John got the Graduate Assistant job in Tyler!!

Yay, we are so proud and so excited.  They will need to be in Tyler, TX by July 30th....that is not too far away!!  Color me happy!!

Congratulations John!   We are proud of you!!

Unclaimed money

So, my niece, Laura, posted on Facebook that there are websites for each state that you can look up your name and see if there is any unclaimed money for you......so just for kicks, I looked up all the states where we have lived and used my married and maiden name and found 6.53 in Kansas!!  Waaahoo!!  I'm rich, what a surprise!!  But hey, really I am excited and I am going to send the paperwork in to claim it!!  6.53 is 6 Happy Hour Route 44 Diet Cokes with lime!!  Ya gotta love that!!  It's a red letter day!!

Between this and Donald Driver winning Dances with the Stars its a great way to start the week!!  I loved Donald's freestyle.....they always say whoever has the best freestyle wins and they were correct!!

Photo courtesy of ABC.com

Weddings and other fun things.....

I'll start with the fun stuff first.....Scott Hepworth one of my former Seminary Students got married this past weekend in the Dallas Temple and had an Open House Saturday night!!  Rebecca Albright, his mother is one of my dearest and longest friends since moving here to Texas, so of course I wanted to help any way that I could.  I helped decorate and then worked the kitchen the night of the open house keeping things full and available so that Rebecca and her mother did not have to worry and could just visit all the guests that came and they did have a great turn out!!

 Scott & Shanita Hepworth

MaryAnn Stephens, Becky Wangler and Me with our friend and Mother of the groom Rebecca Albright.  She is the reason we all wanted to help!! 

I was in charge of deciding which of the awesome pictures MaryAnn took at the temple to blow up with the magic help of Kinko's and then decorate the room with them!

Rebecca really got emotional when she saw the family in front of the temple blown up to 24 x 36!!

The bride was amazed and loved the wedding portrait that I once again with the magic of Kinko's had ready for the Open House!

It was a wonderful night...but I'm not going to lie after 5 hrs in the kitchen I was exhausted and my feet ached....but what is aching feet between friends.....NOTHING!!  I'm so happy that Rebecca was pleased and thrilled with everything and that Scott and Shanita were so happy with everything and that it was a beautiful night!!

Friday night we came up after 9:00 pm to decorate the room and get everything ready for Saturday's Open House.  After we were done at about 11:45 we (Becky, Shawna, and I) decided to go to a Midnight movie and saw "What to Expect when Expecting" and I have to say it was really good, it made you laugh, it made you cry, you felt a whole roller coaster of emotions and it ended well.  And for me that is a good movie!!

Last week on Wednesday was Aileen first doctor visit with her new Doctor.  Alan had to take her because the only appointment time we could get was while I was at work.  But Aileen really seemed to like her.  She is a younger woman, and I am glad its a woman as Dr. Eden her previous Dr. was a woman too and she seems to relate well with them and let them treat her easier than some!!  So that is a relief that it all went well and that Aileen was comfortable with her and she seemed really nice and good with disabled patients!

This week is exciting and we are praying very hard because John comes to Tyler, Texas for a job interview for getting an masters internship to proceed with his schooling now that he has his Bachelors!  Here is to hoping for the job, but knowing that God has a plan and what is best for John and Allison will happen....but as a Mom, I really hope it comes true!!

Life is good.....

Sunday was Mother's Day and my girls called to talk to me and wish me a happy day - love these girls.  Another thing that made Sunday great was my lesson in Gospel Doctrine went well.

Monday we fed the missionaries (2nd time in as many weeks, seems people are struggling to sign up).

Tuesday we took dinner to this cute family (The Thompson's) that just had a baby girl!!  She is so cute and cuddly too!

Wednesday - Dad went to the Doctor today after being at the Emergency Room last night thinking he might have had a heart attack.....but test came back negative for that so he was at his family doctor today who checked some things out and he goes back on Friday to check again!! But he seems better.  Oh, and I finally was able to get my hair cut and colored. Yay!

Thursday will be Visiting Teaching in the morning and a Relief Society Meeting in the evening.

Friday Alan will be going to the temple for a Marriage Sealing to represent us since I will have to work.

Saturday help with Wedding Open House for Scott Hepworth and his new bride.  Helping my friend Rebecca Albright and being with friends MaryAnn Stephens and Becky Wangler!

And every day just brings more blessings and more things to be grateful for!  Thank you Heavenly Father!

My Mother's day gift see below!!  I love it!!

2012 BYU Graduation

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Happy Mother's Day!!

I think of my Mom everyday in some way or another, either because I have said something that sounded just like her, or I wished I could ask her advice, or just a memory that comes to mind because of something I have done.......but on Mother's Day, of course it brings to my mind just how much I love and miss her!!  She was an incredible person.  Not everyone got to know and appreciate her the way her family did, but you can take it from me she was amazing!!  She never sugar coated things, but she was very compassionate, giving and willing to sacrifice anything for her family!!  So happy Mother's Day Mom!  I love you and hope that I am doing you proud!!

I have also been very blessed to have an outstanding and wonderful Mother-in-law who has also taught me a great deal about life, and love, and what it means to be part of a family and most importantly how to be a good mother-in-law and grandmother!  She was widowed for 17 yrs and never faltered!!  Dad would be proud of how she carried on as the head of the family without him!  Her faith and testimony ever strong!!  Then she met a wonderful man named Jay and together they now lead our family with strong family commitment and faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

An amazing blessing that has come into my life is my Step Mom Barbara!  We were friends long before my Dad started dating her, but it is an honor to have her be the Mom of our family on earth, now that my Mom has passed on!  She is an inspiration to anyone that has ever met her!  She has so much love, compassion, and willingness to serve others it is unbelievable that someone could really be that wonderful.  But she is.  Thank you Barbara for all you do for our family and our Dad!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

VT Luncheon for Mother's Day!!

We wanted to do something special for some of the women that we Visit Teach for Mother's day!!  And we have joined forces with Yensy Willden before to add her ladies in the mix too and it always works out so nicely that we decided to do it again!!  We had a luncheon that MaryAnn went to so much work over making sure her yard look fabulous for, and then it rained!!  So sad, but I told her we could look out her windows and see how beautiful her backyard was, but I'm sure it was not the same!!  MaryAnn made these out of this world to die for meatballs and real green beans, I brought a yummy fruit salad and fun favors for our guest, plus I gave the lesson and Yensy brought a fabulous dessert!!  It was a great lunch with great ladies!!  And for those who couldn't make it don't worry, I still have the favors and lesson to give to you!!  You will not be left out!!  It was a good day and MaryAnn had decorated so cute with matching dishes, glasses, and centerpieces!!  My favors said "Just popping to say Happy Mother's Day" with these cute popcorn dishes I found, and I put microwave popcorn in it, pop rings, gum (to pop lol) and twizzlers!!  It was fun to give it to them and they all seemed to think it was fun!!  Happy Mother's Day to ladies/sisters/friends that we love!!

 Lacy Lassiter, Bessie Treber, Becky Wangler, Betty Willden

 Yensy Willden, Me, MaryAnn Stephens, and Sis Avina

 Look how cute the table is, everything matching!!

 What the favors looked like I made and all packed up ready to go!!

The Avengers!!!

Alan took me on a date this afternoon to see The Avengers!!  Can I tell you it was awesome!!  We did not see it in 3D and now we wished we would have, although I jumped a few times without it!!   Here is my husband standing by Thor.......... Love it!  And if you read my blog back when I went to see the Movie Thor, you know that to me Alan is Thor!!  I definitely see the resemblance!

No Words Needed!

Thank Heaven for Visiting Teachers!!

My visiting teachers are of Hispanic background and they have mentioned more than once to me that one problem they see with my culture, American or Caucasian, not sure which, maybe both, is that we never seem to ask for help!!  They may be correct!  In their culture if you need help you ask and everyone pitches in and it's taken care of.  For some reason we are brought up in my culture to do things on our own, to not ask for help as that is a sign of weakness, etc...  I'm sure there are other reasons like needing to be self reliant but I'm not sure why we hesitate to call for help!!  As you know when we got back from our trip for Allison's and John's graduation, we were sick, sick, sick, sick, sick!!  In fact we hadn't really noticed but we had not eaten for several days because it was too much effort and as long as we had Gatorade, and Diet Coke, and water we were happy campers, even Aileen!!

But thank Heavens for my visiting teachers who know without me asking, what we need!!  They brought us a beautiful Mexican casserole, and apples and oranges!!  And most importantly some CHOCOLATE!!!  I cannot tell you how fast the casserole disappeared!!  Alan and I looked at each other and Aileen and said, "Wow, I guess we were hungry weren't we!"  And I can not tell you how good it tasted to eat someone else's yummy cooking and the fruit was perfect for vitamins and feeling better!!  I took a picture of the casserole dish after 30 minutes of being in our home....

Scary right???  But thank you my angel Visiting Teachers - Magdalena Peterson and Mirta Brown!

Then on Sunday my step mom, the Relief Society President, Barbara brought us over dinner of Spaghetti and french bread, salad, fruit and Chocolate cake, and once again I was never so grateful for a dinner!!  Thanks Barbara for thinking of us, especially since Dad has been so sick too!  You have plenty to worry about without us!!

When I got back to the office, even though the Doctor is out of town, it was Professional Assistants Day and they left a present for me.....I guess they consider Medical Assistants in that "title"  They always come up with fun presents and it's always a surprise what they do.  Well, this time I got beautiful silver and pearl ear rings form "White House/Black Market" store!  I have always wanted to go in that store because I love their clothes, but was waiting to get skinny again before doing so.....but look, now I have ear rings!  The picture doesn't do them justice.  But they are awesome!!

Every thing gets back to normal now, we are feeling much better, the Doctor will be back in town and I have all the transcriptions caught up from being out of town for a week!! YAY!!

Then came Sunday......

We are still talking about Graduation weekend.....things have been great, couldn't be more perfect, then Sunday morning we got up and went to Church with Allison and John with the Brown's and Rex's taking up the whole row......and Aileen is coughing, coughing, coughing, to where it is embarrassing....So I take her out, down the hall to the back of the building.....still coughing, coughing, so that someone comes looking for us and asked....."Have you had her checked out?"  "No" says I, "we are from out of town just here for graduation".  To which this man says, "it sounds like Whooping Cough, you should get it checked out".  So when I can I get Alan's attention we leave and head for Utah Valley Hospital ER to get Aileen checked out.  They tell us it is not Whooping cough, but that she does have croup.  They do not give her an antibiotic, but they do give her a breathing treatment, steroids, and a Rx for a strong cough medicine.  We head back to the condo and pack up all our stuff because Sunday after church is when the "togetherness" ends.....John, the Dad, is flying back to Seattle, and we are heading down to Ogden to see Alan's Mom and spend time with her and Jay!  And really going to the ER doesn't ruin the trip, because this is just life and what happens with life!!

After we get to Ogden, we have a yummy dinner with every one's favorites that Mom worked really hard on.  Then Alan's Aunts and Uncles come over to visit as well as our niece Stacey and her cute boys.  We all visit, some play cards, but all are having a great time!!

 Grandma & Allison

 Allison, John, and Tucker

 Stacey & Anne Marie

 Aunt Helen and Allison

 Aunt Helen and Anne Marie

 Alan, Uncle Merlin, and Allison - the next weekend was Uncle Merlin & Aunt Helen's 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration!  We were very sorry we couldn't be there for that!  But they understood!

 Aunt Ann and Tucker

 Uncle Merlin and Uncle Marc

 Stacey and her cute boys - Sammy, and Tucker

 Sammy and Aileen

All my kids!!  The reason my life is complete!  They are the joy of my life.....I could not be more proud of any of them.  Any mother would be so lucky and I feel very blessed that It's me!!

Later Sunday night/Monday morning......coughing, coughing, coughing....its 3:00 am and no sleep in sight and still coughing, coughing, coughing.  so we head to Ogden's ER......

Still not in her lungs.....just croup!  They have the perfect thing that will stop the coughing......

We go home and get some sleep and head out Monday morning for New Mexico with our goal to make it to the Motel!!  We do and we all just go to bed so that we can get as much sleep as possible!  I have a restless night and wake up to all of us being so sick, there is no way we are going anywhere!!!  We tell the front desk will will be staying another night....turn out all the lights and all 3 of us sleep all day and night.....no joke!!  We wake up Wednesday morning feeling better and like we can at least travel the rest of the way home!!  And we do!  We were never so happy to be in our own beds, in our own home in all of our lives!!  I roll out of bed Thursday to go to work.....because the Doctor is out of town and I have to be there to answer phones etc...come home and die and do the same thing Friday morning!!   Then spent the weekend all of us trying to get over this stuff -- we have to get better!!  Whew!  I think we are going to make it!!