Happy Birthday Dawn

There is only one woman that I can truly say, out side of my family, that I love with all my heart. She has been my bestest best friend for almost as far back as I can remember. We have had bad times and good times, but we have always had each other.
Dawn, I know it has been a long time since we have been able to actually see each other but I just wanted you to know for your birthday how much I love and admire you. I miss you so much sometimes that you haunt my dreams.
We have been friends for so long I can't remember a child hood memory without you in it. My first memory is of your fourth birthday party. It was a slumber party and I couldn't stay the whole time. But I remember you had this awesome Strawberry Shortcake Cake Mansion that I wanted to play with so bad. Of course there were like fifteen girls there so your mom hid it away. I thought she had to be the meanest lady ever. Then there was the time you stayed at our house for some reason over night and we played Clue like a hundred times. Every time you insisted on being Miss Scarlett so I would secretly slip Miss Scarlett into the file envelope so she would come out as the murderer. You would crack me up over how dramatic your were when you turned up as the killer that I couldn't help doing it over and over. I don't think you ever caught on which made it even funnier. After that our families parted ways for a while when we moved to Houston, but I will never forget that first Sunday we were back in Tyler and we couldn't keep from laughing. From then on we were like Thelma and Louise. Sunday school teachers and Y. W. leaders feared having us in their class. Summers were spent in your swimming pool. Winters spent rivaling over our school football teams. Your mom was like a second mom and your home a second home. I respected your Mom and Dad's opinion just as much as my own. You have had to overcome things that I can never imagine going through at a young age. I will never forget the day your wonderful sweet eccentric Dad departed this world. He was one of the only priesthood examples that I had in my life and is a big reason why I knew I wanted a Temple marriage. You handled it so maturely and with such grace. I will never know what you went through. But I miss him too.
Some more of my favorite memories:
The time you got lost in the airport picking up my cousin Thomas.
The seance we had while listening to the new Puff Daddy song. Needless to say Notorious B.I.G.'s spirit did not come.
The time I had to bail you out of jail.
The time your mom told us about that hilarious trick they played on that girl who was in love with the Beatles.
The time you convinced me to tag along on your date with Chris.
Our nauseating trip to Six Flags.
Our trip with Chad and Jessica to the singles dance in Dallas.
Our crazy all night Fourth of July Party
And soo many more.
Now I look at you and it makes me proud to tell people what you are doing with your life. Sometimes I envy the opportunity you have had to get an education, to fully support yourself for so long. You are so smart and beautiful. I just know that you are going to great things. My life would not be the same if it had not had you in it. I hope that soon you will be closer to me and we can make many more crazy memories.
I have added some songs to the play list on the left side of my blog. They are from some of the movies that played a big part in our entertainment. If you can figure out what movies they are from let me know.. Some are easy if you look at the list so try to get them just by listening. I think it is the first seven songs. Well the first is just a song that brings back fun memories. I think that you get my new posts in your e-mail so you may have to go to my actual blog sight to hear the music. Anyway I love you and miss you and am saving my pennies to get to come see you. I hope you have a wonderful Birthday. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

As a little child

Benny's prayer tonight

"...and please help Jesus to come cause I want to give him a hug."

Catch -Up

Chris had his first test this last week, so me and the boys went to Tyler for a few days to hang out with my mom. She was so sick the last time that we didn't really get to spend anytime with her. It was really nice because it was just me and my kids. In the last three years I have only seen her when I had to share her with all the other kids cause we all planned our vacations together. 5 kids + 12 grand kids + 1 grumpy grandpa= insanity. Anyway we got to take a drive to my Aunt Charlotte's house. The kids had a lot of fun since she lives on a ranch. Caleb scared the cows away from the fence one by one. He also went after her poor miniature Yorkie Olive. I think he was glad to see a dog his size. Olive finally hid on Charlotte's lap, but kept jumping up and watching Caleb everywhere he went. Most likely because she could still food from his hands. Benny had a blast playing in their sand with the Wrestler toy he said had girl hair, but it was okay that some guys had girl hair. Then we went to see Great Grandma Ledavon, who told us Great Grandmas were greater than grandmas like a hundred times. Her memory is getting so bad she even called my mom Charlotte. She loved little Josh though and kept trying to pick him up. I had to stop her cause I don't think picking up that little chunk would have been good for her 85 year old back. Oh how I wish aging wasn't so necessary. I hate seeing my Grandma that way. She was always so smart and witty, and we loved spending summers with her when I was a kid. I also got to get together one day with some old girlfriends from High School. We hadn't seen each other since Benny was a baby. It was really fun to catch up but also sad at the same time to see how different their lives are without the gospel. Hopefully I will plant a little seed. The rest of the week we just hung out and relaxed. I left little surprises hidden all over the house so that Chris wouldn't miss us so bad, but he still did. Soon he will get his exam score and we will know whether he studied enough or needs to study more next time. Cross your fingers.

Busy Busy Busy

I bought this little toy for Caleb when he was six months old. He wasn't quite big enough to figure it out and by the time he got big enough to play with it I couldn't find any of the animals that went to it. I found this really odd because I don't allow my kids to take toys in the car or to friends houses. I am also very good about making sure I know which toys they take out side and that they bring them all back in. This may sound a little anal but those of you who have small kids know that it is hard to explain to a three year old why his favorite toy is gone. So anyway, I searched the house everywhere and could not figure out where they went. The only kids that come over are my sister's kids and a couple of kids from the ward and none of them had seen them. Plus I am pretty good about making sure kids don't leave their toys or take ours when they visit. As you can tell from the picture these are not small toys. It just had me boggled as to where these three animals could have come up missing all together. Well I finally decided I would hang on to the barn till we moved and then hopefully from packing up the entire house I would stumble across them. I didn't. Then Caleb started putting other things on the turn table so I said oh well I will just let him play with it like that and now Joshua is getting old enough. Well after we moved in here Chris finally came up with the idea to get online and order the animals. So I did and they were only two dollars for all three. I was thrilled. They were delivered in less than a week. The kids were so excited to get to play with the new toy. Well keep reading cause it gets better I promise. So in the morning Benny brought me the animals and said hey are these new animals" I said "yes". He said "oh cause they look just like the animals I dropped in the piano". I stopped what I was doing and said "What did you say". He repeated it. I said "show me where you dropped these animals". He said "in the crack in the piano". He took me into our living room and I discovered a secret compartment under my keyboard where all of these animals were hiding. I could not believe it. It just goes to show as soon as you buy a new one you will find the old. Even after a year and a half of searching. Benny said "well that's okay now they have a friend"

In other news I have started taking a cake decorating class. It is a lot of fun. I may not be Martha Stewart but it is quite relaxing just getting away from the kids and doing something fun. I like being creative. Unfortunately I always have a lot of cake around the house; so Chris will be taking a lot of cake to school for his fellow starving peers. Here is my first attempt. I had to use the stuff we learned from our lesson or else I would have chosen to use a different flower. But even so I am proud of my first creation.




I have also been taking a sewing class through our Enrichment groups at church. I recovered my couch pillows and saved 75.00 dollars. Plus I personally like these cushions better than the ones I found at the store.

Three new posts so keep reading

The Amazing Technicoler White Coat

Today we had Chris' White Coat Ceremony. We had to drive all the way to College Station. For you non Texans it is an hour and a half from here. We had to be there by nine so we had to leave at seven ugh! The kids did great though. There were about two hundred Students in his class and out of all two hundred we had the most kids, so of course we stood out like the Partridge Family at a white collar country club. It was fun though. Chris had his own cheering section. When he got his coat the boys yelled "go Daddy" and everyone ahhed and giggled.

Afterwards I had several complete strangers come up to us and inquire about our family. Lots of praise for me it was a big ego boost;) Although there was one old snippy lady sitting in front of us that kept sneering and plugging her ear when Joshua would playfully shrill or as I like to say cheer for his dad. When she finally said I needed to take him to the side I of course politely replied, " We have worked really hard to be here to see this so you go stand on the side". Okay maybe not so polite. Anyway, I ended up going to the side to take a picture and after Benny saw Daddy come down from the stage he ran through the rope to go sit with him. So yes that is the back of Benny's head sitting with the newly knighted students.

During closing remarks Benny tooted and said "Daddy I farted" and all the girls around him giggled. What a ham. Surprisingly there were about fifty girls in his class. I think our kids might get a little spoiled when we have group gatherings. After wards Chris' parents took us out for lunch and we bought some A&M shirts. Chris is really getting into the Aggie mode. I on the other hand cringe whenever they Howdy Aggs. I feel so Redneck, oh well I guess I gotta get used to Texas again. Chris also got a gift from my parents; his first stethoscope,which he won't actually need till December but they were unable to come and wanted to do something nice. It saved us a pretty penny so we are grateful. Thanks to both our parents for all their love and support.


I know I will be calling on you much more through out the next four years.



Sorry some of the shots are bad. The lighting was horrible.

My Boys Lately

Warning:

If you have any doubt that your kid is the cutest you should not view these pictures. Some side affects may occur, such as uncontrollable grinning, sudden distaste for your own child, urge to go out and by a cute outfit for your child to try and make them cuter, or in severe cases the urge to vomit when you think of having more kids.

Pioneer Day Celebration in our home town

Chris competing in the pie eating contest.

Benny and Esther with her new pixie haircut (now they really look like twins).

Mallory(my oldest brothers girl in the blue at the front), Esther(in the skirt),and Emma(in pink shirt and pants) competing in the tug of war. I think their side won.

My oldest brothers older daughter Ashley and Ephraim