Happy Birthday, Mom!

Saturday (March 5th) was my mom's birthday. I don't know why, but I always miss her so much around her birthday. She was an amazing woman--positive, thoughtful, dedicated to her faith and family, and truly at times a force of nature! ;-) She never let the health problems she had slow her down. I've enjoyed taking time to remember my mom this week for her birthday!

I love this picture of my mom standing at the entrance to the Public Garden in Boston (notice the horse pooping in the background). I had spent the summer of 2001 in Boston (the year before I actually moved there) and she came to visit in August and then drove back to Indiana with me. She was still relatively healthy at the time and we made the best of it! We had such fun going around Boston and spent a day in New York City (mind you this was a month before 9/11). We rode the Staton Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty and have pictures of the twin towers still in the NYC skyline. We also went and saw Les Miserables on Broadway. It was amazing and one of our happiest memories together. Saturday night (her birthday) I watched/listened to Les Mis and loved every minute and found myself singing the songs all day Sunday and wishing I had a voice like Cozette! ;-) Such happy memories!!

I found this note my mom sent me for my birthday a few months before she died. She often sent me money for a pedicure because she knew how much I love getting pedicures. This is classic "JaNet" and I love that I somehow found this and still have it to remember her. I had thought about going to get a pedicure on Satuday (her actual birthday), but decided to instead clean my house in her honor (she ALWAYS had a clean house).

I also put this picture together on Saturday. I've been wanting to make something like this ever since Lauren was born. It's just a little something to remind Lauren of who she was named after...Lauren JaNet Thacker.

I think the most overwhelming feeling I have felt this week was gratitude for the Savior and the blessings of the temple. I am grateful to know that I will see my mom again, not only see her but give her a big hug again someday. I can hardly wait!! Until then, I'll do my best to live in a way that would please her and my Savior.

Sam's First Primary Talk

Today Sam gave his first primary talk and Evan and I were both blown away with how well he did. He marched right up to the podium with his yellow paper in hand (see below) and a huge grin on his face, grabbed the microphone and gave his talk all by himself. No fear whatsoever. Evan and I had no idea what to expect, but he exceeded our expectations by a long shot. We were both pretty proud of our little boy!

Translation:

I am thankful for the scriptures.

The scriptures teach us about Jesus.

I read the scriptures every night with my family.

Reading the scriptures helps me remember Jesus.

(In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen)

PS- He also learned how to write his name this week. You can kind of see how he's written his name on his talk above. He's growing up and I can hardly stand it, but love it all at the same time!

Birthday Boy

I am amazed that in four short years Sam has gone from this to...

...this!

 

This is the first year he would let us or anyone else sing "Happy Birthday" to him. I was pleased that he actually seemed to enjoy it. Love this little boy so much!! :-)

Catching Up...

I need to post some pictures from the past few months. They are some of my favorites, but I just never got around to putting them up here on the blog. So, pardon me as I take a few minutes to blog/record the following...

This is Sam and Lauren with their good buddy Joel, pretending to be asleep. We frequently watch Joel on Thursdays while his mom is working. We love him! Last week when we were driving into the church parking lot Lauren saw Joel getting out of his car and exclaimed, "Look! Mommy! It's my friend Joel!" It's true, they're friends. :-)

Christmas 2010 was spent here at home in Seattle. Christmas Eve was spent with our Norton cousins at Maren's house. It was such a nice evening. Dinner was yummy and then the kids acted out the nativity and Sam even got to be Joseph. He loved it!

We had such a nice time with just us on Christmas morning. I love playing Santa Claus and it was so fun for me to see my kids so so so excited to open presents on Christmas morning. I felt so blessed this Christmas for so many reasons. I am thankful for my family and that Jesus was born so long ago.

The weekend before Christmas we drove to Spokane for Dallin and Megan's wedding (Dallin is my step brother). We stayed with MaLeesa and John and had a great visit with them. It was also nice because we had our first big "family" party with us and all of Alane's kids. We had a good visit with everyone and it was nice to get to know Alane's kids a little better. In the picture above, Evan got all the kids bundled up and took them outside to play in the snow. Have I mentioned what a good dad and uncle he is?!? :-)

We've made several trips to the zoo over the past few months. The kids really can't get enough of that place. On one of those trips we let them ride the carousel, except Lauren wouldn't have anything to do with it. Sam didn't have a problem with it, he LOVED it! Love his big cheesy smile!

I love this picture of Lauren sleeping with her entourage of ponies and dolls. She has all her dolls lined up against her dresser and all the ponies on her pillow with her. Evan and I frequently have to clean off her pillow at night after she's fallen asleep to make room for her head. ;-)

The first weekend in February my Dad and Alane came to visit us. It was so great to have them all to ourselves for the entire weekend! It was so funny because the whole weekend Lauren called them both "Grandpa Alane". I thought it was cute. We loved having them visit and hope they'll come back soon!

Camping

Thursday evening I went to the temple and Evan stayed home with the kids. When I came home this is what I found...

While I was gone they decided to go "camping" in the basement and Evan said they had so much fun setting up the tent, reading books in the dark with their flashlight, sleeping in their sleeping bags, etc.

I love Evan so much! He is such a fun Daddy and the best husband ever.
I don't know what I would do with out him! :-) 

Funny Girl

This past week we moved Lauren out of her crib and onto the floor. We don't have a bed for her yet, but felt like it was time to make the move. She was starting to try and climb out of her crib and it was clear she could actually do it if she tried hard enough. If you're wondering how it's going, see the picture below:

We're looking forward to her having a real bed for her to sleep in. My dad is bringing a toddler bed he made when he comes to visit us the first weekend in February. Yippee!!

On another note, I need to take a picture of all the animals, dolls, ponies and books this funny little girl has to sleep with each night. It varies from night to night, but usually includes some, most or all of the above mentioned items. Evan and I have to go in her room after she's fallen asleep and clear her pillow and bed of her personal collection. She's also been carrying around this plastic pumpkin full of random puzzle pieces, toys, and magnets. She calls it her "bukset of tuff." The other morning she groggily emerged from her room carrying her pumpkin and exclaimed, "Got my tuff, mommy! Got my tuff!" It was rather impressive given she'd just stumbled out of bed. She's so funny. Love her so much! :-)

My little "Sunbeam Missionary"

This funny kid was officially a "Sunbeam" today. He wore his little suit from Malachi (his cousin...incidentally it's the suit I bought for my nephew who is now 8 years old when Evan and I got married) and looked very handsome. He was so excited to be what he called a "Sunbeam Missionary." In fact when he was all dressed this morning he ran up to Evan and very excitedly said, "Daddy! I look like a nissiomary!" So cute.

When I dropped him off in Primary he sat right down by two of his little buddies and they sat there on the front row with these huge grins on their faces holding hands. It was seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

He had so much fun today in primary and I milked the "Sunbeam Missionary" thing for all it was worth. He bowed his head and folded his arms during the prayers in Sacrament Meeting today because I told him that's what Sunbeams do.  He thought he could pass the sacrament today because he was now a Sunbeam. I had to tell him "not yet." He also asked if he could go up and talk in the microphone now. Again, I told him "not yet." Too funny.

He wouldn't take his suit off the entire day because he was a "sunbeam missionary" and missionaries leave their suits on all day. He wanted to sleep in it and I had to break it to him that missionaries take their suits off and put jammies on when they go to bed too. When I finally got him to take the suit off tonight he told me, "I was a good sunbeam missionary today." He sure was. Priceless and so cute!



I hope he always wants to be a missionary! :-)