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.

meanwhile...

 

so we spent the weekend in Wendell baking/decorating/chatting up a storm in my Mother's kitchen. I loved it. At one point my Mom turned on a CD that had "Mull of Kintyre" playing and when I looked at my Mother and sister and daughter all baking together it made me teary.

 

By the way, today is my Mom's birthday.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love you

 

Then we took a break to go see the new baby horse.

 

And Audrey asked Uncle Luke if she could ride a horse.

He obliged.

Then Davy had to ride too.

(and he had to borrow Grandpa's hat so he could be a cowboy. He gave it back right after the he got off the horse.)

 

After both kids had their rides Luke turned to me and said, "you getting up there Becky?" and so...I got on a horse.

And everyone gasped and fainted and took out their phones and started taking pictures.

Apparently it had been awhile since I had been in the saddle.

 

like 12 or so years.

 

 Although I don't really get into the horses and the ranching as much as my siblings, I am glad that my children will have the chance to experience those things. I love that my kids get to ride horses and feed chickens and help Grandpa in his big garden and make homemade huckleberry jam with Grandma and run around in the safety of my parents large property.

 

I like that they get a taste of the "country" life that I grew up with.

Thanks for that Mom and Dad.

Davy is still talking about riding a horse with Uncle Luke almost a week later.

 



 

While we were partying it up at my parents house Justin was bound for Portland, Oregon to present a paper that he'd written on race at the Phi Alpha Theta Conference.

 

 

He did great and his paper was even nominated for an award. Only 15 papers out of 150 were selected so even though he didn't end up winning, it made him feel good.

 

 

Just a few days before he left we received a letter in the mail informing Justin that he'd been accepted into the Portland State University history graduate school. We were really excited and this school will be a great fit for what Justin wants to do.

 

So.... we may be moving to Portland in a little over a month. 

 

 

It worked out well for Justin to be able to visit the campus and talk with some professors and students while he was there.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll keep you posted.

Beth's Baby Shower

 

This last weekend my Mom and I threw my little sister, Beth, a baby shower. She's pregnant with a little girl and due at the end of April.

 

Because my Mom and sister and I are all crazy when it comes to details and parties, prepartion started months before with Mom and I sweating over the guest list and invitations. Then the night before I went to Wendell I cranked out 60 of these little lamb cookies to be party favors. There's a long story that goes with these involving me dumping 2 batches of them in the trash and crying/banging my head against the oven, and staying up until midnight and bossing Justin around and 1 small swear word but just suffice it to say that these were fun, but a lot of work.

 

Although they did turn out so cute.

 

 

We decided on a nursery rhyme themed shower. So I made a garland that had little books and flowers, stars and moons hanging from it,

 

 

 

We served "Mary Quite Contrary Garden Salad" and "Little Boy Blueberry Scones" with "Miss Muffet's Lemon Curd"

 

 

also "Bakers Man Brownies"

 

 

"Peter Piper Peanut Butter Sandwiches" for the kids

 

 

and a "Sugar and Spice Layer Cake" which had us worried for awhile but turned out devine.

 

 

 

For drinks there was a "pail" of "Jack and Jill Juice"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great turn-out and Beth got some great presents for her little girl. I had a lot of fun throwing her the party. Best part? Cooking in the kitchen with my Mother, my sister, and my daughter.

What a treat.