Happy Birthday to me!  I have such a sweet husband.  He sent me 50 emails today.  Here they are: (Sorry for the long post, but had to share!)

1. Happy Birthday, Lover Girl.   I hope you have a great day!   Love,  John

2. You have brought so much happiness into my life.

3. I'm so grateful that you said "yes."

4.  I love you because you are so friendly.

5. I love you because you are so smart.

6. I love you because you care so much about others.

7. I love you because you are wise.

8. I love you because you are responsible.

9. I love you for your laugh.

10. I love you for your beauty.

11. I love you because you are so affectionate.

12. I love the way you greet me when I return home.

13. I love your faith.

14. You are a team player.

15. I love being your team-mate.

16. You are worthy to go to the temple.

17. Places and events are better when you are there.

18. We met on the bus.

19. We began our lives together.

20. We had Thomas together.

21. We moved to San Diego and had Nathan together.

22. We enjoyed the beach together with our little family.

23. You worked so hard to help ends meet. I felt sad about that sometimes.

24. We had Jacob together.

25. We moved to Virginia. We discovered Bobby Dubba, the Rhonda River, and mountains that were rainbows.

26. We took the greatest family vacation ever (“They ate my lunch!”).

27. We went to North Carolina, flew kites, and got bit by crabs and flies.

28. We moved to Utah and bought our first home.

29. Every time I see your smile, I’m amazed and thrilled that we are together.

30. Last little one trots off to school for the first time and you go back for the first time in many years.

31. It was the season of boys, pinewood derby cars, tenderfoot scouts, and first grade fun.

32.  Years of being a Boy Scout mom begins as the second priesthood holder in the home gets ordained.

33. The children continue to grow as Nathan graduates from elementary school.

34. Our first vacation to Hawaii.

35. Our last one finishes elementary school.

36. You are working so hard to finish your degree. It’s tough, but the end is in sight.

37. GRADUATION!!!! (for Tom and YOUUUUUU!)    yea!

38. A son in college??? Nobody believes you because you are so young and cute!

39. Moon palace and your very first SCUBA adventure.

Nathan graduates and Tom leaves for Denmark. You shed a tear or two.

40. Forty years old! Time for a Florida vacation with Sarah (that was quite a current).

41. Tom’s home, so its back to Hawaii we go to enjoy our last vacation with all three boys as single men (followed by a private week on Kauai).

42. Jakey graduates, and just like that, a chapter has ended.

43. Seems like just a short time ago when the last one trotted off to kindergarten, and now he’s off to college.  The nest is getting emptier by the minute.   But we’re OK with it, because we finally got a daughter! Melissa joins the family, and Tom is thrilled!

44. Jacob is off to Tennessee for his mission, and you take your trip to Chile. You love the adventure, climbing a volcano, exploring waterfalls and emerald streams, collecting shells among ancient churches on a southern island. And who can forget the 25$-a-night cabins in Panama?

45. Now it’s time for your first cruise. French Polynesia is a paradise!

46. Life is a whirlwind again as you welcome Jacob back from his mission, go to India, see Jacob marry Elise, and go to Guam.

47. You discover one of your favorite places as you travel to Puerto Rico to take your first cruise of the Caribbean.

48. Guam again???!!    I love you because you are the best sport ever and a great shell collector too!

Remember that cool isolated beach we found at the bottom of a steep drive down a cliff?

49. ELISE IS PREGNANT!!!!!    You love the rainforest of Puerto Rico and have a great time on cruises and hiking trips.   We hiked that volcano like we were 30!    Gosh, I love you!

50. Whether I see you across the way during Sacrament Meeting, or with the little orange bird when I come home from a long day, or in the morning as you rush to catch me before I go, or in the temple across the aisle in your white robes, I feel happy and sometimes a little chocked up.

 You are my princess, my queen, my dear wife.

 I love you.

 Happy Birthday.

J-

So I have a big birthday coming up, the big 5 0.  Wow!  I'm not depressed or anything about it.  In fact, it's kind of fun.  I think I'm doing pretty good!  It does sound old, though!

I got my first birthday card in the mail!  It was a post card.  This is what I see first:

I though that was pretty fun, someone sending me a happy 50th.  But it was just a split second later when I saw who sent it to me. 
   



Here's the whole card:

Now THAT makes me so happy that someone cares so much about me to remind me to go get my 50th birthday colonoscopy!  Way too funny!

Family History Fair

The 10th Ward in our Stake hosted a Family History Fair today.  It had wonderful things to look at, learn and even eat!  I taught a class on using FamilySearch.org.  I prepared a PowerPoint presentation, so I would cover all that I wanted to.  I ended up teaching the class 3 times, so not bad. 
 
Unfortunately, as it goes with almost anything to do with Family History, it wasn't a great turnout.  People were there, but it should have been 5 times as many.  Oh well.  I had fun, the people who came had fun and learned new things!  Plus, they brought in one of the scanners from BYU, and I was able to scan about 125 pictures in about 15 minutes.  And it can scan both the front and back at the same time.  Very, very cool.  I wish I could have keep scanning, but they needed to clean up. :-(  But I can go to BYU and do it!   The only reason it took me as long as it did for those 125 pictures, was because I was only stacking about 5 or 6 at a time, because I wanted them to go back in the same page they were in in the photo album.  The scanner feeds them through probably about one picture per second.  Amazing!

Here's one of my favorite photos that I scanned!

Rearranging the living room.

I have been wanting to rearrange the living room for about 4 months now, and I saw that yesterday was a great opportunity to do it.  Neither John or I had any commitments outside the house after the morning, and the family dinner was coming up, so I decided it was time!  What I thought may take about 2-3 hours, ended up taking about 6 or more.  We started about 11 or 11:30 a.m., and I didn't finish putting the last things back on the shelves until after 5 p.m.  Of course, we had to vacuum in spurts, and I had to dust everything.  We cut a piece of wood that fits from the front of the TV stand all the way to the wall, so the bird feathers won't go down behind the TV.  Man, is that going to save a lot of time and trouble!

Cucumbers, etc.

I just went out and picked a few cucumbers from the garden.  I think these are some of the longest cucumbers I've ever grown!

I also picked the last of the peaches. So sad.  We've had many great years with them. Now what's left of the tree can come down.

Super Saturday

Our Relief Society put on a Super Saturday.  There were lots of different projects: A tile with the B virtues, stick horses, children's aprons made from a kitchen towel, hanging towel w/ hot pad, children's rings, braided headbands, Christmas bags and tags, and a mini quiet book.  I may have missed one or two, but mainly that was it.  I made the bags, tags and quiet book.  They are pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

The mini quiet book is made from name badge holders, and 2x3 pictures. We're supposed to add some pictures of our own.  I think I'll call it a "purse quiet book."

Neighborhood party

Last night we hosted a neighborhood party.  We invited everyone from our street, the street over, and around the corner, which was about 33 houses.  We had 10 families join us, so we thought it was a pretty good turnout.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a net set up in the front yard, and Cowboy Golf in the back yard, and so the kids were entertained while the adults chatted.  We had to clean up when the mosquitoes started biting. We want to do it again in about a month. :-)

We set up chairs in the carport so we'd have shade.

Who needs a Super Soaker, when you have a bucket?