A Mother's Day Tribute.....

Oh my goodness. Aaron and I are extremely blessed when it comes to the Mother's in our life. Not only do we have my mom, his mom but we also are very blessed with a wonderful 3rd mom too. I guess most would technically call her Step Mom but I never liked that term so we just call her mom too. We also have been blessed with grandma's that are a great gift to us.

There are a lot of wonderful women on both of our family sides and we are so grateful for each and every one of them.

I could talk about all of them, right down to the great grandma's and many aunts we have, but I am going to keep it at the Mom's for this......

I'll start with Susan. She came into Kurt's life when Ashlynn was just a baby or at least that is when they started dating I guess. She was a co-worker of his for years. I liked her instantly & so did Aaron. They got married, and had a fun wedding. Her and Kurt are just a blast to be around. We always have an amazing time when we are with them. Susan has got Kurt involved with all his kids & she LOVES to have family get togethers and have us visit them. She is so caring and we always have an email or we get a phone call to see how we are and how the kids are. Susan has a kind heart, and a caring heart, and a nurturing nature. She makes us laugh with all her funny "kid" comments and the kids laugh too, cuz they know Grandma really wouldn't duct tape them to a chair...haha. My kids took to her really fast, and love her so much. When she married Kurt, she not only took on a husband but she also took on an entire family of kids and grandkids, and she has loved us and cared for us all as if she was always there. That is something I really admire about her. She really cares about all of us. Thanks Susan for all you do for our family, and the love and support you've given us. We love you!

Aarons mom Sandy is another great inspiration to our family. Aaron has a lot of respect and love for his mom and she has made him a man that I love beyond measure. Sandy is like another mom to me, I've had her apart of my life now for half my life so of course I also have a lot of respect and love for her as a mom, a mother in law, and a friend. She loves us, and cares a great deal for us and has given us alot of support over the years. She loves her grand girls...right down to our dog zoey...she even calls her her grand-dogdaughter, lol. The girls adore her & love her so much & so do we!

Thanx mom for all your love & support thru out our lives, now and in the past! You've always been there for us in our good times and our bad, and we appreciate you! We love & respect the women you are & our very proud your our mom! From a daughter in law to her Mother in law THANK YOU for bringing up a son that I love & respect and whom takes care of his family as he does. Thank you for being a supportive Mom in law and being there for me. I see you as a mother, not a mother in law, and you are also a very close friend too! WE LOVE YOU!

TO my mom..... This one is a little bit special to me, as it should, she is my mother, she gave birth to me, raised me and has been there for me all my life & now she is there for not only me but her grand-daughters, and son in law. Mom, your not only my mother whom I respect as such but you are one of my best friends. You are a friend that I want to call when something exciting, sad, stressful, bad, happy happens to me. I love our talks & I miss that we dont do that as much anymore. I know life gets in the way, but there isn't a day that goes by that I dont think of you at least a handful of times even if I dont talk to you. You've done so much to help my family, which in turn helps me thru out the years of my life & I honestly don't know how I'd get thru most of it w/out you! Your a strong women, a caring women, a giving women. You give of yourself even when you dont have the strength to do so. You love your family, your kids with all your heart, and it shows in your actions, words & thoughts everyday. My girls adore you & love to visit with you.

You've made my life a better world & I can never repay you for that. Its such a blessing and a comfort just to know that if I need you to fall back on you are there. As I've mentioned MANY times just having you in the area calms me down.... I know you havent been in the room with me during each birth I've given but seeing your hands on the door, or knowing your htere by the door makes me feel better, it brings a calming to my soul that only a mother can bring. THANK YOU for being there, THANK YOU for all you've done in my life. I love you beyond measure.

As I've said, Aaron and I are so blessed with many great women in our life & THANK YOU for being such wonderful blessings to us & our children!!!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA KEITH!!!!

Gosh, its been a busy two months with all these birthdays we've had recently, but birthdays are a time to tell a person in your life how important they are to you& thats always a fun thing to do.
My blog lately has been all birthday posts, but as I mentioned they are fun to post. We just had Grandpa Lloyd's birthday, now we have Grandpa Keith's birthday! The girls had fun talking back and forth about fun memories of their grandpa's. Here are some of their responses about Grandpa Keith and what he means to them.....

Derian: " Its fun to go to Grandpa Keiths, & when he takes us down to the horses its so much fun!
Ashlynn: "Grandpa makes yummy breakfast for us, & I like to spend time with him at the horses"
Kymbree: Papa has a playhouse & sand....him let us play on them"
A'jaye: well, she's a baby, and doesn't talk much, but as I've menitoned before, she's such a grandpa's girl, she always has a great time tearing up Grandpa's magazines, or clearing the cofeee table, grandpa's so good to just let her do her thing, it cleans up......

Some of Aaron and I's thoughts on Dad......
Aaron's dad is always willing to help us out when we need, it doesn't matter how big the task, or how small, we know we can always rely on him for help. The love he has for his grandkids is evident whenever they are around him. He showers them with hugs & attention & loves to visit with the older ones.
He wont admit it much, but he's sort of a big teady bear when it comes to those little ones & loves the slobber kisses, they give him.
He enjoys very much when we come to visit & stay for the night or weekend, it doesn't happen a lot just cause its so hard to travel with 4, soon to be 5 kids but you can tell he's just thrilled to have us around.
He's very proud of his family, his kids and grandkids. He supports all his kids, and grandkids in every thing they do. He loves to watch the grandkids have fun whether at his house or in any activity they might be involved in.

A story I remember about Keith is when he bought us all circus tickets & we all went as a family to the circus, all of us were there except for Jeremy, Chrissy's husband. All the grandkids were there though which was the most important part. We decided to ride the Tram downtown just so we wouldn't have to fight traffic or parking & it let us off right by the Delta Center. It was raining so hard that day, so here we all are running with kids in tote, bags, diapers, binkies, strollers the whole nine yards to thr tram. He was buying us all tickets to get on the train while we stood in line to get on. Well it took awhile for the tokens to be gotten, so Michael and I were holding the door for Dad so it wouldn't close and leave him there..... it kept yellling at us to get outta the doorway, loud, louder, VERY LOUD, lol....we all got on that tram, soaking wet and kids crying he barely made it on the train & he stayed so calm even with everyone just frustrated with being wet, kids crying.... I think we all looked like the circus ourselves. LOL!
We had a great time that day even though it was quite the event to get us all there, together, and kids happy. When we left our seats to leave, it looked like a bomb had gone off with spilt cherry slushi's, and popcorn, & candy all over the floor, sticky kids, and sleepy tired kids. then we decided to torture ourselves even more & go out to eat at a restraunt together, as if the circus wasn't enough. WE had a chance to sit at the table and just visit and laugh, and it was a great time being all together and doing something that was fun. The grandkids one by one went and gave hugs to papa and thanked him for the day at the circus. You could see the look of joy and love in Papa's eyes. It made him happy, I could tell to put a smile on their faces.


Aaron and appreciate you, Dad for your love and support. we hope you had a fabulous day on your birthday & we love you!

MY DAD!

Well, it was his birthday on May 1st, but because I am a big old looser, I forgot I had a blog to pay tribute to him. If he wasn't such a great guy, I wouldn't even bother at this point, but HE IS!...so even though its late, I haveta share some thoughts about him.

So I asked my kids what they all liked about Grandpa Lloyd and this is their responses:

Derian.... "Grandpa pulled my tooth out, and it didn't even hurt....he's magic"

Ashlynn.... "I like to hug on Grandpa, but he has whiskers" (this especially made me laugh cuz great grandpa lloyd was FAMOUS for the same stunt)

Kymbree.. "(BIG GRIN, and a shy look) ..... I wuv papa Oyd"

A'jaye.... well, she speaks for herself when ever Grandpa comes to the door, she's the first to run to him, FAST....with her arms out to hold her. She LOVES her Grandpa, she is a total grandpa's girl.

and as for me.... this is what I haveta say about my Dad....

He's a quiet man, that doesn't say a whole lot, but you can always tell how he feels by the look in his eyes. His eyes speak volumes! I've always respected my dad for the person that he is, and the way he lives his life. He never judges a soul, and he always has a giving heart. So I guess he isn't so quiet after all because his actions are loud especially when it comes to his kids and family.

I haveta add a little story, that I always think of. When I had A'jaye he was there, and it was comforting to have my family there. My dad would sit in this chair in the room and look at me with these loving eyes, as if he wanted to take ALL the pain away but couldn't.... It came time for A'jaye to come into this world and everyone left the room. I remember after I had the baby he came in and sat in that same chair, and I could tell that he had been crying, or was visibly upset, it really touched me to the point of tears myself....afterwards I asked my mom what was wrong with dad, and she told me he was just so concerned and worried and overcome with fear.... it was a tuff delivery, but I think my dad carried most that burden for me that day, I might felt the pain, but that day my dad took the emotional burden for me! I honestly think that to this day, that is why A'jaye is so oooo emotionaly attatched to him.

Aaron was so touched by his words he spoke to us all at Thanksgiving dinner that it had him even choked up. He also always mentions the time that dad took him out on the porch (not a basement talk this time, lol) & expressed how much he appreciated him for the way he took care of me, and his kids. That he respected the person that Aaron is & saw him as a son and loved him. This meant so much to Aaron to hear that from his Father in law it really just meant the world to him. He explains dad as being a very quiet man, but when he speaks, you had better listen cause he means every word of it, and it always comes from the heart.

Dad, I hope you had a fabulous birthday. I know our family loves you beyond measure. Your quite the man and you will ALWAYS hold a special place in your daughters heart!

We love you......