Today was Chad’s BIG Birthday. He has been dreading it for a year now, he even had a dream about it and it wasn’t a good one. He sincerely asked me to keep his birthday low key and to not make a bid deal out of it. So I really tried to honor his wishes. Two weeks ago we went out to dinner, dessert, and movie that he wanted to see, that is what he wanted to do and we really had a great time.

His Mom has been planning on coming out since I think Easter we first talked about it. So we were able to keep it a secret and she got here today and surprised him!! It really meant a lot to him!! She took him to get the gift that he really wanted, it was great to see him smile and be so happy!! He has dreaded this day for so long, it was nice to see that he was able to relax and enjoy himself.

His Aunt Jo also surprised him and showed up to go to dinner with us. Mom surprised him with going to his favorite place to eat (and where we don’t get to very often) Tacono’s Brazilian Grill, then to the Hotel for a dip in the pool. She brought out our Nephew Tyler, and we had the boys (they love Grandma and was excited to see her and share in Uncle Chad’s Birthday),

the three of them were really good!!

I was amazed at how much Chris ate…WOW!! He tried EVERYTHING that Uncle Chad did!! What a trouper,
HE LOVED IT TOO!!

It was a fun packed day for the boys; Grandma took them to lunch and the park before we went to pick up Uncle Chad from work. And now they are all having a “sleep over” in the House tent in the Living Room…. Wow that’s a lot in one day for little boys :)
They are SO HAPPY!! And have had a BLAST ALL day!!

I love you Chad, I’m glad that you had a great day!! You survived and it wasn’t so bad :) It has been my pleasure to share 12 Birthdays with you; I hope that we have MANY, MANY MORE!!
Some of the things that I LoVe you for, see in you, and admire in you are;
You have an amazing heart and capacity to love.
You have the ability to make people smile and laugh,
especially me.
You can make a serious and tense situation lighter with a joke or a funny poke at something no one would have seen.
You try new things and have an adventurous soul and spirit.
You are able to take risks, even when it scares me to death.
You are always supportive of me.
There are so many more, Thank you Chad for being in my life and heart. Thank you for staying with it and us. Thank you for loving me. I hope that the next ½ of our lives are filled with Joy, Happiness, Fun, Everything you hope and wish for, and above all LOVE!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!

He danced!! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!! He was GREAT!!

That's our Chad!!

I just had to share my shopping experience.. I feel kind of badly I have two other posts that I’ve been working on, but I just had to do this one real quick!!
Most everyone knows that I’ve been working the coupons and have had to be very careful and frugal with our spending and that includes our groceries… Well tonight I just back (a little bit ago) and got all that’s in this picture ($64.02 worth of groceries) for $8.58. I was expecting to save $3 off of that but miss figured a little. But I mean really how in the world can I not still be happy with this trip?? I was TOTALLY out of cereal, the boys (including Chad) are going to be so happy in the morning :). Oh I guess I should say that I saved $55.44 on this trip hehehe…

Incase you can’t see it it’s:
6- boxes of Cereal
2- 6 bag boxes of Popcorn
6- boxes of Mac N Cheese (Great for lunches once in a while since we can’t have it for dinner with Chad’s new schedule, but it’s great because I don’t have to make as much bread…like that)
2- boxes of Taco Shells
3- cans of Refried Beans
1- bottle of Hot Sauce
AND DON'T FORGET 2- Ben and Jerry's Ice Creams.. I got each of our favorites... yummy treat for sure!!
Not bad, I figure I’ve got 6 lunches for .50c each and 2 dinners for $1.00 each (since I have the meat) not to mention weeks of free breakfasts!!! …

TOTALLY worth the time to coupon shop!!!!!

I think I will sleep with a smile tonight!!

So as I was sitting here thinking about what I wanted to post next… I have so many that I would like to do and want to do. So in all my reflecting I decided that since I have done a tribute to Mom and my Sisters that it would be fitting to finish one that I started in April for my Dad.

This was taken just weeks before Dad passed

On the morning of April 9, 1975 our Father kissed us good bye, promised me a ride the next time he went out, and left for the airstrip. He never returned. You see he promised me the ride because I was suppose to go with him that morning he was flying a group to a meeting and at the last minute they had an addition the their group and there was no room for me any longer. I was really upset that he wasn’t going to take me, I was use to going everywhere with Dad. I was upset for a minute until I realized that I was going to get a trip just the two of us. This was the third miracle in my life, the first was the day that Mom and Dad took me home from the hospital and the second the day they took me to the Temple to be sealed to them and a member of this most complex and WONDERFUL family. That was the last time that we were with Dad, the plane crashed and all of our lives changed forever. It was a really hard time for ours and the other families along with loosing our loved ones it took them 2 ½ months to find the wreck site, only then did the closure have a chance to start, and many years latter (for some) for the healing to begin. My sisters have a hard time because they can’t remember; I have a hard time because I do.

Our Dad was an amazing man and for the short 4 years and 11 months that he was a Father he was amazing in that roll too. He left a lifetime impression on all of us and then went on to finish his life’s mission on the other side. We were all blessed to have him and his example in our lives no matter the length of time.

My wish and hope is that I can and will be the daughter, sister, wife, and woman he would have wanted me to be.

This was taken of us three girls just after Dad passed

This is one of mine and my sister Kristel’s favorite pictures it reminds us of the three of us when our father past. How old (well close) and innocent we were at that time.

One of the posts that I have wanted to do for quite some time now is this one….

I love my siblings very much, and there is something that can be said about the bond that SISTERS share. I wanted to dedicate this post to my Sisters… I hope that they don’t mind sharing it with my “other sisters” as well.
I am a very lucky person to first have two sisters that mean the world to me. We have been through a lot together, both good and not so good. I LOVE them both so much!! They are two of my best friends. I want nothing but the best for both of them!! And true happiness!!

I am also very lucky to be surrounded by people that really care about me. How amazing it is to have people like this in my life. I know that both of my sisters also have these kinds of “Sisters” in their lives. I think, -no- I know that we are all BLESSED to be able to share our lives with such people. It’s also refreshing and reassuring since all three of us live apart from each other, to know there is someone out there that is caring for your sister the way you would if you were there and could do it yourself. In every way these are OUR Sisters sharing our lives with us!!

So this is for all of OUR SISTERS out there… for all that you do and are to each of us!!

To a Special Sister
Author: unknown

A sister is one of the nicest things
that can happen to anyone.
She is someone to laugh with and share with,
to work with and join in the fun with.
She is someone who helps in the rough times,
and knows when you need a warm smile.
She is someone who will quietly listen,
when you just want to talk for a while.
A sister is dear to you always,
for she is someone who is always a part
of all the favorite memories
that you keep very close to your heart.

This is the three of us two years ago, one of my favorites.

Ok so now I am VERY officially behind in journaling our lives. So I am going to try and catch up some over the next week or so. I have started many posts and have just not been able to finish them up. I’m not going to do some of the ones back from March and not going to count them as I was...too overwhelming… I’m just going to post what I know that I’ve wanted to, and go through my pictures and do my best to journal what we have been up to. I have some older ones and some newer ones. I’m not going to apologize for being behind (again); I’m just going to take pleasure in getting caught up. :)

I am getting close to my 100th post, I have decided to post some of my thoughts and have been writing it over the past few weeks. (I don’t put any thought in to it all of this at all…lol… like WAY TOO MUCH…lol)

Hope someone enjoys them, and if not… I guess they aren’t reading anymore… I just want to have a record of our lives and a record for the boys… if anyone gets any pleasure out of it, then I have accomplished something that I have always wanted and strived for my entire life…

***to make someone a little happier, a smile on their face, or their life a little better or brighter***
I guess that is my personal mission statement…. Wow… that is an a-hah moment… that has been on my list of things to do for FOREVER!!... and there it is, just spilled out here in my ramblings. My mission statement!!
THANKS DEAR FRIENDS!!!

I just updated the Scripture of the day side bar post…

and WOW I really like this weeks scriptures!!

Very appropriate for this week.

I would have to say that the 10th-14th I LOVE!!!

May 10

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.Proverbs 31:28

May 11

Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.D&C 88:118

May 12

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.Psalm 113:9

May 13

And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times.Alma 7:23

May 14

God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.Genesis 21:6 (Ok… so is that me or what.. :) ..lol..

*I haven’t written for a while, there is much going on in our lives and I will catch things up when time permits. However I have really felt for some time that I needed to post a tribute to my Mom. I still haven’t really allowed myself to mourn and heal from her loss. Maybe for me this will help a little to write a few things on her behalf.

*May 13th has many meanings for our family. One is my Birthday and one is the day our Mother passed away and finally was reunited with our Father who passed 28 years earlier.
Six years ago my Mom, Sister, and her boyfriend were on their way here to surprise me for my Birthday. Mom always preferred to travel at night. They left California after work and drove straight through the night. Mom had just got done resting as they pulled off the road and switched drivers. 10 miles latter just outside of Nephi, they were involved in a one car accident. The car rolled several times and Mom was thrown from the car.

I woke up at 5 am that morning, and was very unsettled with no idea why. At 5:30 I received a call from my sister and the first thing out of my lips was what’s wrong and what’s happened.

Our lives were changed forever.

Mom always wanted to return to Utah, she was born in Provo. Here are a few of the things that I, and I believe all of us, feel were blessings about her passing when and were she did,

since it was her time to return "home".
~Mom was here so I was able to take care of her needs. She wasn’t at “home” where we know what she wanted would not have been taken into consideration.
~Her and Dad were FINALLY together (celebrating my Birthday in each other’s arms), which is all she had wanted for 28 years other than raising her children.
~We were all finally in good places in our lives so she knew she could leave and we would be ok. Her “JOB” here on this earth had been completed. She had recently made peace with many things in her life and with her children. She had just shared some precious words with me in March, 2 months earlier. She finally felt that she had all her children back within her arms and her family was reunited.
~I was able to take her home to California and lay her to rest next to her ETERNAL SOUL MATE, and did so without her having to fly. Dad died in a plane crash and Mom was TERRIFIED to fly and would have been very upset with me had I not been able to do that.
~She was with family from the moment she passed until the moment we closed the casket.
~Our sister and her boyfriend were not injured beyond emotional scars and a few scratches. A TRUE MIRACLE!!!!..
~Mom was driving; our dear sister doesn’t have to live with a guilt such as that would have been.

~Mom passed immediately and didn’t suffer.
~Mom was able to return to her Heavenly Father and finally have the peace that she had desired, searched for, and needed for so long. Now she can complete the next phase of her life and move forward with her eternal progression.

I know that she is watching over us and giving me added strength to continue her role as the matriarch of our family.

I LOVE YOU MOM !!
THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU GAVE EACH OF US!! YOURSELF!!

Here is a copy of a “tribute” I framed for each of us kids (and on her program)… From Mom and me…

The Author is Unknown..

Good-Night Dear Mother

Hello Dear Mother!
I came to say Good Night,,
I know it’s not good –Bye,
Because of God’s Promise
I’ll see you in His devine light,
And to You Dear Mother,
I can truly say, I was Blessed the day
God placed me in the folds of your loving
way.
It breaks my heart to think of the time
We’ll be apart.
You’ll always be in my thoughts each and
Every day.
And so Dear Mother,
I just want to hold your presence tight,
As God in all His wisdom takes you on
Your heavenly flight.
God gave me these words so I could
See the light;
And so Dear Mother
No, it’s not Good-Bye!

It’s only Good-Night