Happy Birthday to Mom

Friday the 15th was my beautiful mother's birthday! We all met up at Mom and Dad's house after church on Sunday to celebrate! (We missed you Julie and Neil!) My mom got up at about 4 am to put in a glorious pot roast and get the rolls started rising. Whew, you aren't supposed to work that hard on your birthday are you? But that is just one example of my mom's selflessness. She loves making other people happy. She works so hard to keep everything running smoothly in our lives. She is a constant teacher, encourager, and support. For all the times my mom has created opportunities for me and my sisters to grow, for all the love she constantly gives us, and for every single little thing she has done to make our lives happier, I want to say thank you. Beyond all of her wonderful "mom" qualities, she is a great friend. Always there to share in adventures, celebrating good news, or lending an ear/shoulder for sad news. Hearing her laugh is the very best! If I was born again, I would ask that my Mom were again my mother. I couldn't ask for a better Mom. I love you Mom, I hope your Birthday was wonderful!

We sort of did a potluck lunch. As I mentioned before Mom made the Roast and the rolls, Karen and Kenny brought some deeelicious broccoli casserole and potato casserole, and Lisa made the ALWAYS delicious Hawaiian wedding cake for dessert! And I... I brought myself... and no food. Better luck next year. Maybe by then I will have easier access to a stove/oven. :)

We all had a great time playing and laughing. We taught Bryce how to play paper football and had battle all the way around the dining room table, every inch guarded by someone. Somehow it still went flying off the edge a few times though.

After the party started to die down, Lisa and I made a trip to Rink Gallery! She is so fun. Our quest was for Cowgirl Boots! We tried on a few pairs, but none were quite right this time around. Too worn, too expensive, or too manly. But, I always have so much fun just looking around that place. It's inspiring. It makes you feel like going to garage sales and re-purposing old things into treasures. It's ALMOST that time of year again! Hurry up spring. :)

Christmas!

I know, I know... I am more than a little late posting about Christmas, but with Blizzard '09 Christmas was a little postponed this year, even for Matt's family. We celebrated Christmas with his family on Sunday the 27th. It was wonderful as always. Way too much food and fun talking and laughing with everyone. We played Dirty Santa and I won a space heater! :) Matt won a really nice set of pocket knives! I also got a beautiful turtleneck and a long snuggly sweater from his parents. It was a fun day and I am so glad I got to be part of it again.

Christmas with MY family was on New Years Eve! Here is our beautiful tree all decorated with piles of presents underneath. Julie and Neil came into town to spend a few days with us! Luckily I got some time off of work to spend with them. I love it when they come visit! It is non-stop fun and games and wonderful hang out time.

I got some glorious gifts from my family, and it is always fun to watch them open gifts and from the look on their face know that they are thrilled. I don't know how my family did it but I absolutely LOVE everything that I was given! I didn't even have any hints to give them this year. They were on their own to find gifts for me and they did great! They must know me pretty well. :) It's our family tradition to wear pajamas on Christmas, no matter what time of day we celebrate! We also like to take turns opening presents so everyone gets to see what everyone else opens (and their happy smiling face!)

My gorgeous sisters! I like seeing us all lined up like this and looking at our similarities and differences. They are all so pretty.

My beautiful Mom. Dad took most of these pictures so I don't have one of him to post! Hopefully Karen caught one and will post it! She's the photographer of our family.

The Looper family! I love Bryce and Griffin's matching PJ's! Soooo precious!

Kenny and Karen in their cute Peanuts PJ's

Neil and Julie

Matt and I

My parents got Bryce these awesome Bakugan balls. When you touch them to magnetic cards they burst open into little warriors! Very cool! Bryce absolutely loved them.

Bryce sure missed his Aunt Julie!

Griffin did a great job opening presents! See his little hand pulling on the paper :) Such a sweetie boy. He got pooped out from opening so many gifts and fell right asleep.

Another great gift from Grandma and "Ha-ah!" I love how you can just see the excitement on his face.

On New Years Day, Karen and Kenny came over and we played with the new Wii fit plus Julie got for Christmas. Mom and Dad even joined in! It was so much fun cheering for each other while we "skateboarded" through an obstacle course, "juggled" balls for a circus, and pretended to be a bird flapping our arms like wild to fly from perch to perch. It was hilarious! Neil also got a hunting game for Wii, so we all tried our best to shoot deer and rabbits in the field. All of us girls were screaming and squealing when it came time to hunt bears and cougars! It was like they were really coming to get us! *laughs* So much fun :)