Irish eye's are smiling

Thursday is my Moms BIRTHDAY! You can bet we would be celebrating the Irish way with her. Sometimes that had a bit of a Mexican flare, or German flare, or Swiss flare well pretty much you could count on pork and cabbage but you never knew what else it would mean. One thing for certain....You would be eating a lot of green stuff today. My mom would always talk about how her mom would make cupcakes and bring Pineapple ice cream to school to celebrate "the twin's" birthday's. She was LUCKY, if I had to share my birthday with anyone Aunt LaRue was a great pick. When I was a small girl I could get them confused pretty easily. Not that they were exact but sometimes you just couldn't tell with out a double take. I got older and it got better but then my mom got sick. One year she was in the hospital for Thanksgiving. That was the holiday we spent with her two wonderful sisters. Aunt LaRue was in the back of the chapel and I saw her out of the corner of my eye and started running up to hug my mom. About half way there I realized that my mom really was not there. I changed my direction and headed to the bathroom to make my eyes stop sweating. That day I realized that some day my mom would be gone and I would still have my Aunt. Wondering if that would be hard or easy became a big dread. Know we know it isn't bad at all. Yes, sometimes my eyes still sweat and my voice shakes and my breathing becomes deep because she brings "MOM" memories back to me but over all she is just like having mom in a different kind of way. When we talk on the phone some times I forget that I am not talking to my mom. She keeps track of everything just like MOM. So Happy Birthday MOM and AUNT LARUE...Here's a scoop of pineapple ice cream and a cupcake just for you.

Delightful Dinner Date

Monday after we fulfilled our family and work duties we headed home to relax. The end of our long weekend together after not seeing each other for four weeks was coming to an end. We grabbed a baguette, salami, cheese, artichoke dip, butter, apples and whiskey and headed to the basement for a little movie named "UP" What a great movie. I laughed, cried and enjoyed the heck out of my simple dinner and date night. Thanks honey for enjoying the simple things with me sometimes. There are not a lot of men that would like a baguette and salami for dinner but I can count on you.

Make it into a full weekend

This week we actually spent some time together when both of us were coherent enough to know what was going on. We spend Friday with the parents, Friday night with the Grands, Saturday with both and Sunday with the family and each other. Saturday morning Gene went off to help his father for a few hours after he had breakfast with the cutest two boys on Earth. Then he came home and picked us all up and we went to the train show and a picnic. While the boys helped me make a sack lunch they found the cheese balls and devoured most of the bag while I made PB & J's to take with us.

It was not your typical train show you see. There was a mile long wait to get inside but the outside trains were fast to see and we rode two trains with out standing in a line waiting.



When Sage got tired of seeing things we asked what the boys wanted to do next. Sky voted to get a shake. We headed to McDonalds for a shake. We were informed that shakes come from dairy queen, but he was pretty happy with his Oreo Bizzard. We drove for a bit and headed home. Once we dropped the boys off we decided we would go check out the season sales in Salt Lake. We stumbled upon a great sale at Kirkham's. Shoes for everyone, a skirt and socks for M. All on sale and an extra 25% off that. Great find. While we were shopping our friends called and asked us to stop by the car show. It was a lot of fun to walk around and look at cars. After the show we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home. Bella was not too happy with us when we got home. We made it up to her on Sunday because we slept in and let her play in the yard for a long time before we headed out to Mexican Dinner with the Garcia's. St. Mary's serves a great mexican dinner. Then we took Mom and Dad to Aunt Mary Garcia's funeral. A stop for pie and an end to a great weekend together.

Everything is a miracle

This seems to be a fitting song for a fitting day.

Today you are YOU!

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” ~Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess. A man I love. If it's possible to say that about someone you have never met only read. Amazing work, rhymes, and life lessons. There really isn't much in life that you can't relate to a Suessism.

And for dinner tonight. Green eggs and Ham and green beer because it's MARCH!!!!

Beans, beans the magical fruit

Two sisters happy to can together. Canning alone does not make you smile like this.

Beauties just out of the pressure cooker.

We canned them so we don't have to spend so much time soaking them when we want a good meal of beans. It was a lot of fun and canning in the garage on a camp chef just whets your appetite for camping season. It was a lot of fun. The worst part was waiting for the darn things to cook for 75 minutes. Oh, it may have been bad when I was lifting one out of the cooker and it hissed and spit at me. That made me cuss and say bad words. I am sure my mom was smiling at that exact moments. Here are a few photos of our canning day...

Finishes washed and ready to put away. That is the hard part putting it all away.

White beans, red beans black beans, brown beans...we didn't miss any of them

Amazing what 2/3 cup beans and some water turn into after 75 minutes at 12 pounds of pressure.

Vickie we love you

Today was the funeral for one of the ladies that lived in my group home. It is amazing to see the love that pours out during a time like this. I had the opportunity of working with the bishop of the rock cliff 1st ward again. I hoped last January I wouldn't have to work with him again but this week I got my chance. What an awesome man. He is amazing and willing to help in aspects that I didn't think of myself.

I was asked to speak by the family on Saturday. It is not my favorite thing to do. I kind of thought that I dodged the "Relief Society" bullet that my Mom laid the "big shoes" to fill in that department. However, after this past week I think she is just being sneaky about how she is getting me involved:)

Talking at funerals is not my favorite thing. In fact talking in public is not what I would ever choose to do for a past time. I learned at my mom's funeral that it was really hard to control my tears but with my brothers backing me up I made it. Literally the backed me up. I was having a hard time talking instead of crying and they all came to the pulpit to stand with me while I finished. Now for two other funerals that I have been asked to speak at I can feel them standing right behind me letting me know it's all going to be ok.

I was amazed to find out how often I cross paths with others who know Vickie or her family. It was a great day and thankfully the storm waited to come in until Vickie's day was over. She wouldn't have liked that. I can see her shaking her finger now at the weather man.