Happy Birthday Cassidy!!!!!

Today was our wonderful daughter-in-laws birthday. We are so fortunate to have her in our family. We have known Cass since she and Jared were in the eighth grade. Brandy and I decided when Jared was on his mission that if he didn't marry Cass when he got home that he was going to be in big trouble with us because we loved her!!

And Jared gave Cass exactly what she wanted for her birthday - he received a job offer today! Jared received an offer from DWG and Associates. They are a general contractor for the government. He will be the Human Resource Assistant for the company and along with the job came a substantial increase in pay for this soon to be college grad. We are all so excited about Cassidy's wonderful birthday present!!!!!

First Birthday Party

Saturday we were honored to attend the first birthday party for cute little Phoenix. The thing that makes me feel so old is that I have known his Mom since she was a little tyke herself in Georgia (I still feel awful about dropping those hot grits on your hand Kerra when you were little). There is nothing more adorable than a one year old blowing out his first candle (with the help of his Mom of course), opening his birthday presents (the bubble machine from Auntie Erin was the biggest hit) and hamming it up for the camera (he is going to be a heart breaker girls).
Happy first birthday Phoenix!!!!!

Phoenix is one loved little fella. Above are Aunt Erin, Mom, Phoenix, Dad (directly behind Phoenix), Uncle Jon, Uncle Jeremy.

FaMiLiEs ArE FoReVeR

This past week my sister and brother-in-law have been here visiting from Alabama. My nephew (their son) graduated from Brigham Young University so they came out for his graduation. It has been so much fun having them visit - we have shopped, we have eaten, we have visited with extended family and friends, we have eaten, we had family pictures taken (thanks Jared Shupe), we have eaten (oh have I already mentioned that)! They left this morning and my house is way to quiet. I wish that we lived closer together because a sister is an awesome person to have around to play with, cry with and to feel loved by!

Last night we went to Tuscany's for a graduation celebratory dinner.

The studly men in our lives - Rob, Ben, Bennie, Jared, Dave, Ernie (the brother Rob never had)

And the beautiful women - Cassidy, June, Des, Tammy, Myrna (our blond sister), Brandy

Ramblings

My ankle has been really hurting me the past few weeks so I made an appointment to see the physiatrist (a doctor that deals in skeleton/muscles/bones) this week. I told him I had decided that I wanted it amputated so I would no longer have pain but of course he did not think that was a good idea!! He gave me a cortisone shot which turned out to be a painful experience. My ankle has started to fuse itself together so he had a hard time getting the needle in the joint to insert the cortisone. He told me he would put me on Oxycontin or pain patches if I wanted but they are so addicting that I decided I would rather just stay with the Lortab and Percocete (I really feel like I am becoming a druggie - but numerous doctors have assured me that as long as you only take the medication when in pain you will not become addicted - I sure hope they are correct)! My only real option for pain relief is an ankle replacement but I am still to young to have that done (that is the only thing I am to young for - haha). I will continue to go ever four months for a cortisone shot.



My cute son is still looking for a job after being laid off from Larry H.Miller two and half weeks ago. As of today he has applied for 65 jobs. He has had several offers but they have been commission based jobs and he does not want that. If you hear of anything please let him know. After next week he will be officially done with all his classes at the University of Utah and will be the proud recipient of a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communications.



And my last rambling for the day is to say how lucky I am to have such an amazing family. Rob is truly the best husband a woman could ask for (he has been in Maine this week and I have missed him terribly). All I have to do is mention that I want something and he gets it for me (he even offered to go to the Dooney and Bourke Outlet in Freeport, Maine and get me a new purse this week - how many husbands would do that?). He is a great provider, a hard worker and the sexist man alive! And Brandy, Dave, Jared and Cassidy are unbelievable . They are always willing to help with any project we have going on (lately there has been alot), they are here for us when we are sick, they show us tons of love and they even still like taking trips with us (we are looking forward to our trip to Alabama with Brandy in July and our trip to Chicago with Jared and Cass in August). And in addition to these wonderful children we have our adopted kids the Selin's who are always here when we need help (thanks Chris for helping take down the fence on Saturday). So even with all the bad things going on in the world today our family is truly a blessed family. Last week we all went to the temple together (sorry you couldn't make it Chris) and setting in the celestial room surrounded by our cherished children we had the confirmation that all will be well, Jared will find a job, I will learn to deal with pain, Brandy and Dave will be parents and most of all that our family will be together forever. What more could you want out of life.

Easter

Easter holds a lot of childhood memories for me. Easter was one of the few Sunday's when I was growing up that we would go to church (Mother's Day was the other Sunday that we went to church), I would always get a new Easter dress and shoes, the Easter Bunny would leave my Easter basket outside for me to find and we would have a big Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt (complete with the golden egg that contained money which I found three years in a row) with all my Daddy's extended family at a Community Center in Banks, Alabama. Easter is one of my favorite holidays and probably the holiday that I have the fondest memories of from my childhood. So even though our kids are married we still try to make Easter a special day in our family. This year we had 14 people join us for dinner (Ben and Des we are really going to miss you next year), we had an Easter egg hunt with candy filled eggs for the little tyke and regular candy bars for the big kids (you can't leave them out), the Easter bunny left baskets for everyone and of course a gathering at our home would not be complete without a sweaty game of basketball! It was an awesome day!

Before everyone arrived....

...after everyone arrived!!!!

Mrs. Easter Bunny!!

Brandy and Dave checking out what the Easter Bunny brought....

and Jared and Cass checking out their goodies!

Of course Dawson did not want to be left out.

Ben and Des after our Easter egg hunt!

Sorry there are no pictures of the Mr. Easter Bunny - he was busy taking pictures!!!

Boy's Night/Girl's Night

Tonight was the night that Rob and I look forward to twice a year. It was General Priesthood Meeting (a meeting that our Church holds every six months for all men). Rob looks forward to spending the evening with Jared and Dave and I look forward to spending the evening with Brandy (Cassidy goes with her Mom and sisters). While the boys were at their meeting Brandy, Roslyn and I went to dinner, then to Carole's to help her with a little project and then home to work on our own project. (Last Priesthood Meeting Brandy was out of town for work and I really missed not having her to spend the evening with.) The boys, as usual, decided which restaurant they wanted to go to after their meeting and then attended Priesthood Meeting at the closest chapel to the restaurant. They will do anything to avoid the "after Priesthood lines" at the restaurants! Rob and I feel so blessed to have a son and son-in-law who honor their Priesthood and a daughter and daughter-in-law who are just totally awesome in all ways (yes we are prejudice and darn proud of it!).