Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mom, Happy Birthday to you!

Mom is one of the coolest people I know. I am so glad that she is my Mom! We have the best times when we are together. I have learned so much from her and if I turn out to be half the person she is--I'll be in good shape! Here are just a few reasons why she's the bestest:

She always there when I need her. Even if it's just to complain about something. We talk on the phone almost everyday. Grandpa makes fun of us-he says he has never seen anything like us!
We also text each other-that's a lot of fun too.


She loves to visit me and Toby, no matter where we live! She came to Florida, Vegas, and Boise. It's always fun to have Mom visit. Here we are down at the Strip going shopping and out to eat.

Mom's not afraid to have fun or be silly! She makes me laugh. Love the glasses Mom!

She's a football fan, and not just any football fan--- a Steelers fan! Mom loves sports and always supports us kids when we play. When the Steelers were playing in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks, some neighbors posted an "Enemies Among Us" newspaper article on the the garage door. Yet, when the Steelers won--they still came over to eat cake!

Most of all-Mom you're such a fun person and I love you! Happy Birthday!

"I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education which I have received from my mother" George Washington

"All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel Mother" Abraham Lincoln

We're Back in Business!

Toby and I (well mostly Toby) fixed the car this weekend! For those of you who don't know what happened, click here to read the story. The insurance company deemed our Corsica a total loss and wanted to give us $1300 for it. We said, that's it????? We know that it's an old car, but it was not a total loss before the stupid kid hit us. Plus, we don't want to have to buy a new car until Toby is finished with school. We asked them if we could keep the car and fix it ourselves. They let us do that and gave us $1260 for it. Wahoo! We had to switch the title and and register it as a salvaged car. Oh well-that's okay. We'll end up in the positive with a little bit of extra cash! (ya-pay off those grad loans)
So off we went to the Salvage Yard to find a new door. We were able to get a gray one that had red interior. Not what we wanted but we decided that we could sand off the gray paint and then paint it white! Toby also pulled off the red interior and switched it with the blue one. Pretty smart husband huh?!? We also had to switch the side view mirrors. Luckily we were able to get that as well. We only spent $160.00 on the door and window.

As well as a new door, we needed a new windshield. That wasn't too big of a deal, it was going to cost us $180.oo. They came and fixed it and then on Saturday, Toby went to work. Here are the photos of us fixing our car. We felt a little white trashish, working out in the apartment parking lot-but hey--who wants to buy a new car when this one works just fine? It just needed a little TLC. We ended up spending roughly $400 to fix the car. What a great deal! Enjoy the photos!

What do you celebrate?

I participated in the St. Luke's Women's Celebration 5K on Saturday. It was such a blast! It is the biggest women's race in the nation and we have thousands of women participate each year. I was amazed at just how many women and children there were! There were different brackets to sign up for. You could either compete for medals or just for fun. I signed up for the "just for fun" section because I don't like running or competing! I wanted to just walk it. I went with a couple girls and we had a lot of fun. It was cold and it ended up raining on us, but we still did pretty good.

The race celebrates women's health and the money from the race goes to research for different woman's health issues. It was a very uplifting day-it was all about what do we celebrate in our lives? As I was walking, I thought of all the things I celebrate.

Here are just a few:

My Religion-I celebrate the knowledge that I have of the restored gospel.

My Family-All of them! They have always been my greatest supporters.

My Health-I take for granted how healthy I am.

Living in America-We are so blessed to live in a free country.

Deitzel Twins

I got to take some photos of Paige's twins. She works with Toby in the Cath Lab. Treston and Taylor are 8 weeks old. It was more difficult than I thought trying to get them to both look at me. It was a fun shoot! Click here to see more photos.

Time Out for Women

Mom came to visit this weekend for Time out For Women. It was so, so, so fun. We were able to listen to presenters who gave great talks. Mary Ellen Edmunds was the host. She is hilarious! She would make jokes and end up cracking herself up! She has served numerous missions for the Church around the world. It was fun to listen to her stories. The presenters were--Jane Clayson Johnson (she wrote, I am Mother), Stephen E. Robinson (he wrote Beliveving Christ), Chris Stewart (he is a world-record-setting Air Force pilot and also an author) and Sheri Dew who has written many books and is the CEO of Deseret Book. There were over 3000 women who came to this conference. That's a lot of women!
We also went shopping and out to eat. It was so fun to be with Mom. Even though it was just a weekend trip, it was still nice to have her here. I love to hang out with her. We always have the best talks and do such fun things. I wish I lived by my family! Good thing we have phones, e-mail and planes!
Thanks for coming Mom!

John comes to visit

Uncle John had a softball tournament this past weekend here in Boise and we got to see him. He took us out to dinner (thanks, it was yummy!) to The Outback. Can't beat steaks! Then on Saturday, we went to his softball games. There was a chance for Toby to play, but he was too sick. Toby loves softball, so he was really bummed that he didn't get to play. John's team has this rule that if you get the third out when up to bat, you have to wear a skirt! They don't do it during every game, but luckily they did it when we were there! The won both of their games and they are a really good team. We got to sit in the dugout and cheer them on. Here are a few photos from the game. Enjoy seeing John in a skirt!

rainy, cloudy and 63 degrees

Well, summer seems to be over here in Boise. Sad huh!

We just got back from a trip to Spokane. Mom found out about "dings" on Southwest which I had never heard of, and we flew up there for pretty cheap. It was a lot of fun. We went out to dinner, shopped, watched movies and rode bikes on the Centennial Trail. We also got to listen to the Spokane Symphony when they had the concert in the park behind my house. They did a fantastic job! I loved listening to them and they played the theme from Pirates and Jurrasic Park. We stayed up late and talked and had fires in the back yard and watched for stars. It was so nice to be home with the family. We miss them already!

Now we are back home and the weather is glum. Wish it was still hot and sunny! I need another vacation.