16

Sometimes mom pulls one out of that hat that even this “gives me a list so I don’t get it wrong “ birthday kid didn’t see coming. 

When we left Ellensburg, Charlie left behind his beloved sweatshirt from Winter Musical freshman year. He left it at a friends house and by the time we realized it, they had just taken it with a pile of stuff to goodwill. Charlie was pretty sad about it. 

But never fear when you have a tenacious mother. Unbeknownst to Charlie, I reached out to the director and asked if he happened to have any left. And guess what?! He did! So I sent off a check and he sent me the sweatshirt and the following is a chronicle of the surprise and delight and the “my mom is the best mom in the whole world”  look on his face. 

He was turning 16 away from his extended family and friends. So making his birthday special was a little trickier. But I think we pulled it off:)





Pictures are grainy, life was a bit grainy this last year. But the picture is getting clearer and living in Las Vegas has been alright. Charlie is an amazing kid with a lot of talents and gifts that I am excited to see him get to use.

We are so grateful Heavenly Father sent Charlie to us. He has taught us a lot about unconditional love, acceptance and growing together as parents and son.

Love this boy. Forever

Dreams do come true

our children probably thought they were the only kids ever that had not been to Disneyland. According to an informal poll that Henry took in his 4th grade classroom, this is true.

But it turns out they are no longer in the "my parents must hate Disneyland and us otherwise they would have taken us by now" club.

We had a blast. It was so fun to see everyone's excitement at everything. We missed Kate and Julia terribly because they had a dynamic to our family that is so wonderful. But such is life when people dare to grow up and move out.

We saved for months and kept it a secret. Then gave it to them for Christmas. Their reaction was hilarious in its underwhelm-ment. But the second we walked through the gates at Disneyland, they suddenly understand what everyone gets so excited about.

We also went to Universal which was Nora's personal dream. Julia and her share a vast love of all things Harry Potter. So universial studios was imagination come to life for sweet Nora.

It was a wonderful and an amazing memory. And hopefully it did a lot to soothe the sad hearts that resulted from moving to Las Vegas. When Disneyland is only 4 hours away, there is a lot of healing it can do:)