Happy Birthday to my sweetheart!

Today Mike turns 48!  We are exactly 3 months apart...so I like to tease him about being older than me for just 3 short months! Gosh!  Can you believe it?  We are actually growing old together and guess what?  It is rather fun! 

Last night Bryce made this beautiful cake for his Dad as we celebrated

with good food, family and fun!

So, today we can relax and just enjoy being together as a family on this special day of the year!   Good thing it is Sunday because I know if he had it his way he would be celebrating by working on the house! 

 But instead he will be relaxing and enjoying the Sabbath day.

So, happy birthday to the man who is our everything!

And just to name a few:

Loving Husband

Great Dad

Great Cook

Hard Worker

Great Craftsman

Honest

Great Leader

Strong Priesthood Holder

Full of Integrity

Determined

Kind and Loving

Faithful and Strong

And just plain ol' good to the core!

Happy Birthday Honey!

We love you so much!

Eddie Spaghetti your meatballs are ready!

Yep! That's what we would always say to him!

Today is my brother Eddie's birthday!  He is one year older than me and we are both getting closer and closer to being over the hill!  However, the older we get the wiser we get...right?  I sure hope so!  I have been thinking about Eddie so much lately. 

He will probably never see this post but that doesnt really matter because I love him just the same and I dont want to ever forget how special he is to our family. 

This picture shows him and his daughter Tabbatha many years ago.  Tabbatha is turning 20 next week!  She was probably around 5 or 6 at this time.  Life flies by so fast doesnt it?  But for right now I want to just call out a big I LOVE YOU to my big brother Eddie.  Eddie was always the life of the party when we were little.  He loves to dance and sing (all the Stephenson's love to sing), play guitar and just be silly. He is a great basketball player(even tho he only stands at 5'7 or 8") and was a great wrestler in high school.  Eddie used to love to hide in dark shadows in the house and then jump out and scare us...Oh I hated that when I was young...(still hate it when Bryce does it to me). He is quite the handy man and is great at working on cars. Eddie is a very tender-hearted and loving brother.  He is one of a kind and is passionate and determined to survive whatever life throws at him.  I love him to pieces and look forward to seeing him again when we get back to California.  Eddie Spaghetti, your meatballs are ready!

A dancer in the family

Well, Bryce is taking a dance class now.  He really wanted to learn how to do Hip Hop.  So, we went to a nearby dance studio where they teach all different kinds of dancing and he tried a Hip Hop class and left feeling extremely frustrated.  He did see a couple of friends from school there who were also taking a ballroom dance class.  So, he decided to try that the following week.  And bingo!  He loved it!  They have been teaching him the waltz and also some swing dancing.  He comes home each week and shows me some of his new moves.  Mike and I are so excited to see Bryce become better and better at this.  It is so fun to watch and even more fun to do.  I really hope he keeps up with it.  I know it will prove to bless him the rest of his life!   

Hogge Fun

One of the best things about moving to Utah when we did is that even though we left all of our friends back in California, it seems that a lot of the kids that my kids have grown up with are now coming out this way to go to school.

For instance, our good friends the Hogges!  They are some of our favorite people that live in Sacramento. However, their kids are getting older and leaving for College now, and guess where they are going? NO, not BYU Provo, but they are going to BYU Idaho and Kelsey is living here in Utah. So, last weekend we had 3 of them over on Sunday after church and they spent the night and stayed til Monday.

We had a blast! (their parents are just as crazy as I am...so it works well when we all get together) The Hogge family knows how to party...I was exhausted...but a good kind of exhausted of course.  And we ate and ate and ate....seriously. 

We took these picture for Michael in Australia

And these for Adam in Argentina

Michael and Adam are best friends and will be reunited soon!

We cant wait!

One thing about the Hogge's is that they are always so helpful.

Nicole and Katie helped Bryce make dinner while I layed on the couch.

And Kelsey helped Stephen do the dishes.

 Kelsey tried to get Stephen up out of bed after his nap.

I had a blast taking lots of cute pictures of the kids.

My boys were in heaven....the girls dote all over them and they love it!

This was the highlight for Mike of course!

I made breakfast at 10:00 on Monday before the girls packed up to leave and go back to Ogden and Idaho. It was so nice to have girls around again.

We absolutely LOVE The HOGGE FAMILY!!

Some people just cant be replaced!!!

Come back again girls anytime!

And next time bring the rest of the family with you!!

 

EFY 2004 - DUSTIN GLEDHILL - ONE VOICE

In honor of Elder Nelson's birthday yesterday...
Here is the song he sang at his farewell 18 months ago!
Have a beautiful Sabbath Day!

Happy Birthday Elder Nelson

Today Elder Nelson turns 21!  Can you believe it? I can't.

It's just too weird.  I love this picture because it shows so many

of the realities of what he is all about these days as he serves the Lord

in Australia.  Living like a Missionary.  Love the green chair and the leopard

print curtains especially and as a final touch the American flag he is holding.

Way to go Michael.  We are so proud of the man you have become.

Happy Birthday!  We love you!

Elder Larry R. Lawrence - Courageous Parenting

Just reviewed this talk given at the last General Conference.
It is an excellent talk! If you have kids...you must listen!