Gabe's Birthday

So Gabe turned 7 on Wednesday, May 7. On Monday, he came in and asked if his friend Ashton could be invited to his party on Wednesday.
Party? What party? You didn't say you wanted a party!
Yeah, a party with a pinata!
So as any good (or tired, and not willing to fight over it) Mom would do, I quickly planned a simple party for Gabe and 6 or 7 friends for Friday afternoon. Luckily, it was Gabe. He is so easily pleased, and all he asked (once the pinata was vetoed due to the lack of somewhere to hang it from) was to play some games like Musical Chairs! Okay, I can do that. Throw in a couple others like Duck duck goose, pin the tail on the donkey, and Sink the Ship (I call it balloon tag, but whatever), let them decorate some cupcakes, and party planned.

He had a great time. It's amazing how something so simple can make him so happy. I sure appreciate my Gabe and his sweet and giving personality. Life would not be the same without him!

Mothers Day!

I know today is not Mothers Day and I intended sharing this with you then, but one thing led to another and, well...it's getting written now.

I want to tell everyone how lucky I am to be married to the most incredible person that I know. I am not sure what I did, or didn't do, to deserve such a wonderful person in my life, not even sure I want to know. I am just glad that we are together.

What an incredible mother and wife Debbie is. I am constantly amazed how calm and collective she is, almost all of the time. How encouraging she always is to myself and the kids. She completely takes care of us all of the time and we don't tell her nearly enough how much we appreciate her. She is the reason why our family works so well, even in times of complete and total chaos.

Before I came home on my mission I knew the next step in my life was school and, hopefully, marriage. I asked my mission president before I left how I would know who the woman I was suppose to marry and how I would know for sure. He told me, if the woman you are dating walks in the room and she takes your breath away and makes you smile each and every time then you will know that she is the one.

I can tell you that in almost 15 years of marriage that you Deb, still take my breath away and make me smile every single time you enter a room.

I love you Deb!

Slackers for bloggers!

Last night I was chastised that I needed to hurry up and blog already. Well, life has been a little hectic and now that Spring is here (and looks like will end this weekend when Summer decides to show up) I spend more time on my lawn.

Yes, I love my lawn! As strange as it seems it is my therapy. I get to put the Ipod on real loud (usually with Van Halen), pull the string on the mower, shut out the outside world and start cutting.

I am not sure how I went from hating to cut the lawn when I was a kid to loving it now. Maybe it's just the major need of therapy in my life. Maybe each little blade of grass is like hewing down one of life's littles problems, who knows?