Thursday, September 30, 2010

HaPpY BiRtHdAy To My MoMmA!

Today is my Mom's 50th birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! I love this woman so dang much, so I decided since she is turning 50 today, I would write 50 reasons why I love her!
1-She is my Best Friend in the whole wide world
2-We have the best days ever just going to lunch and running errands, we can do anything together and make it fun.
3-She is always willing to come over and help me with anything I need.
4-She loves my boys so much and she loves spending time with them.
5-She is the best cook EVER!
6-She has taught me how to be a good mom to my boys and a good wife to Ryan.
7-She loves folding my laundry! Every time she comes over, my laundry gets folded.
8-She loves to take care of me. No matter what is going on with my life, she always wants to make sure I am taken care of, and that we have the things we need.
9-Every time I have had to have surgery or I am not feeling well, she makes sure she is the one that is at my house to take care of me and my family. She cleans, takes care of me, cooks dinner for us, etc.....
10-We can shopping anytime together and have an awesome time.
11-I love that she has taught me how to cook, and I am getting pretty good at it, thanks to her!
12-We never get sick of spending time together.
13-Her Chili Verde-enough said!
14-Her love for my dad, they have been married for almost 32 years and they still love each other as much as ever, I hope Ryan and I are the same way when we have been married for 32 years!
15-She is such a good example to me.
16-She always made sure when we were growing up that we had dinner together every night as a family, and whatever friends we had over she would include them.
17-I remember one night her and my dad took all of us kids and a bunch of friends and neighbor kids toilet papering, she has always been a fun mom.
18-Her sneezes are the best! Each one is unique.
19-She is a very generous person, she would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.
20-She is always interested in what is going on in my life, big or small.
21-She loves to be organized.
22-She loves to organize my house, which I need all the help I can get!
23-She loves to serve others, and is always willing to take dinner to someone.
24-She has taught me how to sew (kind of), which I never thought I would be able to do.
25-She is patient with me.
26-She loves to just relax and watch movies with Hazen, and he LOVES that about Grandma DeAnna.
27-She cracks herself up, which makes us all laugh!
28-She is very loyal to the people she loves.
29-She has a VERY soft heart.
30-She has had a lot of struggles in her life and she just keeps on going, even when she feels like giving up.
31-She loves to decorate and it is so fun to learn from her.
32-Her love for the Gospel.
33-She loves to travel, and she tries to go on trips as often as she can, hopefully I can do that one day!
34-She is very creative.
35-She loves to clean-I wish I got that from her!
36-She always made all of my friends feel welcome in our home and she made sure we had good food.
37-She is a very good friend.
38-I have so many fun memories of just the two of us, I will always treasure those.
39-I look forward to making MANY more memories!
40-We love watching the Bachelor together and we make a girls night out of it!
41-Her Boston Cream Pie. Can you tell I love her cooking!?
42-I love that we can spend a whole day doing nothing and have fun together.
43-She is very talented and crafty.
44-She loves Ryan like he is her own son.
45-She is very giving and rarely takes time for herself (something she needs to learn to do).
46-We have so much in common and we love all the same things.
47-She is very supportive. She came to every one of my softball games when I was growing up, and she still comes now!
48-She motivates me.
49-She is a very strong person for having to deal with all she does.
50-She is the BEST MOM EVER!

I love you so much mom and I am so grateful to have you in my life. I am so glad you are my mom. You are such a good example to me. I love you and I can't wait until we can spend a whole day shopping to celebrate your birthday!
I tried finding a picture of me and my mom together, but I can't find one, so here she is with Hazen last October. We love you Mom!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Lagoon!!

We went to Lagoon again this summer and it was a blast! HOT- but a blast :) We went with the Nielsen/Bennett family and this year my family came as well! JC wasn't able to make it, but his wife and girls came and Kendall came with his girls and his girlfriend (I don't know what else to call her... they have been dating for a little bit now) and her girls. My parents also came to help us out and to watch all the grandkids on the rides. We had 9 kids under the age of 7. 8 of the 9 were 4 and under..... yes we are crazy! They had so much fun though. Rhett and Morgan (JC and Elisa's baby) were really good considering we were gone all day and it was so hot. Rhett had a few times when he was screaming because he was so hot and tired, but overall he was really good most of the day. Morgan was a little angel all day, she didn't make a peep! She is such a good baby :)
The kids rode most of the kids rides and we also rode the train and Ryan and I went on a couple rides as well. It was a fun day! Hazen of course loved the airplanes with the guns, the merry-go-round and the train. He went on the airplane ride probably 8 or 9 times throughout the day. He just kept getting off the ride and running to get back on! I was SO glad my family came this year... all the kids had so much fun together. It was fun for Hazen to have his cousins all there with him to ride the rides together. Last year, it was just Hazen and he had to do it all by himself. Here are a few pictures from the day.....

Rhett enjoying his bottle in the stroller
Maycee and Paige (whose not looking at me)
Hazen and cute little Kylee riding his favorite ride together!
My cute little man riding the bumper cars
Hazen and Brinley.... she was not loving this ride... she's trying really hard not to cry
Hazen and Brooklyn. I LOVE Hazen's face in this picture!

Brinley and Kylee driving the cars... Brinley looks a little scared! But she loved this one!
Paige and Maycee driving the cars

Lagoon is always so fun and we are already looking forward to it next summer!

Rhett's Blessing Day

We blessed Rhett on August 1, and it was such a nice day for our family. Ryan gave Rhett an AMAZING blessing and Rhett was such a good boy during his blessing. I was a little nervous because he was SUPER tired and he was crying right before Ryan took him up to bless him. But he stopped just in time for his blessing and he starting crying as soon as Ryan handed him back to me! We headed to the park after sacrament for some lunch with our families. It was a nice day and we are so grateful for our families and all the support they give us. This is the best family picture we could get.... Hazen was more interested in playing :)
Handsome Boys
He wasn't too happy to be having his pictures taken!

Ryan, Rhett, DeeRay and Grandpa Nielsen-4 generations.