So many candles, so little cake!

It was a fun start to my birthday ... only Steve and Heather got it right as to when it was - not even me! It made it more fun to have it sneak up and get gifts in the mail and surprise phone calls alerting me to another year expired.

Steve put a great party together having all the kiddos come over and he slaved on preparing a great Italian feast (Amores - perfect!). He knows my favorite is to hang with the fam and chat with the girls on the phone, so it was the best!


During the feast, Steve got the group taking turns in looking back to "roast" some great memories and share a lot of laughs! We truly have had rich years and continues to be a joy having so much family around with great love for each other!

I'm not so sure I'm happy to add another year but the pamper night and gifts were so fun! I really felt the love - thanks y'all!

Steve had another trick up his sleeve and sent me on a treasure hunt. After looking in the longhorn head, drawer and jet ski, the real prize was in the bike trailer ... yep, my very own dirt bike! I was shocked and sure this must be a new bike for Steve under the pretense of my birthday, but no ... it's mine! It came with all the gear ... helmet, bulky riding boots, pants, gloves, the works to protect the bod! What a night!


"Live life in crescendo! ~ Stephen R. Covey ~
The more candles you add, the bigger the cake has to get! But a school lunch pan of homemade german chocolate cake is never too much ... thanks, Chris! xo

Back Home in Ouachita!

It was great to get back to our favorite Lake Ouachita in Arkansas! It is one of my happy places (both literally and when my mind needs to go somewhere)! Always smooth water somewhere, good food and camping (hardly camping this time!), family, games, giggles and long lazy days.







Abby joined the ranks of slalom skiers! We could do a fun montage of graceful falls trying to drop a ski! She gave up on that and just got up on a single! Yippee!


(I got home with only 100 or so pics so this does not necessarily reflect the best of the best. Todd and Andy have the remaining few thousand on their laptops, so there may be future posts on this. Andy, can you post the pics of our island for the girls to see? xo)

Rambling thoughts for surviving the storm ...

It's been a busy summer with a lot of comings and goings, family visits, birthday parties, babies growing up and all the daily stuff. It's a joy to have the little people under foot and reminds me many times of when our big ones were little and how hectic the days can be. Once you're a "mom" the daily needs consume ... balanced meals, creative stimulation, survival skills, offense and defensive protection ... and certainly no self-indulgence time. Some days you just wish the sun could be the moon, for just a minute.

But it is a blink! These hundreds of selfless acts of service are molding your family into men and women of strength and confidence, joy and peace, understanding, kindness, faith ... all the things you are praying for them to be. Sometimes I miss being in the eye of the storm, yet see from a different view now where the air seems clearer and easier to breathe. So grateful I had the blind faith to find peace in the storm and know "this too shall pass," therefore my mantra became, 'find joy in EACH day.'

So in watching our young families in the eye of the storm, I often smirk with familiarity as it's the same story. Yet in this season (gwamma), we no longer walk in blind faith, but know the Lord DOES build men and women of light (as witnessed in Andy, Todd, Heather and Ashley). I am grateful for the power of the family circle and our responsibilities to it no matter which station we occupy. He is a wise Heavenly Father to give us family support to lift when one is down, (or pull down when one is too high), and to carry one anothers burdens. It is continued joy for us!

So young ones, just be the sun. The moon comes out ... eventually. xo












"In these preparatory years, you young women spend much of your time in schools or jobs where you receive accolades, honors, awards, ribbons or trophies. When you move from that stage to young motherhood, there is a dramatic drop-off in outside commendation. Yet in no other capacity is there more opportunity to serve selflessly as Christ would do by taking care of hundreds of daily physical, emotional and spiritual needs. You will bring the light of the gospel into your homes -- not to be seen of others, but to build others -- men and women of strength and light."
~Susan W. Tanner ~

Education Week in Provo!

Couldn't wait to get off the plane and up the mountains!

We took the little hike at the top of Sundance to get a sequel to pics from years ago with Riley. It is a wicked little slippy slide on the way down!

Katie was a great study buddy and fun to share our treasures of learning together. It was a privilege to just listen and learn this week without a lot of responsibility...felt like a teenager again(except with the desire to learn this time!) Norlene hooked in for a few days of class and it was great to catch up on the news and remember how much I miss her! The week was full of serendipities running into different people on campus, hanging with our Music Friends and sucking in as much of the beautiful mountains as I could! God's great tender mercies!
We timed it just perfect to see Rebecca and Zavior in Utah too! He is adorable and at such a fun poser stage! So cute!

Pilot Andy

I was having a bit of buyers remorse on my camera because it is quite a bit larger than I want to be packing around, but it hasn't taken a bad shot yet! Today sealed the deal when I went to take pics of Pilot Andy! He's flying past me and the camera is great to freeze frame and shoots at 6 1/2 frames/second. It gives me a lot of extra pictures to delete but at least you know you're not going to miss the golden shot.

This is his Nilla plane and I'm tickled proud he knows what every one of these buttons mean and when to pull them! I taxied down with him from the hanger to the runway and then got out to be his paparazzi, armed with a radio to hear him communicate with the airport. His take offs and landings were perfect and it was great fun to share in his hobby. I can't wait until he can take passengers cuz I'm ready to go!

Lazy days of summer

Marking Generations

Ernie and Germaine rolled into town for a few days and it was fun to catch up on their life and relax swimming, playing cards, eating cream puffs and stage some generation shots.



This face shows the delight of cream puffs!