Monday, April 28, 2008

Birthday Wishes for another dear friend!

Here's a little birthday shout to another truly amazing example and friend in my life that I couldn't live without! Here are a few fun things I love about Nelle Belle!

1. She exudes energy from every little pore in her body! Always positive and happy!
2. She is a true people person and genuinely cares about everyone she meets! She will start a conversation with a total stranger and in 10 minutes they will have related their life story and written her into their will!
3. She has a fantastic memory. Her mom must have taken a lot of gingko when she was in the whom because she is great at remembering dates! She can recall most anyone's birthday, anniversary, etc!
4. She too has PHENOMENAL handwriting (I think this is a fettish of mine or something)...but if you've ever seen it, you know what I'm talking about. It's a work of art!
5. Watching Grease as teenagers and laughing to tears every time John Travolta smacks the kid in the face with the catchers mask-and having Amb rewind it 10 times and laugh hysterically each time. She has the most contagious laugh!
6. Looking fabulous and fresh at all times with no makeup required! She has a beautiful complexion and I am so jealous she is a redhead that can get a TAN!
7. She is great at making wonderful, new descriptive words for things, coming up with fun nicknames for people, etc. I don't know quite how to explain this, but it is a riot! At one point she had her own version of Spanish and everything had an 'el' in front if it when she would describe things. (PS she gave us both the same nickname as teenagers...and it would confuse the heck out of our families when we were younger...funny).
8. Determination...when she sets her mind to something, no matter how hard the task...she is one to get it done, no matter how long it takes. She is not easily discouraged.
9. Lucky! She has great faith and an unwavering testimony and things generally turn out for her even if the odds are unsurmountable! (Ok..so maybe that's not lucky, just very blessed because of her righteousness, but still) It is amazing! For example, the moment she decides to move to some crazy locale, some distant relative has a friend that has a cousin that needs a house-sitter in the exact city they are moving to...that's how things work for her. It is crazy!
10. This gal is charismatic and adventurous! She is not afraid to decide to take a vacation and fly out of the country the next week, decide in 20 minutes to drive cross-country for a 24 hour visit with a friend, etc. She gets a hair-brained idea and flies with it. She is exciting to be around!

I could go on and on, but you all know all of this about her anyways. So
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I love you Amb!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!

I am just getting around to posting BIRTHDAY WISHES for our sweet little Alex! Her birthday was a few days ago and we had a little party for her on Sunday to celebrate with the fam. It was a lot of fun and Alex really loved opening her presents and playing with all the balloons!
Gotta love the Buddha Belly!

She wasn't so sure about the cake at first, but she loved the frosting! (Notice the chunks of pink frosting and sprinkles in her hair. It was crustified the rest of the day! We had to have a serious bath that night to get it all out.


Tuesday, April 15, 2008

TAX SEASON IS OVER!

Wahoo! I could sing from the rooftops!...but I'll spare the neighbors the ear trauma for now. We aren't completely out of the clear...Jared still has a bunch of quarterlies to do before the end of the month, but it won't be quite as crazy as the last little bit. So in celebration, Sam got to stay up late and they made paper airplanes and flew them through the house. I know-sounds boring-but they had a blast (Jared trying to engineer the perfect paper flying machine, and Sam trying to master the art of not throwing or airplane into an abrupt nose-dive). She wouldn't let us throw the airplanes away either...they are lovingly in her desk drawer for later use.
She was very concentrated...notice the tongue sticking out.

It's a little blurry, but Sam actually got this one to fly pretty well!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Birthday Wishes to a dear friend!

This gal is truly amazing and I feel so incredibly blessed to have her in my life! Here are a few things I love and cherish about this phenomenal woman!
  1. A grateful heart and a loving smile at all times (along with great hugs)
  2. Compassion and an earnest interest in the welfare of everyone around her
  3. SMARTS and dedication...this is a girl who knows how to learn and accomplishes every task or project to perfection!
  4. A spiritual giant in every fashion of the word
  5. What a world traveler! (I live vicariously through you in this area for now...so don't quit!)
  6. Warm Tang and saltines on the way to school in the green van (and blaring Ben Harper)
  7. A perfectly straight, white, sparkly smile (doesn't she look like a model in the above picture!)
  8. Fantastic hair at all times-short or long-and she doesn't have to do a thing (so jealous)! I just had a flashback to middle school with the cute shoulder-length bob and the carefully curled, selectively placed ringlets around your entire head-it was cutting edge!
  9. Classy taste in everything from shoes to jewelry
  10. Perfect handwriting...I know this sounds funny, but if you ever get anything written by her, you will know what I'm talking about...every letter is perfectly formed and scripted and STRAIGHT. It is incredible! It should be made into a font...it would be called Timeless Annie or something.
Anywho, enough rambling. This doesn't even do her justice!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
wishes to you love!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Quarantine!

Ok...so we are officially on quarantine at our house. Nobody come by or you might get "the plague"! We are going on day 7 of the gomboo and I am pretty darn tired of fevers, diarrhea and vomiting. Alex has had it terrible (thank heavens she's still in diapers) and Sam decided to try it out on Sunday, but thankfully seems to have bypassed the worst of it. And of course...Jared decided to come down with it a week before the tax deadline. Eek. I am just praying for a hall pass on this one! Wish me luck!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Driving (me crazy)

Today it was nice enough we went to the park with some friends. It's supposed to hit 60 today. Wahoo...we're ready for warm weather. This was our conversation as we went out the door:

Sam: Mom, I'll drive the car to the park.
Mom:
Oh, really...
Sam:
You can ride in my carseat. It is big.
Mom:
Gee...thanks.

I'm a little scared of the day she will actually be able to drive! Eek! My youngest sister just got her license a couple days ago and man it's crazy how time flies (and a little scary!).On the Hog-March 2007