How could I forget?

and Bronson - the one who makes me want to try a little harder to be a little better

A Mom's Mom

I was born Jan. 27 1983.  7 lbs 15. oz.  20.5 inches long, and

In honor of getting older I thought I would share a few 

things about myself that you may not know.

1. I have a very embarrassing disease called I can't control my laughter. 

(lots of stories to go with that one)

2.  I can say no to any treat until you put them in front of me.

(another good reason Jared should do the grocery shopping)

3.  Biggest peeves - itchy stuff and stupid parents

(ya I'm working on this one)

4.  When I sleep I'm pretty much barricaded with pillows

(even when I'm not PG)

5.  One day I'm going back to school to get my nursing degree

(don't you feel closer already?)

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Michelle, you haven't changed much

since you were two.

I've come to realize the very sad truth, that you never really appreciate your mother until you become one.  So for my 26th birthday I would like to say thank you to my mom.  I am the sixth of seven children as is my mom.  A little mind boggling to me as I can barely keep up with one.  This is a picture of my mom's mom Ila, where we'll begin.

The Grandma where kisses and hugs never got old.  

She's been gone over 20 years, but I love and 

appreciate her now more than ever.

baby #1 - Jason   The one you want around if you ever need to knock someone's lights out.

#2 - Jeffrey   The one who's too smart for his own good.

#3 Amber - the one who cares.

#4 Stephanie - the one who shares.

#5 Melissa - the one you can trust.

#6 Me - the one who will let you fill in the blank.

#7 Camille - the one who understands me when I say things like

"Evelyn!  Which team do you play for?"

Historically my mom and I never got along very well, I was a smart

 mouthed teenager who knew it all and didn't need a mom.

  I'll never forget on my wedding day however when my mom 

reached over to hold my hand and I never wanted her to let go.

The sad truth is that the poor girl is still raising 7 children.  I don't know where I would be without her support, advice and babysitting skills ;).  Helping your kids with projects doesn't stop once they're out of elementary.  I can guarantee there isn't one thing that any of us have done that mom hasn't had a role in.  Thanks mom your the best.  I love just being able to hang out and talk with you, and I hope I can keep hangin' in there as you have always done.  I was thinking that somethings she used to do made no sense to me at all and drove me nuts, but now they are becoming a little too clear - for instance

~ crying because the house is a mess

~ reaching across the car to you when she had to slam on the brakes

~ dancing with and kissing my dad (a lot)

~ being the loudest mom in the crowd at sporting events

~ going yard selling

~family reunions

~ sharing meals at restaurants

~entering radio contests 

~ driving carpool in her pajamas

~ saying things like - "You're room looks like a bomb hit it"

~ taking care of others before herself

~ taking out frustrations on the poor dog

~not jumping on the trampoline for fear of wetting your pants

~ making us wash walls

 and one for my dad, 

~just watching the grass grow.

 I could go on and on, but I'll spare you.  

The point is I am becoming my mom, well maybe a very small version of her, but I'm so glad that I can always lean on her for strength.  I don't know what I would do with out her.  I saw a saying today, "Home is where you're mom is."  True, true.  One of these days I'll grow up and hopefully be a sliver of the person she  is.

Six kids ready for church and smiling.  How the heck?

5 girls ready for church with hair done and still smiling.

(I'm glad for now I have boys)

PS - Remember about a  year ago when I lost my camera.  Yup, it turned up at church.  For some reason Jared had mentioned it to a member of the bishop brick again a couple of weeks ago, and the bishop from the other ward recently asked them if someone had lost a camera.  Hooray, it was ours.  We had checked with people at church and looked around forever and nothing.  Crazy, crazy, that it shows up after almost a year. The sad part of the story is that when we were cleaning out our office to move things downstairs we seemed to gotten rid of battery chargers and cords to a camera that we thought was long gone.

Hey Uh-huh. . . .

"Hey Uh-huh, are you squished in there?"

This is our tough little trooper at 33.5 weeks.  The lines on both sides of his face are his legs.  Yup, he's folded right in half with his feet over his head (if he's anything like me, he better enjoy that flexibility while he's got it) and his arm is underneath his chin.  Like I said, what a trooper, and I thought I had it bad.  I don't think I'll ever get over what a miracle babies are.

Other than that there's not much going on here.  Bronson is a little MONKEY and keeps us laughing.  One of my favorite things is when I ask him if he wants to help me do the laundry.  He used to run to the gate at the top of the stairs waiting for me to get the laundry together, but now he just goes straight for the closet climbs in, gets nice and comfy in the laundry basket waiting for his bumpy ride down the stairs. 

   

This was at 31 weeks, like I said what a tough little guy.  

This is his totally ripped bicep, arm and hand.  

He was hiding his face that week but I guess he still wanted

 to do a little showing off. 

5 little ducks went out one day . . . . . .

So I've been thinking about lots of things I could post lately, the only problem is none of them would be interesting to any of you I'm sure. So I decided to do a wacky thing and just write them down in my journal instead. My last journal entry was in July, when I found out I was pg. So hopefully I'll do better and not let blogging take over journal writing. So what is this post, a tag, insights into Michelle's soul ;).

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...
1. Just about to get my drivers license.
2. Playin' with new niece Bailee.
3. Figuring out how to keep straight A's
4. Getting excited for softball conditioning and tryouts.
5. Having a serious crush on Chris Metcalfe (but I had this problem of hiding from people that I liked, I'm sure he never even knew my name)

5 Things on my "to do list" today... (hmm let's see it's 7:30 pm)
1. fold laundry
2. put away kitchen chairs when floor dries
3. watch a movie till Jared comes home.
4. have a bath
5. brush teeth

5 Snacks I Love...
1. icecream/popsicles
2. fresh fruit
3. chocolate milk with a straw
4. dry cereal
5. chips and salsa

5 Things I would do if I was a billionaire...
1. travel
2. travel
3. travel
4. travel
5. hire people, lots and lots of lovely people.
Hmmm, that wasn't very interesting at all was it? Sorry.
I tag, Melissa, Morgan, Heather, Jenni, and Kim (and anybody else who feels like it)

'08 was great!

We had a great Christmas, lots of running around but lots of fun. Bronson loves playing with his new toys and hates falling off of them. Jared spoiled me and gave me exactly what a wanted, an empty office to soon become a nursery. If you only could have seen the office before you would understand what a big job it was, not to mention that for the office stuff to come down stairs a few things had to be finished first. We now have 2 completed bedrooms and a laundry room down stairs and I love it. I'll post pics later. One of the best parts is that I moved my computer downstairs, thus helping me to not get on and off of it all day long. We hope everyone has had a great start to the new year.