And To Think, I Didn't Even Have To Bribe Her To Say It!!

Lauren told me today that she and all of her friends think I'm the coolest mom around....

Let me repeat that, in case you weren't paying attention:

I'M THE COOLEST MOM AROUND!!

Wow....I mean, who'da thunk it? (That's cool talk, in case you didn't know!)

Of course, that will almost definitely change by tomorrow, but I'll take it today!!!

Life Changing News!!!

May I please have your attention for this extremely important announcement:

My wonderfully awesome and amazingly brilliant (did I also mention perfectly gorgeous?) daughter Katie has followed in my footsteps and launched her very own blog!! TA-DA!!!! I told you it was extremely important!!

You can find her over at Katie's Korner and I know you will enjoy reading it as much as I do. Please "follow" her and join in the fun.

You are very welcome!!!

Florida Or Bust!! (part one)

Our trip to Florida was almost six months in the making.  Our family had talked about heading to Orlando for years, but it finally came together last Fall.  We knew that Ryan had this big trial coming up, so we wanted to go on a great family vacation after he put in all of that hard work.  We knew we would need that family time, and I'm so grateful for the memories we made.  It turns out, however, that we went on our trip BEFORE the big trial, but that's OK, it all worked out in the end!

When we first arrived in Orlando, someone was nice enough to take care of our luggage for us....by taking it home with them!!  We had to wait until the next day to get it back, but were relieved when we finally had our stuff back!  What a way to start off our trip!

We went with my parents, my sisters Denise and Kaylee, and my brother.  We all stayed in a great condo and had a ball!  You would think that being on vacation for eleven days would prove taxing, but it wasn't!  We were all sad when the trip was over. During our almost two week trip, we went to all of the Disney Parks, Universal Studios, and Kennedy Space Center. We had a fantastic time at each place! I will share the highlight of each day with you.


Our first stop was Disney's Animal Kingdom.  It's part zoo, part Disney theme park.  Our first stop was to ride the Safari ride.  You are loaded into big trucks and drive out to the Savannah where there are all kinds of animals right outside the vehicle: warthogs, giraffes, elephants, alligators, and a bunch of others!  It was neat! 

 

After the Safari, we spotted a few other "wild creatures" in the park.  Here are a few examples:

There were SO many great shows at each of the parks, but I think the best were all at Animal Kingdom.  We saw a Finding Nemo show that was just darling and also a Lion King show.  It had acrobats and wonderful singing.  Katie and Lauren even got to join the show at the end!

Grandpa Dennis zipped around on a scooter, but sometimes, he had an extra passenger....

Some silly parts of the day....

This was the Dinosaur ride and I HATED it!!  See me in the picture cowering in my seat?  This gigantic robotic dino was after me!! AAAAHHHH!

We found this chain doorway and tried to make our heads float in the chains, but it didn't really work.

This is, of course, Ethan being silly....as usual!

Some of our favorites in Animal Kingdom were Everest, an awesome roller coaster that shoots you backwards, The Finding Nemo show, the BBQ place we ate at for lunch, and the Safari ride.  We had a great day at Animal Kingdom!!

Grandma

Wow! Time just keeps getting away from me!  With Ryan practically living at the office for the past seven weeks, I've been too busy being the mom AND dad to blog.  I can't wait for this trial to be over and have him back!

I have been working on our Florida trip posts for weeks now, but Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload my pictures!  So frustrating!!  I will keep trying if you promise to keep being patient with me!

However, today I am thinking about one of the greatest women I have ever known.  In a lot of ways, she saved me.  She is a part of who I am and know that she influenced me for good in so many ways.  I'm talking about my Grandma Joyce. Today would have been her birthday.  She has been gone almost a year now. 

 

She wasn't always my grandma, however.  That's one of the things that I love most about her.  She kinda applied for the job.  Denise and I were two little rugrats living with my Dad and in need of some daily motherly influence.  Along came my step mom and I'm sure when she stepped back to look at the situation, she knew she was getting into a crazy situation.  My dad was hurting from his separation and divorce from my mom, and was overwhelmed with twin toddlers.  But my sweet grandma KNEW that we needed a mom and that her daughter was it.  Both my mom and grandma took us under their wings and have loved us unconditionally ever since.

My meager words can't begin to adequately express my feelings for her.   I began a blog post about her last summer after she past away, but couldn't get the words out...it was just too emotional. Emotions are still close to the surface when I think about her and miss her often.  Here are a few thoughts and memories I have of my dear grandma:

--I NEVER felt like a "step kid" around her. 

--She made me feel so special, even though I was only one of eight grandkids.

--She would always tell me how smart I was.

--She encouraged me almost daily to write things down as they happen because inevitably, I would forget them....she was so very right.

--Her house was so fun.  We spent countless hours as kids playing with her, with her toys, and in her yard.  We loved to do art projects at her house and she never seemed to have enough pencils.  One year, I BEGGED my mother to help me get her a huge bouquet of pencils for Christmas to keep at her house.  I will never forget her smile when she opened that gift.

--She was so soft spoken.  I never heard her raise her voice to anyone, ever.  I wish I had been influenced by her in this area a little more.  She treated everyone kindly.

--She kept EVERYTHING!  I mean, it took us three days to go through everything in her house after the funeral.  I found pictures of flowers that I colored for her decades ago and plates we painted on when I was very little. She had even saved my red crayon cup that I always had to drink from when I was little. There was also a large stash of toys meant for my kids that she never got around to giving them. 

--She always had a camera in her hand.  We used to tease her about taking the same pictures of the Sunday Dinner or the card game every week for years.  When we cleaned out her house, I filled my entire SUV with all of the pictures she had taken over the decades!  It has taken me almost a year to go through all of them and I have shed many a happy and sad tear over all of the memories she captured.  Even after her death, I felt her love for the little things in life.  She always focused on what was really important.

--She was a great cook.  My favorite was her stuffing on Thanksgiving. She also always had a yummy treat waiting for us when we would visit her house.

--She was a talented cake decorator.  I was the only grandchild who got a wedding cake decorated by her, because her hands hurt too much later in life.  It was such a beautiful cake and I feel so privileged for that wonderful opportunity.

--During her later years, she would get confused about where she was, but when I would visit her, she continued to ask about my kids and how they were doing. She genuinely cared about me and my family.

She taught me so much about unconditional love and acceptance.

There are so many more thoughts and memories of my wonderful grandma, but this is a good start.  One last thing I will always treasure is knowing I had the privilege of saying goodbye to her.  My mom and aunts had moved her into an assisted living home a few weeks before my trip to Paris last year.  She was going downhill pretty fast and I worried about her while on my trip.  The day after I came home, I went and saw her.  She was in bad shape and she passed away very early that next morning.  I am so grateful that she somehow knew I wanted to see her one last time and that she waited for me until I returned home before leaving this life.  How I love her even more for that!!

Grandma Joyce will always have a very special place in my heart, and I know that she is now one of my guardian angels helping me through this crazy mortal life.  How wonderful it is at this Easter time, to KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that my Savior died for all of us so that we can all live again!!  I can't wait to wrap my arms around her again!  Until then, Happy Birthday, Grandma!!  I will always love you!!

Does It Sing Or Sew?

My Singer sewing machine was out on the table today when Braiden became very interested in the name.

"Why is it a 'Singer' and not a 'Sewer'?"