Happy Birthday Mom!

Forever My Hero!

It is my wonderful mother's birthday today! My dad did an awesome job of giving her this amazing tribute and I could not say it better. I want this on my blog always so I can share with my children and their children how much my dad loved his wife. I honor him for this and her for being so easy to love. Thanks dad for sharing!

Happy Birthday Mom!

In his words (in list form of course):

"Dear Sue

Happy Birthday!!
Why you are so special and why I love you to bits and
always will includes the following 66 reasons:

1. You always think of the needs of others.
2. You are continually improving in all ways.
3. You love to be with your family.
4. You have an incredible number of people who call you friend.
5. You have always given me your everything and supported me.
6. You are a true believer and follower of the Savior.
7. You love and know the scriptures.
8. You have a great mind and are always learning.
9. You are a wonderful teacher and are always willing to
 teach others.
10. You find joy in everyday things.
11. You become more beautiful each year.
12. You are comfortable with any person at all social and 
economic levels.
13. You are always honest.
14. You can organize anything.
14. You are an amazing leader.
15. You can be very disciplined
16. You are a pace setting weight watcher.
17. You completed your first triathlon. just before your
66th birthday.
18. You have raised an amazing family and continue to mother and
grandmother daily.
19. You are home in Utah, California, or wherever you are.
20. You are an excellent writer and poet.
21. You love the Temple.
23. You pray always and know that you will find correct answers.
24. You rarely complain.
25. You always smile.
26. You love to travel and experience new things.
27. You try and try again until you succeed.
28. You never want to impose on anyone.
29. You accept each person as a friend.
30. You talk to strangers and always make them feel comfortable.
31. You never seek praise or recognition.
32. You would rather serve than be served.
33. You always clean-up any mess that you or others have made.
34. You always pitch-in to help.
35. You are loved and admired by all of your children and their
companions.
36. You were an excellent Stake Relief Society President.
37. You were an excellent Church writting committee member.
38. You were an excellent Lamda Delta Sigma Advisor Area Advisor.
39. You were an excellent family relations teacher.
40. You were an excellent Bishop and Bishopric wife.
41. You were an excellent gospel doctrine teacher.
42. You were an excellent missionary preparation teacher.
43. You were even an excellent primary song leader.
44. You love horses.
45. You love dogs.
46. You even love cats.
47. You love books.
48. You love book clubs.
49. You were a straight A UCI ESL student.
50. You now enjoy cycling.
51. You enjoy listening to your children and grand children.
52. You have no ulterior motives.
53. You seem to gain energy as you grow older.
54. You easily accept change 55. You are a compassionate
and exciting lover.
56. You are a perfect partner.
57. You are the ultimate care giver.
58. You love saving money.
59. You are eternally optimistic.
60. You are also pragmatic.
61. You love to walk.
62. You love to talk and listen.
63. You solve problems.
64 You receive small gifts gracefully.
65. You enjoy bringing happiness to anyone that you can.
66. You are the ultimate wife and I am truly honored and
blessed to be your eternal companion.

Love

David"

Part 2 -- Cameron's Birthday and Baptism

Cameron at age 3. Such a beautiful beach girl!

Cameron at age 4 -- Ever the dress-up Princess!

Our Family at Cameron's Baptism.

So after an amazing day at Disneyland on Wednesday, we said goodbye to the Phelps family, packed up our goods, and headed home the next day...which happened to also be Cameron's 8th Birthday. I flew home in the morning with Morgan and Jack Jack so as to not add any stress to Morgan's little body (or Mom's for that matter) and John drove Bailey and Cameron with lots of Maama and Baampa's stuff (who joyfully moved in with us May 1st...a whole blog topic in itself). What a joy to be home! And the baptism planning began... Luckily I had my mom to help who was awesome of course. A visit from the cleaning lady, a trip to Costco, a call to Bowman's (our local yummy grocery store who does great catering items), and a few other details and the baptism and luncheon were all set!

Then the baptism day began and it was a beautiful day filled with so much joy and happiness. We were so lucky as to be able to share the special day with 4 of Cameron's dear friends, Ellie & Madi Curtis, Daxton Kennington, and Kennadee Zubal. Cameron looked absolutely beautiful and beamed the whole day. When she received the gift of the Holy Ghost she proclaimed to me that she felt, "stronger, bigger, taller and the cleanest ever." So cute. And so true. She also wrote in her baptism journal those sentiments as well as, "I felt so famous," which is hilarious and so her. An amazing day. The luncheon was super fun and super yummy and we loved catching up with some close friends and family. We feel incredibly blessed to have the support we do here and wish that ALL of you could have been there as well. We were SOOOO especially grateful that John's sister Tiffany and her darling family came ALL the WAY from Arizona to see Cameron be baptized...even with their own "hospital" trial on the road. Awesome!

Cameron has grown up to be such a wonderful little lady and desires so much to do the right thing. As parents, we could not be more grateful to our Heavenly Father for sending us such a righteous soul. And yet again, we were able to feel of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and know of his divinity and love for each one of us. I testify that He lives and does love us and know us. His priesthood is real and I loved watching my dear husband apply his own Priesthood power in such a special and sacred way to bless our family. We are truly blessed.

Cameron and John reading an amazing and very touching letter from a convert that John worked with in Argentina and is like his second father, Jorge Duris.

Our Family with Maama and Baampa in front of our new bookcases that were put in for us and painted by our very own John...of course finished the night before. Whew!

And for more awesome photos of Cameron's baptism by our very own Will Duris, professional photographer and brother/friend click here. Click on the first picture and then on the top right of the picture it will say NEXT for you to click to the next photo. Enjoy. He is amazing! Thanks Will!

I'm BAAAAACK!

The Family at our favorite ride at Disneyland..."Buzz Lightyear"

Tiffany, Me and our boys, Payton and Jack Jack

Well here I am...back from the BLOG HIATUS. I missed you and hope you missed me. And BOY do I have a lot to catch you up on. It's a long one...but hang in. Let's begin...

In ONE week (starting Saturday, April 19th), I participated in a triathalon in St. George, surprised the kidlings and headed to California instead of going home, spent 2 nights, 3 days in the hospital with Morgan, spent a day with my best friend Tiffany from Alaska and her darling kids, finally made it to Disneyland, flew home with the 2 youngest, witnessed my 8-year old Cameron get baptized, and host a luncheon for 70! ALL IN ONE WEEK! No wonder I am on a BLOG FAST!

Let me fill you in... First of all in St. George, I swam, biked, and ran in a triathlon with my 3 sisters, Katie, Annette, and Rachel, my Mom, and my daughter Bailey. It was amazing. It was hard but so incredible to cross the finish line and then see those mentioned do the same. We were all in tears when Mom came across. I was so proud of her and so proud of Bailey. What a terrific experience! I don't know if I will necessarily repeat it because I decided I need to focus just on running at the moment so I am always up for a good foot race! But who knows?? I am surprisingly a very social exerciser so if there's a party going on and it's a triathlon...I'm THERE!

An incredibly proud Mom and beautiful swimming daughter!!

The Awesome Tri-Crew

So after said triathlon in St. George we surprised the kids and told them that instead of going home we were going to Disneyland. They were thrilled. Except for poor Morgan who at this time was having flu-like symptoms (ya know...barf) that started Friday night. So we drove to California Sunday and the minute we got there decided to take Morgan to a clinic since she had not kept anything down for almost 2 days. Well after a 2 hour wait at the Woodbridge Clinic in Irvine, we saw the doctor who FREAKED out and told me to IMMEDIATELY take this child to the hospital (okay we could stop here and talk all about bed-side manner and what a ding dong he was...but we won't -- just avoid the Woodbridge Clinic). So I went back to Saint Rachel and Ryan's home who were watching the other 3, got John and headed to the local hospital, Irvine Regional. Mistake #2. We were there for 7 hours in the ER while they pumped TONS of water into Morgan and then could not regulate her sugar/salt levels so called the local Children's hospital CHOC to come and get her. We KNOW! We should have gone there in the first place. John was with her at this time as they loaded her into the ambulance and said it was like NIGHT and DAY when the CHOC people took over. They just know their stuff where kids are concerned.

SOOOOO...2 days later Morgan was doing GREAT and begging for Mac and Cheese (always a good sign) so they released us Tuesday afternoon. Woo hoo! Naturally we headed to Fashion Island with our well child to hit Wahoo's with my best friend Tiffany who was in town with her 2 darling kids Abby and Payton (who is just 5 days younger than Jack Jack). And here I must interject with a HUGE THANK YOU to St. Rachel and St. Ryan who housed my 3 others plus John or me while Morgan was hospitalized. Not an easy thing to do in their darling but oh so small 2 bedroom apartment. But they did it with SMILES. Thank you!

Hanging by the fountain in Fashion Island after "Wahoo's" and RIGHT before Jack Jack fell in the fountain and had to get a change of clothes new from "Children's Place" next door to the fountain...a great location indeed. He is our second child to fall in said fountain and score a new outfit from CP! Bailey was #1.

Lil' Tif and Meg (Abby & Morgan) - starting even earlier than we did to become best buds!

So after much deliberation about the state of our little Morgan, we decided that we would hit Disneyland on Wednesday. And a more perfect day we could not ask for. The weather was of course wonderful and the lines were NEVER more than 5 minutes long...except to see the Princesses which of course took over an hour. Are you kidding me??? Anyway, it was all worth it to see Morgan smile and enjoy every hug from her now favorite Princesses, Pacahontas, Aurora, and Belle (because those were the ones who were available). And overall we had a terrific time and were THRILLED to be able to share it with our favorite little Mia, Isabel and St. Rachel. So Fun!


Cute Kissing Cousins Isabel and Jack Jack!

And Because this blog is going on and on and making me almost as tired as the actual week...this will be continued...