Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is My Dad's birthday! Its barely past 9am in Utah, but I'm sure he's been up for a while... He's always been an early riser.

A few of my favorite memories of my dad would have to be on the night before the first day of school each year, we would have a family home evening of sorts, where we'd all get blessings, he did this before each of us left home on our own as well. I'm glad I have him as my Dad. He's such a great example to me of love and kindness.

He had a stroke in 2002 I think it was... I went to Utah to visit in April of 2002, and I taught my dad how to re-sign his signature. I don't know how or why, but his signature always intrigued me. I practiced it so hard, I got pretty good when I was younger. I never used it for evil purposes though. Don't you worry. I think my purpose in learning it was so that I could teach my dad how to sign it again. It's now more than 5 years later, and he's doing well. The stroke wasn't as bad as it could have been, thank goodness, but his right side isn't as good as it was before.

I'm so happy I have the dad I do. I wouldn't trade him for a million bucks! The picture below was taken at the Manti Temple, we were all waiting for Dave and Logan, we must have been waiting for like 15-20 minutes or so... Very anxious to see them come out. Just then my dad walks out of the temple, and acts all surprised, like we were all there to see HIM! It was too funny! He threw his arms up and acted all surprised, the photographer got this shot right after that. It was cute. I love my daddy. Happy Birthday Dad!



Here's another cute picture, My Parents. :)



I love them both.

My Ohana

So, Logan and Dave got their pics back from their photographer, and they're all online. They're in "crappy" small proof quality, but the purpose of these pictures isn't to save (hence the annoying watermark) if we want high quality, we have to pay more... Ah well. Here's the most updated pic of my immediate family, minus my hubby, of course.



I also like this one of My Grandma (Mom's mom) and the great grandkids.



This one is just plain fun... I miss all the wit-o's we had so much fun the week we were all there! Sometimes I hate being so far from them.



These were just a few of my favorites. With 5 siblings, and 8 nieces and nephews, we had such a blast. :)

Last Minute Nerves

So I'll be leaving this house of mine in less than 5 hours, and thus will begin my 2 day trek to Utah. (Well, nearly 2 days... I'm taking a 4:15 bus to Buffalo which gets there at 7:40pm, then I'll sleep at the Desrosiers house, and leave with Shara in the morning so she's at work by 8am, and she'll drop me off at the airport on her way. Then I wait for my 11am flight, 4 hour layover in Kentucky, and I finally get into Utah at 6:30pm, which is 8:30pm my (eastern) time. I am going to be so tiiiiiiiiired when I get there.

Oh well, the nieces and nephews will wear me out and I'll sleep like a brick hit me Tuesday night for sure.

So, I think I've just about got everything. Aloha shirt for the Rehearsal Luau Dinner (I brought my two faves actually)... I've pretty much got everything else. I'm now wondering if I should bring another pair of crappy jeans, or just wait and go shopping there... (I'm easy with jeans, target or walmart works great for me.) I think I'm good wardrobe-wise. I brought a TON of makeup, both for selling to relatives, and to leave with my mom so she can mail them for me. See, with PayPal, I can pay for shipping here, email her the .pdf of the prepaid thingy, and she can stick it on a priority box, and I can schedule a pick-up for her even. SO much easier to ship stuff from the US than it is from Canada. (I shouldn't complain that much, its all this walking to the post office (nearly every day) since October that has dropped me a pants size. I'm a little afraid the size will come back if I get my car back.

...Uh oh... Hubby found my stash of makeup that I'm taking to my mom's house. Not good. I don't know if he'll let me take it all or not. We shall see. See, my plan is to take a TON of it, sell it, and if it doesn't sell, leave it there with instructions for my mom to ship it out there.

*sigh*

I still have laundry to do. I hope he'll let me just take it already. I don't need a fight right before I leave. I still feel like I'm forgetting something else though. :(

Now for the good news: My brother's family has made it to Utah safely. :) I'm not sure when Paula gets there, Jamie should be in a few hours later than me... And their husbands come at a later date because of work.

I'm really excited to see them again! I'll be so sad to leave them... We're a cute bunch.

December 19, 2005
Missing: Andy (Jamie's Husband, married March 2006), Baby Ella (born August 2006), and Baby Courtney (born June 2007), and of course my husband... He still hasn't met my parents...

The one getting married this Friday is next to me, "between"ish the bride and groom. Little bro Dave. I can hardly believe it. :) Congrats Dave!