BACK to school...

Dare I say this is a very

BITTERSWEET

moment for me tonight...

to say that we are only a few hours of sending our kids

BACK TO SCHOOL!

We have had so many amazing experiences over these last 2 weeks,

and it is hard to believe it is over.

During this time I had SEVERAL amazing Christmas gifts. I thought I would share them tonight as a reminder of 

the JOY I felt this holiday season and why I feel a sense of sadness that it is already over.

1.  I got to celebrate Christmas DAY with my four children and husband.

Family is always FIRST so for me so a FULL day with them is the best gift I can have.

We started the day opening presents...

with everyone being "happy" with the gifts they received.

Ron loves anything Duck Dynasty!

 We eventually spent the day at the movies...

and as tradition would have it we finished off our Christmas festivities with dinner at 

DENNY'S.

Everyone got along...

everyone was happy...

and I felt like I scored the best Christmas gift of all!

2.  My sister and her family showed up December 26th!

I'm always grateful for FAMILY...

so to have one of my siblings come to visit is a great gift!

We did soooo many things and I took pictures of ALL of it 

so I will post more on their visit another time!

3.  We made some AMAZING new friends who we grew to LOVE and who we felt we had known for years!

Having great friends is a special GIFT since great friends are like family!

In fact we love them so much we went shooting with them, 

had an outdoor MOVIE night,

spend most of our New Year's EVE day with them full of games and a barbecue,

and lastly a day at JUMP STREET with all our kids!

4.  Speaking of FRIENDS,

we love our friends we have known for years and having Ron off this last month has also given us a chance to meet up with

A LOT of them.

We love our friendships with so many great people who enhance our lives so much...

and I totally regret NOT taking single picture of our time with them but they know who they are and we LOVE them so much!

Thank you LYSY'S and LETNER'S for your amazing friendship!

Now we must MOVE on,

as is LIFE,

but I will always remember the holiday season of 2013

and the many amazing gifts I received!

 

Christmas is LOVE

With 2013 coming to an end...

and 2014 fast approaching...

and now here,

I've had a chance these last couple of weeks to reflect on

the theme of my

BLOG...

which is all the LOVE'S of my LIFE...

and the LOVE I have at enjoying my LIFE 

and all those they I have the opportunity to be around.

 I love this family...

and those that are missing

MORE

than any of them will ever know.

I'm grateful for NANA (Nancy),

for raising an amazing man who gives me more LOVE

than anyone else in this world.

My TWO amazing daughters who have developed a great

FRIENDSHIP...

and who get along "most of the time."

For the "other" men in my life who keep

life fun and entertaining.

For grandkids who remind us to stay young.

 For having an opportunity to be an example of

LOVE

to these other women.

 So it was only fitting that we spent our

CHRISTMAS EVE

talking about LOVE.

 Because we ALL share different religious beliefs we chose

to spend the evening discussing

that belief that is universal...

that of LOVE.

Love for our family,

Love for others,

and Love of God.

 Ron shared the CHRISTMAS JAR story...

and it is delivered to ONE in need.

He shared his own personal Christmas story about a year that others chose to show LOVE to him and his family when they were in need.

There were a lot of TEARS shed.

But that it what LOVE is all about.

Giving up of oneself...

for another!

That is why Christmas is LOVE.

The love ONE had...

to give of HIMSELF for each one of us!

That ONE is Jesus Christ and it is His birth that we celebrate.

We were lucky enough to celebrate

with those that we love...

and those we grew to love.

Now it is on to 2014...

and more ways to show LOVE

throughout this year and many more to come!

 

 

A Hayride for our Birthdays!

This last Saturday I turned

43!

I am proud of my AGE.

It's funny how many people think I should start counting

"backwards"

with my age or that I should tell people I am

"only 29".

 I am proud of being 43!

For me we EARN every year we live.

Each year has taught me something about myself
 and more importantly

how to treat others.

I love that at 43 I am comfortable with a 

few "more" wrinkles...

a few "more" pounds...

a few "more" scars...

 a lot more wisdom 
and confidence in who I am!

So I decided to embrace my birthday this year and invited

TWO

 of my "best" girls who are also celebrating their 43rd and 44th birthday's

with our families on an

OLD-FASHIONED HAYRIDE

to sing Christmas Carols...

drink hot chocolate...

and eat yummy treats!

The Birthday Girls - Tara, Me, and Shauna.

We have quite a CREW of kids!

 

I thought teenagers were supposed to like taking pictures!!

 At least these guys would cooperate!!

 Our Freshmen Group!

 Our Upper Classmen Group

 Our Middle School Group!

(We never got a picture of our little kid group...a few kids got a little fussy and had to leave before I could take there picture!)

                       So grateful tonight for amazing friends...

for turning 43...

for sharing my life with those that I find bring me so much joy

and LOVE!

 

Happy Birthday to all us GIRLS!

To be TAN again...

One of the unexpected

GIFTS

of our vacation was...

the gift to be TAN again (or red for some of us).

Since we spent SEVEN days...

and all of those days during daylight hours...

in the sun

we got to come back from FALL break the envy of our friends.

Seriously...

we showed up to church the day after we got home and you could tell from our skin color alone that

we had just experienced

some major

FUN in the SUN!

 

 But when the week was all said and done we all decided that 

KATIE

got the best TAN of them all...

 and well...

Christopher stayed a nice shade of RED!

  

Either way...

we will take whatever "color" we can get to have had

this experience together. 

Two Parties in ONE

Two parties were held in ONE this last Sunday.
PARTY #1:

Baby Shower--Tom and Britni

My stepdaughter

BRITNI

is having baby number 3!

Recently when Britni and I were at a football game...
 I started to introduce her to a friend of mine.
I couldn't think of the word "stepdaughter",
so I clumsily said "daughter".
She didn't flinch.
I'm so glad she feels that I can care and love her as if she is one of my own daughters...
because I do! 

 I'm grateful that we could celebrate this
GREAT time
in their life with a party!
 I asked Chelsea to be in charge of the games!

They did not disappoint!

Can you guess who won this game?
Since Chelsea spent most of the time laughing her head off...
you can pretty much guess it wasn't her!
I didn't participate,
Chris was in bed,
but everyone else is up for grabs.

PARTY #2

Katie's 13th Birthday Party

We began celebrating Katie's birthday the day before...
with a trip to the lake with
her friends!

I laugh when I see pictures of my family and friends in

UTAH

and see them with snow...

and we are off to the lake enjoying the warm weather!

Ummmm...yep I think I will stay here for now!

And enjoy these two special girls.

 (Cafe Rio Shredded Pork Salad--Cilantro Lime Rice--All the fixings!)

(Leo taking a turn at the Pinata!)

(Katie is going to bust it wide open!)

I'm really grateful to have another teenager in the house.
Sounds crazy but I've always
thought I was a better mom to teenagers than I ever was when they were younger.
Yes...I get stressed.
Because raising children is not easy.
But when you have a beautiful 13 year old daughter named
Katie Lynn
it makes it all worth it!

Whether I am your
MOM,
STEPMOM,
GRANDMA,
OR MOTHER-IN-LAW,
it makes no difference...
I love you all,
to the moon and back!