The Parable of the Blue Bonnets

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A few years ago, I was serving in the Primary presidency in our ward, and was looking for a way to help the children learn to be happy with who their Heavenly Father created them to be (this principle, by-the-way, is one of the hardest things for me to internalize so I believe that this was an answer to a prayer that I had been praying more than it was what I was supposed to be teaching to them).  

This parable came to mind as I was driving to an appointment one day during the height of blue bonnet season.  I call it:

The Parable of the Blue Bonnets

The blue bonnet is the absolute favorite wildflower to the true, blue Texans.  They (the blue bonnets) are the pride and joy of Texas.  People gush, they stop and take pictures, they bring props and pose their children in the beautiful fields of flowers.  They are a big deal here.  

So, imagine my surprise when I just didn't see why they were such a big deal.  (I'm pretty sure I just heard a collective gasp uttered by the proud Texans).  I mean they are pretty but they don't really stand out much.  They kind of blend in with the green grass.  When you come across a field of wild flowers, I prefer the yellow one.  Why don't the Texans gush over them? 

Then I saw a field with only the yellow flowers and the yellow ones didn't stand out like they did when they were with the blue bonnets.  

Then I drove past a field that was covered in tons of different colored wild flowers and was in awe of how pretty they were.  There were yellow, pink, red, orange, purple, white flowers of different heights and types of flowers.  What a beautiful sight!!

That's when Heavenly Father spoke to me and said:

"Shanon...My children are like this field of flowers.  I created them to be different from one another.  Sure, some of my children are bluebonnets and are recognized by the world as "standouts" but I made you all unique and gave you all unique gifts so you could complement each other.   That's why the world is so beautiful!  Celebrate being a yellow flower, or an orange flower, or a pink flower!  For that is what I intended you to be!" 

So now, when I start to wish that I were different than what I am, I remember the day that God whispered to me that He loves me just the way I am.

                                                                                                                           

The Diabetic Mom's Life

Last night, our teenagers told us they had big plans for today.  I, being the mom that I wish I was all the time, said "you can do all of those wonderful things you have planned on one condition..."  What was my condition, you wonder?  They had to clean their bathrooms...the way I clean the bathrooms.

This may surprise you....their idea of a clean bathroom and my idea of a clean bathroom are two totally different things.

It was a holiday from school so I let them sleep in a bit.  When Emily woke up, I asked her to wake up Jared (Carson does not believe in sleeping in...EVER...so he had already been up for hours) so they could get started on their job.

I heard a knock, knock, knock on his bedroom door and I thought "Oh good, she did what I asked her to do!"

I heard another knock, knock, knock and thought "Wow, he must be sleepy!"

Then I heard a louder knock, knock, knock and I thought "Surely that will wake him up."

A minute later, I heard a bang, bang, bang (a pounding sort of knock bang, not a gun shot sort of bang) and I thought "Oh, my gosh!!  He went into a diabetic coma while he was sleeping and now he is dead!!"  

So, I ran up the stairs, unlocked the door with trepidation because I just knew that he was dead and he looked at me and said "What?!"

Then...I killed him.

No...not really.  I gave him my "You don't just lay in bed and ignore the knocking!!  You say "I hear you, I will be up in a minute." or at the very least "I'm still alive, mom!!"  You gave me a heart attack!!" speech.

Then I killed him.

No...not really.  I went and ate chocolate until my heart rate went back to normal.

That kid is going to be the death of me.

Rico Suave, Jr.

I don't want to forget this story and I have the worst memory ever so I am recording it here.  I really wish that I had taken video of it.

Carson and I were hanging out at church last night after our youth fireside.  I was talking with friends and he was in the gym shooting baskets (the basketball kind, not the Easter bunny kind because that would be a totally inappropriate activity to do, especially in church).  I went to find him because it was time to go home.

As soon as I walked into the gym, he looked at me and screamed "NO MOMMY....GO AWAY!!!!"  {He really does love me...he just doesn't like it when I interrupt his basketball playing}  So, I turned around and walked to the door but I didn't leave.  

There he was, trying desperately to get his ball into the basketball hoop but what was so funny was that there were about 10 of the youth standing around watching him.  Every time he shot the ball, they would cheer and right before my very eyes he turned into Rico Suave.

He was flirting with the girls, he handed over his jacket to Brandon (one of the older boys), he kept walking over and giving Kate (one of the cutest girls at church) a high five, he was STRUTTING AROUND LIKE A PEACOCK! He did everything but sign autographs (that would have been tacky) and he hadn't even made a basket!!!  

Still...they stood and cheered him on.  

Then the funniest thing happen, I saw it with my very own eyes, every time he would go to bend his knees in preparation to shoot the ball, everyone in the gym was bending THEIR knees, like that would help.  Finally, I said "Okay, Carson, one more time and then we have to go home." (I was hungry!!)

He dribbled the ball a few times, he looked at Kate to make sure she was watching, the room went silent, he dribbled a couple more times, he bent his knees, everyone in the gym bent their knees and he launched the ball into the air.  It hit the rim and then fell in the basket.  

Everyone in the room cheered!!!  

He put his head down all humble like, gave Kate another high five and then strutted out of the gym as they all cheered and said "bye Carson!!!"  He strutted all the way out to the car (he paused to get a drink at the water fountain because, even famous basketball stars need water every once in a while).  He walked through a group of men and one of them tried to give him a fist pump but Carson tricked him and dodged the pump right at the last second.  He (the man) was, of course, devastated!  

Then Carson and I walked to the car and he let me chauffeur him home.

It was the cutest thing I have ever seen!!

Why didn't I video it?!!!

How I Became the Favorite Parent

In Carson's eyes, no one is more wonderful than his Dad.  If he gets hurt, he asks for Daddy.  If someone makes him mad, he wants Daddy.  If he wakes up in the middle of the night (which he does most nights), he always goes to Dad (I don't mind that part).  Daddy is his favorite.  Never mind that I am the one that prayed him here, carried him in my belly for 9 months, threw up for months, lost my girlish figure, fed him, took care of him, drove him to his therapy appointments all while the favorite parent worked for hours on end and was hardly ever home.  When his Dad walks in the door, all smiles and cuddles go to Dad.

Don't worry....I'm not bitter...much.

Today, though, I am the favorite because Gary committed the abominable sin of making Carson a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using OAT AND NUT BREAD AND NON-SMUCKERS STRAWBERRY JAM!!  Duh...duh...duh...

Carson took one look at that foreign sandwich and stomped his foot, yelled his displeasure and then refused to eat it.  HE WANTED PIZZA!!!

Gary...who usually gives in to his demands, was uncommonly stubborn today and refused to get any other food for him which made Carson really, really, really MAD!!

He showed Gary, though, because he immediately went upstairs and packed all of his clothes into a few overnight bags, put on his favorite scout troop shirt and tennis shoes and told us that he was going to go to college and NO....I COULD NOT TAKE HIS PICTURE!!!

I am obviously very obedient.

After I took his picture and he put his shoes on, I gave him a hug and told him how much I was going to miss him.  Then I took the opportunity that presented itself to me and said "Would you like a bowl of chocolate pudding before you go?"

See what I did there?

All of a sudden, the shift happened and Carson was all "I love you, Mom!!" while glaring at mean ole' Dad.

So now, when you ask Carson "Who is your favorite, Mom or Dad?!"  He points to me, glares at Dad and then blows me a kiss.

All it took was a little bowl of chocolate pudding and BOOM!!

I am the favorite!!

For a little while anyway.

February

The month of February is quickly leaving my memory so I thought I'd better sit down and write out all of the fun and exciting things that we did.  First off, I am very aware that February is a month that a lot of people would like to take out of the calendar because it is a bit of a dreary month but ours was a lot of fun!!

Carson had a dentist appointment at the beginning of the month.  I was really dreading this appointment because he is so scared of anything dentist related (kind of like me, only he doesn't have that filter that tells him "don't make a scene in public" so he just freely yells, screams, hits, cries, kicks...whatever makes him feel better.)  We walked in and as we were headed back to the crying room (lest he scare all of the other children) one of the hygienist said to the one assigned to Carson "yell if you need me..." That is never a good sign.  Anyway...he walked into the room, climbed up into the chair, let them lay it ALL the way back, accepted their Batman blanket, wore the sunglasses, watched the movie, laughed when they "tickled" his teeth, didn't mind "Mr. Thirsty" (the mouth sucker thingy), laughed when they squirted cold water and was just generally a MODEL patient!!  We were all so surprised we didn't know what to do.  The dentist came in and said "well...I think we've turned a corner" which meant "Yay!!  I didn't get kicked in the face this visit!!"  You think I'm joking but he has managed to kick a few doctors in the face with his awesome ninja (or neeenja, as Gary would say) skills!!  He had no cavities (I even got praised for my awesome home care skills...I didn't confess that we are not the best at that...I just took the compliment).  He did say that Carson probably should have ortho work and I can only imagine how Carson will go for that but maybe he'll be okay.

Not the clearest picture but look at that laid-back kid with the smile on his face!!

Kinsey officially entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on February 4.  I got to talk to her for a few minutes before she went in.  She was mostly excited but also nervous.   Her roommates and friends took her since I couldn't.  Here are some pictures:

Emily went on her first date.  They went to see the musical that the middle school was putting on.  Her date doesn't have his license yet so she had to drive.  He didn't have money to pay for the tickets so I paid for them.  He got really annoyed with her when she clapped and told her to clap softly with her hands together...just tapping her fingers!  He was a pretty quirky date but all the girls love him and she was pretty lucky that he was free to go with her so she didn't mind putting up with his weird behavior. 

Admit it...you'd put up with his quirks if you had a chance to go out with him!!

Gary and I got to chaperone the youth temple trip to San Antonio.  That's one of my favorite things to do.  We had a bit of a tense situation when we pulled into the parking lot.  Carson had been pretty happy the entire 2 hour drive but I learned that was because he was expecting us to stop for donuts first.  When we got to the temple without having eaten a single donut...duh.duh.duh...he was a teensy bit annoyed and refused to get out of the car.  We promised him a hamburger on the way home so that calmed the donut beast.  Other than that, it was a perfect day.

Jared did something that none of our other kids have ever done...he got a job while still in high school.  He started working at Main Event.  He is enjoying it and I think it is a great learning opportunity for him but he doesn't get home until after midnight on Friday nights and my imagination takes on a life of it's own after midnight.  I have imagined all sorts of awful things happening to him while he's driving home.  There's something to be said for kids who don't drive until their 20 but I'm glad that he has this opportunity.

Emily went to the Sadie Hawkins dance put on by our church youth group.  She didn't know what a Sadie Hawkins dance was so when I explained to her that she was supposed to ask a boy to the dance, she freaked out a bit and decided to go with her 2 friends instead.  That problem with that plan, though, was that all of the boys were there with their dates so she didn't dance very much except with her friends.  On the bright side...she looked pretty cute all dressed up for the occasion.

On the Friday before my sister's birthday, Emily went to a thing at the school where the boys dress up like girls and pretend they're on a fashion runway...Tiaras and something.  She enjoyed it.  Jared was working so Gary and I decided to order dinner from Olive Garden, put Carson to bed early and celebrate Lori's birthday by watching a movie (Return to Me) that I remember her telling me she loved.  I had seen it before and Gary thought that he had seen in but we are getting old and can't remember what we've seen and what we haven't so...it's just like watching something we've never seen before!!  We shared a piece of Black Tie Mousse Cake even though I didn't want to share. :)

Carson had to do Valentines for all of his friends at school because they were having a big party.  He was assigned to bring chipdip (that's what he calls it).  He was very focused on writing out the names.  He had the list and every time he got to a new name he would say "My friend!!!  That's my friennnnnnd!!"  He was so cute, I was forced to do a video but I'm going to spare you because it's probably something only his mother will love.  He loved it!!  See...

He was just annoyed that I had the camera

"Mom...I'm trying to concentrate...give me some space!"

The Valentines turned out pretty cute but one of my children who shall remain nameless looked at them and told me that all the kids would hate them because they weren't candy.  Carson was pretty thrilled with them though.

 

We celebrated Valentine's day with Round Rock donuts.  Carson helped me make the table all fancy for our breakfast.

 

Carson thought that his bag would have a toy inside so he was pretty disappointed when he opened it up and it was a box of Swiss Cake Rolls.  He wanted a do-over!!

Please...no pictures of this lame gift!

In honor of Lori's birthday, my sister, Beth, posted some pictures that I like to call "Shanon...the ugly years..."  Lori would have been 45 this year.  The surprising thing from these pictures was all of the nice comments on Facebook from people we have had the pleasure of knowing over the years.  Heavenly Father has blessed us with lots of wonderful memories of great people.

Gary and the kids had the day off for President's day so he took Carson and his mom to see the movie Big Hero 6.  Emily went with her friends to see the same movie only at an earlier time so she wouldn't have to be seen with her family and Jared went to a Magic thing (it's some sort of card game that I don't get) at a friend's house.  I stayed home and tried to get Emily's new room cleaned out so I could get it painted.  I finally got it painted later that week.  It seemed to take forever!!  I spent most of one day sitting on a shelf in the closet painting the ceiling and walls.  That was quite the feat!!  We are still working on getting it decorated and all of the furniture moved in.

That night was Family Home Evening night.  (this is a typical FHE at our house...I am sharing this so that you will feel better about your own FHEs)  We all seemed to have a meltdown at the same time.  Emily was late getting home and missed most of FHE, then she yelled at Gary for not getting the fire pit set up (she was having a party at our house on Saturday night..I found out about it when they announced it at a meeting at church...nice, huh?!), Carson had a crying-screaming-hitting-the-wall fit because Gary told him to go potty before bed then he peed all over the bathroom and his shorts and got mad when I told him he had to find new clothes to wear, Jared pestered every one at FHE, refused to say prayer (he was sick, so I guess that's kind of a good excuse) and thankfully went to bed without further incident, I had been trying to get a letter written for Kinsey but my phone wouldn't send my pictures to me and my computer was being uncooperative so I was annoyed, and Gary...I think he was just fed up with the lot of us and just wanted to go to sleep.  So...life as usual around here.

Kinsey left for Washington that week.  Carson and I got to talk to her before her plane took off.  She met a man on the plane that had served a mission on Deseret Ranch and knew her Uncle Steve and Aunt Lori and her Grannie and Papa.  He let her borrow his phone so she could call home.  She was excited to tell me that the sun was shining in Washington (one of her biggest worries was the lack of sunshine in Washington...it has been sunny most days since she got there).

Talking to Kinsey

Kinsey with her Mission President and his wife

Kinsey and her new companion, Sister Harris

That Saturday night Emily had her get together for the 16-18 year old youth from church.  Gary finally got the fire pit out of the box (after about 5 years of it being in the garage).  He worried and fretted about the smoky smell all night long so I don't think we'll use it very much. ;)  I think the kids all had a fun time.

Sunday was my birthday.  Gary made crepes with Nutella and strawberries/bananas for breakfast.  They were yummy.  I was feeling a little under the weather all day (probably the unhealthy breakfast) but it was a nice day.  They spoiled me with nice gifts.  I also had tons of birthday wishes at church and on Facebook.  I loved hearing from all my friends.

We also took a family picture:

Head shots are soooo overdone!!

To carry on the tradition, Beth (my sister) posted pictures for my birthday.  More "Shanon...the ugly years..."

I actually love this one.

I got to celebrate my birthday a little longer because a few of my friends invited me out to lunch.  My friend asked me where I wanted to go and I told her I HAD to pick Chuy's (a popular Mexican restaurant here in Texas) or I would be in danger of getting kicked out of Texas so that's where we went.  They spoiled me with lunch, gifts, and cards that said nice things that I probably don't deserve being said about me.

Carson has started to get a bit more homework.  He is supposed to do it on his own but I have no idea how to do that.  I read him the story and then read him the questions that he was supposed to answer in a complete sentence and he just looked at me like I was out of my mind.  I finally just told him what to write.  Then I had to spell it all for him.  Then he sighed and said things like "oh!my!gosh!, Mom!!" and "I tired!!" and "sigh........!!!" It was a fun as you imagine it was.

Early on a Saturday at the end of the month, we went and helped with a service project at the church spreading mulch around.  It was about 31 degrees outside and raining.  They had so many people there that they sent me inside to deep clean the kitchen.  The morning cleaning crew had already been there and had mopped the kitchen so the floor was still wet.  I was in there filling the sink with soapy water when the man that had mopped the kitchen came in a told me the kitchen floor had just been mopped so I wasn't allowed to walk on the floor or get anything out or breathe the clean air.  I looked at him and said "I'm sorry...I saw the floor was wet and I felt really bad about walking on it but I got an assignment from my bishop to deep clean the kitchen so I will re-mop the floor when I am finished, put everything away, and hold my breath the whole time I'm in here!!"  Then he laughed at me and went on his merry way to mop the bathroom. Phew!! ;)

Later that night we went to a church meeting and then out to dinner with friends.  They even paid for our dinner to celebrate my birthday!!  I feel like I got spoiled rotten this month.  Gary and I are not social butterflies and stay home a lot of the time so this was quite the treat.  It made us want to go out with friends more often!!

Phew...that was our month of February!!  Lots of stuff going on but it was a great month!!

Anxiety

I have anxiety.  I inherited it from my Grannie Kinsey who passed it on to her daughter (not my mom, my aunt) who passed it on to her daughter.  It also somehow made it in to my genetics (which I'm totally going to complain about to God if I ever make it to heaven because my genetics consists mainly of the bad parts of my dad mixed with the bad parts of my mom PLUS red hair, poor vision discovered during the phase of big, ugly plastic glasses frames, and bad teeth...thank goodness for contacts and braces!  I have made peace with my hair color even though it is the result of a genetic mutation...)

Where was I?  Oh...anxiety!

Last night, Emily came in to me and said "Mom...what color is this dress?" and showed me a picture on her phone.  I looked at it and said "oh my goodness, how can you even see it?!  You'll have to turn up the brightness on your phone!"  Yes...I have reached the stage of far-sightedness along with my near-sightedness.  In other words...I'm old!!  So, she turned up the brightness and I looked at it again and said "It's blue and black" and handed the phone back to her.

She got all theatrically excited and said "oh my gosh!!  I see a white and gold dress!!"  She was totally serious and my first thought was "Oh my gosh!!  She must have a brain tumor!! OR something is terribly wrong with her vision...probably caused by a brain tumor!!"

Now...to be fair to myself.  My sister had brain tumors that eventually caused her to have a seizure and die so I think I should be allowed to have a fear of brain tumors.

I didn't know that this was a thing floating around the internet until later.  I didn't know that half of the people that looked at it saw a white and gold dress and half saw a blue and black dress.  I just knew that the picture she was showing me was clearly a black and blue dress but she was seeing a white and gold dress so SHE MUST HAVE A BRAIN TUMOR!!!!!

So...being the mature, reasonable person that I am, I said "Emily...get out of here, you are freaking me out!!"  Then I started pacing.  Then I went and played the piano (it's what I do when I'm stressed).  Then I sat down with my computer and "Googled" "Do brain tumors cause you to see different colors"?  That's when I saw (along with the big "llamas on the loose" story that I had completely missed out on) the big "What Color Is This Dress?" story that was hitting everyone's news feed on Facebook.

Emily was still theatrically excitedly talking about it to Jared (who had seen a blue and black dress) as they cleaned up the dinner dishes.  He started to explain to her in a very scientific way (that I was only half listening to) why her eyes saw it differently than other people and Gary looked at me and said "how does he know these things?!" to which I replied "I don't know...he's a boy!  Boys just have all sorts of useless information in their head.  You have it.  Your dad had it.  It's the useless information gene..."

He's so lucky!!  The useless information gene does not cause the blood pressure to rise to stroke level the way the anxiety gene does.

I've discovered my superpower!!

January...a great month to hibernate

Yeah right!!  January was a busy month!

We started it by bringing in the new year with a rip roaring party with our family.

Yes...we are quite the party animals!!!

Then Kinsey, Jared, Emily, Carson and I drove and drove and drove from Brigham City, Utah to Bailey, Colorado to see our friends the Florida Parkers (except now they are the Colorado Parkers).

 

It was so fun to catch up and visit with them.  We planned to eat dinner with them but that was before we discovered 2 hours into our trip that we forgot Jared's insulin.  I really hated to turn around and go back but I didn't want him to die on the way home so turn around we did.  Luckily my sister and mom met us half way back but it added another hour or so to our trip.   

They let us crash at their cool mountain home for the night.  I say it's cool only because I don't have to live there.  If I had to live there I would have probably already slid down the mountain into a ditch and died which is what I tried to do as we were leaving the next morning.  We did not die but we did slide a bit.  Jonathan (the dad) was oh so helpful and gave us lots of useful hints on how to get out of the driveway AFTER he watched us helplessly try to get out of the driveway on our own with no success at all!  I did not get out of the car and kick him which I thought was pretty nice!!

That's their back yard!  Oh...and see how helpful he's being?!

The next day we drove and drove and drove from Colorado to Lubbock, TX.  As scary as driving down the mountain in Colorado was it was not nearly as scary as driving through North Texas.  I guess Texas isn't really prepared for snow and they had gotten quite a bit.  It was slushy and slippery and I was really, really tired by the time we got there and was using all sorts of different ways to stay awake.  We spent the night in a hotel in Lubbock and then took off early the next morning so we could make it back in time for 2:00 church.

Yes...we have 2:00pm church this year.  It's not as awful as I thought it would be but I kind of prefer morning church.  We still haven't figured out the best way to get dinner ready by a decent time...especially when we have meetings in the evenings but we will survive.

We also came home to a Christmas decorated house so we bit the bullet and put everything away.  I love pulling everything out especially my hand-carved-by-my-dad Santa collection and Nativity but by the time Christmas is over, I can't stand what seems like a lot of clutter so away it went until next year when I will fall in love with my decorations again.

We had a month to get Kinsey ready for her mission so we were going to doctor, dentist and eye doctor appointments.  She got her driver's license so she's an official driver now.  She got a flu shot.  We bought her a new missionary wardrobe complete with comfy shoes and boots.  She went back to her favorite art studio and painted a picture of her roommate.  We went out to lunch with a few friends and we made a trip to the San Antonio temple with a few more friends.  We also were invited to a temple sealing, which was very special.

Kinsey's masterpiece of her roommate, Krista

Basinger's temple sealing

We were invited to a Martin Luther King day picnic and since Carson had the day off from school we went to the park on one of the most gloriously sunny days in January.  We soaked up the sun, played on the playground, ate, socialized, took pictures of cute babies, and soaked up some more sun.  It was heavenly!!  

Me soaking up the sun - Kinsey taking a picture

A few days after our beautiful sunny holiday, it started raining.  I thought we were all tucked away safely inside from the storm until someone started knocking on my bedroom window from the outside.  I opened the blinds and look what I found!  He must have been listening to that song about dancing in the rain.  Silly kid!!

Carson woke up one morning on the wrong side of the bed.  Unfortunately, I also woke up on the wrong side of the bed that same morning so we were having a hard time being nice to each other.  I picked out his "I Am Happy" shirt for him to wear and turned on the "Happy" song on the iPad to help get him out of the wrong-side-of-the-bed blues while I went searching for socks for him.  As I was coming down the stairs, I went to step over him and slipped.  I managed to ungracefully leap over him but landed on my bent-the-wrong-way big toe.  It hurt just as much as you would imagine it would and I have been limping around on a swollen foot ever since.  Carson was very sympathetic with an exasperated "Moooommmmmm!!!!" as I lay sprawled out on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.  I think he was annoyed that I distracted him from watching "Happy".  

This mad face just makes me laugh.  He's so cute!!!

 

Kinsey gave her farewell talk in sacrament meeting.  She did a fabulous job!!  You can read it here.  I just sat in awe of her and couldn't figure out what in the world happened to that shy girl I sent off to college 18 months ago.  She has an amazing amount of confidence now.  Mostly, I was just so proud of her!

Gary had a birthday and we celebrated by going to watch Emily in her acting debut.  She was part of the Truman ensemble in Bring It On.  I wasn't a big fan of the story but, oh my goodness, those high school kids are AMAZINGLY TALENTED!!!  It was fun to see Emily being braver than I will ever, ever be.

As for Gary's gift, I made a list of 57 things (because he is now 57!!!) that I love about him.  It is long and mushy and embarrassing so let me just sum it up by saying that 20 something years ago, I went to a roommate's wedding reception in Utah, applied for a job on a whim while I was out there, was hired that very day, flew home, broke the news that I was moving to Utah to my parents, bought a car, drove to Utah from Florida with all of my earthly possessions, moved in with practical strangers, started work, met Gary there on the first day, he asked me out on a date a month later (in November), we were engaged a couple months after that, got married in May, had a baby 11 months later and the rest is history.  I am blessed beyond measure and totally believe that Heavenly Father had a hand in our meeting each other.  He must have known that the crazy (crazy/psycho not crazy/wild and fun-loving) girl (me) would need the stable (down to earth/stable not cows/manure/stable) boy (Gary) in order for it to last forever.

Kinsey was set apart as a missionary by one of her favorite bishops now turned counselor in our stake presidency.  I forgot to get a picture of them but it was very special to have our good friend set her apart and pronounce some very wonderful and powerful blessings on her.  She started the day with a very specific request from her blessing and wouldn't you know that the Holy Ghost guided President Parker to bless her with that very specific thing.  What a blessing for her!  We went out to dinner with the Parkers afterwards and had a great time socializing with them.  We are truly blessed to know such wonderful people in our life!!!

Carson had a camp out on Friday night.  He was so excited that he packed his stuff about two weeks ago.  He packed his sleeping bag and all of his clothes (every stitch of clothing in his closet was packed into two suitcases) and set them by the front door.  He was very upset with me when I took them back upstairs to set aside until the actual camp out.  He had a great time.  He loves camping and he loves his friends!!  His scout leader said "We ate like kings, ran around in the dark, and hiked in the rain (Carson left before the hike).  It was awesome!"  I love his scout leaders...they are awesome too!!

Saturday morning we had a family breakfast together and our good friends, James and Josh Mayo plus Nana joined us for kolaches and Round Rock donuts (the best donuts in the world!!!).  You can't get more Texas than that!!  Then Gary gave Kinsey a father's blessing, we took a bunch of goofy family photos and headed off to the airport.

Kinsey and I both got nauseous at the exact same moment (as we were turning into the airport).  We checked her luggage in and she was a few pounds below on each piece of luggage so we spent a few minutes adjusting everything.  Before we left the house we weighed her luggage and one was 5 pounds over and the other was 15 pounds over.  Massive panic erupted but then we pulled ourselves together and started filling up her carry on.  I don't know how my 5'2" daughter is going to manage to get her stuff around for the next 18 months!

We had a few extra minutes to hang out at the airport so we took more goofy pictures and then we sent her off through security.  We were that family that hung around until the very last minute, snapping pictures as she went through the line.  Luckily, she wasn't patted down this time.  

We stopped by Gary's old workplace on the way home, said hello to all of his co-workers, picked out a bunch of furniture for our house (for when we win the lottery) and learned what a popular salesman he was with everyone.  You just can't help but love him (although he does manage to drive me crazy on occasion).

Then we came home, avoided the packed up bedroom (so sad...), ate some chocolate, took a nap, and ate some more chocolate.  Emily finished up her acting debut with fabulous success, stayed out way later than we are comfortable and is now complaining that she is tired and needs to sleep all day but homework awaits and we have church to go to.

That was our January!!  January isn't my favorite month, I normally would prefer to hibernate but the world won't let me, it always rains more than I would like and I spend the sunny days soaking up as much sunshine as I can. January always goes away though to make room for February....MY BIRTHDAY MONTH... the month that's all about me!!!  (haha...not really...well, January really goes away but February isn't all about me...it's also about ground hogs, Valentine's day and time to remember that my birthday buddy...my sister, Lori...isn't around to celebrate with me anymore but on the whole it's usually much better than January).