Birthday #51! (9/16/08)

Misty and Nate were so nice to invite me over for dinner on my birthday! Misty made me an Hawaiian birthday cake and it was delicious! My only regret is that I didn't get any to take home for later!

(My first birthday gift arrived early from Jason
and Ashley! They sent me a wireless router so I
can have a wireless computer! What would I ever
do without a computer engineer in the family! I
bought myself my first laptop for my birthday
gift. I'm excited to receive it this week and start
using wireless! It will be great!) I need to take a
picture of it too!

On my birthday, we ate cake, chocolate ice cream, and Japanese pancakes in that order for dinner! Misty had a meeting to go to so we had dessert while dinner was finishing. It was Misty's first time making Japanese pancakes and she did super! Just as good as Nate! I was very impressed.

Look out the window behind Nate to see the
garden doing so well. I had beans and zucchini
to eat! So good - fresh from the garden!



Look at the cute wrapping on my birthday gifts from Nate, Misty, Adalei and Brielle! A little Japanese wrapping paper to go along with dinner!

I received the following birthday gifts:
*Sunday dinner on fast Sunday every month
for 12 months. Yeah!
*A community education class on "Dream
Analysis" that I'm really excited to take on
November 13th.
* Birthday card with sweet messages that
remind me how blessed I am.

Adalei was so cute helping me open my birthday gifts! I was too slow for her. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were teaching her how to open gifts and she's learned that quite well!


My special little girls! I just love to hold them and play with them. This is a picture after dinner and right before bed!


What a wonderful birthday!
I came home from dinner on my birthday to find this awesome package on my doorstep! Charity had chocolate covered strawberries delivered! What a special treat! I hate to say that I ate them so fast that I forgot to take a picture for my blog so here's a picture from the pamphlet with the box.

When I worked at Deloitte in Sacramento, there Shari's Berries was in our building. I used to walk by it every day at lunch time but never bought any resisting the urge! (Back in those days the money was going to raise kids and now my wonderful daughter bought me some - just like a dream come true!)

My friend Sheila from PacifiCorp talked me into going with her to the beach on Saturday after my birthday! So, I called it my birthday trip. It was a beautiful day - perfect sweatshirt weather! I had a fabulous time walking on the beach, having lunch, Tillamook ice cream and then stopping at Camp 18 on the way home for a warm bowl of chili with fresh cornbread. I'm so glad I went!

We went to Cannon Beach, Oregon, so I took some pictures of Haystack Rock, the seagulls....





It was an overcast day with the clouds almost down to the ocean waves!




When the sun was setting, it was so beautiful!








Here's a picture of my dream house on the beach! Wouldn't that be wonderful to live on the beach?








A final picture before we returned home and back to reality!








My friend Katie surprised me with these beautiful yellow flowers that look super in front of my house.


These beautiful flowers were left on my porch on my birthday by Maddy. She is in my primary class and a really special girl. I was so happy to get this great gift. My flower bed looks so much better now!

Spending the Night with Grandma!

I was so excited to have Adalei spend the night with me the Friday night before my birthday! This was her 2nd time and she went to sleep much earlier than the first time she spent the night.

However, she woke up quite early and just couldn't go back to sleep. So, we had a little snack in the wee hours of the morning. Mo had brought some biscotti for us so we had them with some hot chocolate. Adalei just loves chocolate like I do! It was a wonderful morning! It was so fun to have someone there when I woke up too!

Ashley made some beautiful headbands for little girls/babies. This one is really for Adalei's birthday but I couldn't wait and had to try it on her. She wore it all day and I'm going to let her take it home when we celebrate her birthday at my house next Saturday! The headband is so cute on this pretty little girl.



































From getting up early, Adalei took a really good nap that afternoon. She had been playing with toys and quickly fell asleep when I held her.







When we got up so early that Saturday morning, I made this little blanket for Brielle! This is the 4th blanket I've made. I thought this one turned out great and Brielle is adorable!!!! Being a grandma is the very best!!!

Please tell everyone you know in California to Vote "Yes" on Proposition 8!

What is Proposition 8?

Proposition 8 is a simple and straightforward voter initiative. It contains the same 14 words that were previously approved in 2000 by over 61% of California voters: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
Because four activist judges in San Francisco wrongly overturned the people’s vote, we need to pass this measure as a constitutional amendment to restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.

Myths and Facts about Proposition 8

• MYTH: Proposition 8 enshrines discrimination in our Constitution.
• FACT: Proposition 8 does not discriminate against gays; it simply restores the meaning of marriage and protects it as an essential institution that has benefited mankind since the beginning of time. Every culture in the world understands that marriage is between a man and a woman. Californians from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds, whether religious or not, agree that marriage is between a man and a woman. Proposition 8 does not take away any rights from gay and lesbian domestic partners. Gays and lesbians in California can already enjoy all the legal rights and benefits of marriage. The California Family Code says, “domestic partners shall have all the rights, protections and benefits” of married spouses. There are NO exceptions to this. Proposition 8 will not change that.

• MYTH: Allowing gay couples to legally marry does not affect anyone else.
• FACT: The narrow decision of the State Supreme Court effectively renders all civil marriage meaningless and will result in tremendous confusion for children. The state Education Code (§51890) requires that teachers instruct children as young as kindergartners about marriage.
  
• If the gay marriage ruling becomes permanent, teachers will have little choice but to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage. We should not accept a court decision that results in public school teachers teaching our kids that gay marriage is acceptable. That is an issue for parents to discuss with their children according to their own values and beliefs. It should not be forced on us against our will.

• MYTH: This proposition is the work of right wing radicals and extremists to attack the rights of gays.
• FACT: Proposition 8 is supported by a broad range of organizations and individuals, including faith leaders representing virtually every faith in California – and those who subscribe to no faith at all. People from every walk of life believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Over 1.1 million Californians signed the petitions to put Proposition 8 on the ballot.
  
• If gay marriage advocates want to change the definition of marriage, they should have to put a ballot measure before the voters to do so. This has never happened. Instead, they have gone behind the backs of voters and convinced four activist judges in San Francisco to redefine marriage for all of society. That is the wrong approach.
• Proposition 8 does not interfere with gays living the lifestyle they choose. However, while gays can live as they want, they should not have the right to redefine marriage for the rest of society.

• MYTH: The majority of the State Supreme Court said that gay marriage is a “right”, so the rest of us should leave the issue alone.
• FACT: Ultimately, the legal meaning of marriage is up to the people to decide. Four judges on the Supreme Court declared that gay marriage is a “right” because the traditional definition of marriage did not expressly appear in the state Constitution itself. Proposition 8 overturns the court’s flawed decision by amending the state Constitution to include the common-sense definition of marriage that was previously approved by over 61% of the voters (Proposition 22, enacted in 2000, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”).

Vote Yes on Proposition 8! www.ProtectMarriage.com

See a related article at http://www.ldsmag.com/familyleadernetwork/080908fails.html

Paisley in Paisley - August 10, 2008; Folsom

Just a couple more pictures! Adorable Paisley in her pretty paisley dress! Beautiful eyes! Don't you just want to pick her up?












Paisley and her sleeping dad. (The dad is just pretending to sleep though. He's pretty good at pretending!)
Paisley was waiting patiently for her bottle.




Weston has an impressive ability to stand up and support his body weight! He is ready to be on the go! When you hold him, he keeps his legs straight so he can stand up all the time. He's one strong boy!














What a good dad! Jenna and the rest of the girls went to see a movie. We arrived back at the same time as Weston and his dad!

08/08/08 - Charity's Birthday - Surprise!

Happy Birthday to Charity!!! We celebrated her birthday with the 8's as much as we could. Jenna did a great job of setting up breakfast with Charity so it was a bit of a surprise that Ashley and Paisley also came. Then the bigger surprise was that I was there. (Ashley, thanks for the great suggestion that I come for the birthday celebration! Jenna, thanks for arranging breakfast perfectly!)

This picture shows our birthday breakfast location. I know you're impressed to see the beautifully wrapped 8 birthday gifts! Breakfast was planned for 8 am but we were running a little late.



Here's a cute picture of Paisley!












Weston was also really good at breakfast.













Here's a picture of us at the restaurant.













Charity had strawberry french toast and it was absolutely delicious! If you need a good breakfast location in Sacramento, ask Jenna for the name of this fabulous restaurant!











Weston is getting so big even since I was there in July.











Weston gave Aunt Charity lots of smiles and laughs for her on her birthday!












Jenna worked so hard to make a delicious dinner for Charity's birthday at 8 pm! Mango chicken, spinach/strawberry salad, Hawaiian rolls. I wish I could have eaten more! I think Jenna is the most patient cook - I think she chopped for several hours! I was impressed by her efforts. What a fabulous gift for Charity!

Jenna also taught me how to cut mangoes! Thanks Jenna!











Jason gets credit for the candles - In case you are wondering it's 32! Three singles candles for the "3" and the one "2" candle for the two! Good job Jason.

Ashley made these yummy cupcakes - chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and marshmallow filling! Finger licking good. Ashley, thanks for making Charity's favorite cupcakes!








Pretty Paisley...................















Here's some of Charity's birthday gifts - a cute Olympics shirt and pants for working out at the gym.















A book on procrastination - so give her a little time and she'll have even more pointers if you need help with procrastination.











Jason and Ashley had this shirt made special for Charity. "There's counseling for that...." is a frequently spoken response by Charity. You can tell she is a therapist! She loved the shirt!












Jenna and Casey made this fun candy bar card for Charity! It was so cute and so creative! They also got her a beautiful bouquet of flowers!










Little Paisley starting to crawl.....
















Weston is doing great at sitting up all by himself!


















Paisley sure laughs and smiles if she gets a little tickling from her mother. I just love Paisley's laugh!










We played the bean game as Charity desired. She was quite the player! I dropped out to put Weston to sleep.

Jason and Casey, my apologies for not getting any good pictures of you..... I think I was too focused on the babies and Charity!

Of course, we ended the birthday by watching the Olympics until the end of the birthday!

Busy Backyard - August 16, 2008

In case you were wondering what the backyard looks like at Nate and Misty's house, I took a few pictures last night so you can see for yourself. (The pictures of Nate and Misty were actually taken in front of the garage but all the other pictures were taken in the backyard.)

Look at the cute, fun toys for Adalei and Brielle. We've been having 100 degree days and Adalei said she has been swimming with her sister.

Nate was in a hurry so I missed the one second pose but wanted to include his picture because he has a really nice shirt.

Mostly, I wanted you to see their first garden. Isn't it impressive. I think they have a "green thumb" like I wish I had. They are doing great and I'm really happy that their planning and hard work has resulted in a hearty garden.

As you can see, they have a fun and busy backyard with the garden and fun toys.

If Adalei wanted to play "hide and go seek," she could easily hide in the garden.

Don't you just love cute Brielle's smile?! She is getting big so fast!