This is a video that my brother in law shot at the party at my parent's house last weekend.

Something about it makes me want to watch it over and over again.

People tell me all the time that these are the best years of my life, that while my children are small is the very best time I'll ever experience. And something about this video captures that for me.
It's only 16 seconds long but in that 16 seconds you can see a lot:
 

There I am, young and healthy, holding a birthday cake for my beautiful tiny daughter on her 6th birthday. We are at my parent's house and she's being sung to by both my immediate and extended family- all the people that I love. At the far left side you can catch glimpses of my wonderful Mother, fixing food. My brother, Jason, is in the shot and I never get to see him enough. You can hear my Uncle Don's voice singing clearly and at the end my sweet Grandma Phyllis sings "and many more!".

 

I love it.

 

I know that in 10 or 20 years my children will be grown and gone and things will be different.

So I'm glad that I have this little video to remind me of a moment in time when things were just right, and I'll kiss my babies a few extra times and try to savor these moments just like everyone tells me to.

celebrations

 

It's been a busy few weeks at our house with a lot to celebrate. The last week of Justin's school, Audrey's birthday, a new baby and Mother's Day all fell close together. Let's start with Audrey's birthday:

 

Since we're right in the middle of moving and we knew we were going to have a big party at Grandma's house later in the week, we decided to keep Audrey's birthday small this year. She wanted a ballerina party so we wrapped up some ballet birthday presents and she got to have two friends over for dinner. (pancakes per her request)

 

Then there was a small gathering at the ISU History Department to celebrate the students graduating from their program.

 

Afterward we packed up Justin's office and took a corny picture to remember it by, then turned in his keys.

 



 

On Saturday morning Justin surprised me with flowers and some new ramekins (I've been wanting some new ones, in white of course) for Mother's Day since we'd be with my family on Sunday.

 

He also gave me his "Stole of Gratitude" and a sweet card for helping him through school.

Loved it.

 

After that we packed up and headed down to Twin Falls to have a nice goodbye lunch with Justin's family, then we drove to Wendell to have a baby blessing/graduation/mother's day/goodbye/birthday party at my parents house. They invited my whole family including grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and cousins. It was so great to see everyone.

 

We ate too much of my family's famous baked beans and my Mom's delicious texas sheet cake

 

My sweet Mother went to a lot of trouble to make sure that Justin was fawned over properly for all of his hard work in school.

 

And Audrey got a proper not-store-bought ballerina birthday cake.

 

Then about 30 people sang to her and we opened presents.

We snuggled Beth's darling baby lots

 



 

but the best part, for me: seeing everyone all together.

(and sitting around until 9:30 at night listening to my Dad and my Uncles telling old horse stories and laughing and laughing. )



 

It was a great party that required lots of time and effort from both my parents.

Thank you so much!

Happy Mothers Day

I know that here, on this very blog, sometimes.... I gush.

I gush about my kids the most probably.

And then there are the days that I gush about my husband.

The other day at Justin's graduation party at school a friend of his asked me for our blog address and I was almost embarrassed to give it to her because I know (I know!) that I gush here all the time.

 

 

But, I guess, it's my blog and I can gush if I want to. And so, today, it is my Mother's turn.

 

Get ready, Mom.

 

Although I've always felt loved and accepted in my family, for the last 10 or 15 years or so I've never really felt like I've "fit in". My family has a big ranch with horses and cattle, they farm some of the acreage and have dogs and chickens. They wear cowboy boots. They hunt and ride and brand.

 

And that's just not me. In high school I dreamed of moving to New York City. I talked of being a lawyer. I'm uncomfortable on a horse. I spend too much money on my clothes and somehow it seems like whenever I'm at my parents house we end up tromping through the desert and I'm always wearing the wrong shoes.

 

I love my family dearly, and I love their lifestyle. A trip to their house is akin to Disneyland for my children and they talk of nothing but "riding horses with Uncle Luke" and "the chickens hiding in their house" for weeks after every visit. I love that my children will be exposed to that lifestyle, but it's a lifestyle that's just never been "me". My Dad and my brother put up with my lack of skills here with good humor, but I watch my sister connect with them on long horseback rides and see the ease with which she handles the all things "country" and I envy her. I wish that I could do that. When it comes to these things, I'm on the outside.

 

But then, there is my Mother.

 

With her I always feel at home. My Mom knows me. She knows who I am. She knows me from when I was little and she knows me now, as an adult. She really knows me. She accepts me and never expects me to be anything but exactly what I want to be. Although sometimes she doesn't understand how I dress or live, or why I enjoy spending hours decorating a three layer cake, she knows that that's who I am.

 

This weekend we went down to visit since Beth was blessing her baby. And multiple times while we were there I was surprised and touched by my Mother's insightfulness and kindness. She included Justin in our celebratory party and made a big deal about him graduating from ISU. She even went to the trouble of finding black and orange cake toppers for the cake that she made. We received two very generous graduations presents from she and my Dad. She casually told Justin "you'll love Portland, you and Becky love the city". She gave me a thoughtful Mother's Day gift with a small book in it that I read when I got home today that had me in tears. When she teared up twice as we left her house today I realized that she is going to have a hard time seeing us move so far away. But she's never said anything about that, she's always been positive and supportive in our decisions.

 

As I was sitting on my couch today when we got home, looking through the book that she gave me the biggest thing that just kept going through my mind was,

 

"my Mom knows who I am"

 

and that means so much to me. More than I could ever express to her.

 

Thank you Mom, for taking the time and making the effort to know me. For listening to me talk about myself and my problems for hours on end. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving my husband and my children. Thank you for being the best Grandma in the world. Thank you for the countless small thoughtful things that you do. Thank you for forgiving me when I'm in a hurry and leave your house too fast, or when I forget to do something that you've asked me to. Thank you for supporting me and always being positive.

 

When it comes to being generous, kind, selfless, and thoughful you will always be a step ahead of me, but that just means that I have a great example to live up to.

 

You're truly the most wonderful woman that I know.

 

I love you.

 

Happy Mother's Day.

She

loves ballerinas.

(but most especially the dancing snowflakes from the Nutcracker Suite)

loves princesses.

and pink.

and begs to wear my jewelry and can't wait until she can wear make-up.

 

 

 

loves bones and regularly pretends to be a doctor.

told me the other day that she thinks she'd like to be an astronaut.

scrolls past the tinkerbell movie on Netflix to start a documentary about the sinking of the Titanic.

but most especially she loves volcanoes. Oh, this girl loves volcanoes.

 

 

She's the perfect mix of girly and pretty and sweet

and

smart and curious and inquisitive.

 

I'm kinda crazy about her.

And today, she is 6 years old.

 

Happy Birthday to my princess/doctor/ballerina/scientist/astronaut.

 

I love you so much.

 

Love, Mom

announcement

so....

 

We're moving to Portland!

 

 

We've studied out and weighed all our options, we've done research, we've planned and prepped and prayed about it. And we feel like this will be the best move for our family. We're moving May 24-25 and Justin will start the history graduate program at Portland State University in the fall.

 

We're really thankful for the opportunity that we have for Justin to go to graduate school. Most programs are pretty competitive to get in. Also, we're excited for a change of scenery and to continue along this path that we hope will bring security for our family's future in the long run.

 

So, right now there is a huge stack of empty boxes in our shed that keeps getting smaller and the pile of packed boxes in the corner of our living room keeps slowly getting bigger and bigger. I have exactly 11 lists that I'm constantly checking to make sure that I don't miss anything.

 

And....

 

Congratulations to Justin!

He's decided not to walk in his graduation ceremony because technically he graduated back in December (a semester early!) and then was accepted into the graduate program here at ISU and has been working hard already at the graduate level for a semester. He's slightly uncomfortable with the spot light sometimes. So, to commemorate I forced him to put on his cap and gown, his cords FOR GRADUATING WITH HIGH HONORS and his stole for being the PRESIDENT OF PHI ALPHA THETA and take some pictures. In case you couldn't tell, I'm so proud of him.

 

Also, thank you Justin, for the example that you're setting for our children. Although we both already had associates degrees, I love that you're continuing and getting your BA and masters degree. Education is so important and I love that Audrey and David will remember seeing their Dad work so hard for his and that they'll always have these pictures to look back on.

 

 

baby Natalie

 

Beth  and her husband, Justin, had their little baby girl, Natalie, on Friday night. I was able to be in the room for the birth and it was an amazing experience. The feeling that was there when she was born was so wonderful. My Mom and I just kept crying and hugging each other. Thanks so much for including me Beth and congratulations!

the haps

Justin's late night grad classes leave us all a little bored at the house

Justin's professor told him that we could take the kids to see the Symphony practice for free. Greatest idea ever!

a quick trip to Utah

love the cookies at Ruby Snap

dinner at Aunt Lyric and Uncle Scott's house

Audrey begged us to go see the capital