few minutes... but we finally got our shot!!

I was very impressed with Sis. Dalton. She truly radiates loves for each young woman that she came in contact with. It was very fun to watch. I was even more impressed with her sweet husband who stood back and let all these sweet girls monopolize his wife for many, many minutes!! He just watched and smiled.

It was an awesome experience. Thanks Trevor!

The End of an Era

Since my dad's death in August I have had to realize that my childhood home would eventually be sold and become a home for another family. This seems simple, but for me it has been very difficult to accept. I believe that my parents moved into this house around 1958. A very, very long time ago. They were the first owners. The home wasn't built for them, but for a doctor who changed his mind. Along came my parents who had 3 small children at the time...

The rest is history. 3 more children came along. We lived in the small 3 bedroom house for many years before my parents decided they needed more space... the garage was turned into a 'pool' room (to house the pool table) and two bedrooms for the boys. Even later we expanded again to create a HUGE family room (a new home for the pool table!)

This house was a fun place to grow up. The backyard is very large. We had a playhouse and then a tree house. We had an awesome swing set and two very large gardens. We had a hill in our own backyard. It was perfect for sledding and rolling down. It was a pain to mow!!

And, most importantly, we had the coolest kitchen sink ever!! Seriously, every person who comes to our house always marveled over our kitchen sink. It had a blender and a mixer attachment. We used the blender all the time. You pushed buttons to get cold water, hot water, or both!! It still works great!

I'll always love and remember how our house creaked at night-- which usually scared my friends to death during slumber parties!! I'll always remember the weird wood patterns in the kitchen cabinets. I'll always remember looking out the kitchen window when a truck rolled into our front yard. I loved hanging out in the front yard with friends and family. Sleepovers in the backyard were the best. I'll tenderly remember that both of my parents left this earthly existence while in this house, which was what they both wanted.

So thank you house. You were the best home ever. I will miss you but I know that you will be just as awesome for another family.

As Sinatra sang, "Thanks for the memories"

4 days/ 3 nights for 80 bucks!!

Marissa and a few friends recently went on a road trip!! (I admit that I totally stalked her on facebook and stole this picture!!)

Anyway, she and quite a few kids that live near here all participated in the "Give a day, Get a day" Program at Disneyland!! They each made 2 blankets for Project Linus and then got a free day pass for Disneyland!! Indeed this was a call for a college road trip.

Jim spent most of the week stressing over Marissa's safety. They did stay in some rather sketchy hotels... They ate cheaply, piled in cars (and hotel rooms), got small amounts of sleep, and had an awesome time!!

And they did it all for $80 each. Pretty impressive.

Mormal 2010

It's that wonderful time of year... Mormal (The Church Prom for those of you who don't know!) I don't know what part I love more-- doing the hair or taking the pictures. Jacquie and Sara couldn't wait to take these 'fun' pictures.... Possibly my favorite picture- OF ALL TIME- of these two crazy, cute girls!

Priceless!

Here are some girls from the ward with their dates... This is a favorite pose: "Touch somebody's nose!"

Sara, Mitch, Blake, and Jacquie. Aren't they pretty??

Sara and Jacquie... another priceless photo!

They are beautiful. I can't believe Jacquie is all grown up and hitting the final few months of her high school days. The years have gone by much too quickly. I will definately miss her when she heads off to college.

If only I could turn back time. Or at least slow it down a little.

Here's my favorite picture of Jacquie and Blake! I'm sure they will have a blast at the dance :)

Not right...

This is what I think about day after day.

I am, in fact, tired of thinking about it day after day. What I would like is for it to go away!!

I have had a sinus infection for so long I don't remember what life was like before I had it. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic... but it has been for a long, long time. I just started another round of antibiotics. Ick. Those create all sorts of new problems just from popping those pills. Actually pill is an understatement-- they are more like sandwiches. I'm not even kidding. Pretty much the biggest pill I've ever seen in my life.

I keep wishing and hoping this will go away. I even asked the doctor to just take my sinuses out. Who needs them anyway. I surely don't.

I'm off to talk about purses. At least thinking about purses has been a deterrent from thinking about sinuses.

For that, I am grateful. Friday is almost here too. I am super grateful for that!

I promise some decents posts soon.

Help!!

An armadillo??

Very interesting, yes??

Well... I need your help!! This Thursday I am speaking at our ward Relief Society Birthday Celebration. My topic--- PURSuE your PURSE-onal best!!
(Note the 'purse' theme...)

Anyway, do you have any suggestions? Any stories from different times in your life?? What motivates you? What kind of goals do you set? Do you set goals? Do you write them down??

Hurry quick... help me out!!