Pierce turned 1!!!!

My 15th nibling celebrated his 1st birthday on November 4th, in Wichita KS. I was only able to go out for a few days, but Baa and Lissa know how to throw down a good time in a short amount of time. I LOVE spending time with them and Christmas won't come fast enough.

Why I'm not a fan of this sign...

...
I've become an advocate for men lately. I just see this attitude "sneaking" into pop culture where women are making men look like morons, useless idiots. I blame Claire Huxtable. (Maybe it's been "sneaking" in for a while.) Spiritually speaking, we know they are not morons, nor do they have the corner-on-the-market of doing stupid things. They are human, just like me.

People should never have to put someone down in order to build themselves up.This goes for fat women calling skinny women the "B" word just because they are thin or guys being portrayed as useless for anything besides parallel parking. (I'm guilty of thinking that at one time.) I maintain any man is better better at grilling steaks than I will ever be.

There are a lot of deadbeat men/husbands but I see an honest collective effort of men making an effort only to be thwarted by a prideful woman looking down on them because it wasn't done how they would do it. OR not acknowledging it because it was done by a man, so how good could it have been done?

I wonder if we told men how much respect we have for their hard working and good intentions, if it wouldn't have a positive effect on society. I have incredible examples of hard workers in my family and that is an attribute I look for in a potential mate. If he's out there and doesn't think that he's worth it...breaks my heart just thinking about it.

Anyway, I'm done venting. I am not usually this sensitive, but this subject has been on my mind for a while

Hey! It's not my birthday yet!

So, my 14th 1st birthday party is supposed to be on May 3rd for my darling niece Anslea McNeil Mumford. However, her mom thought it would be easier on the families to celebrate it during the weekend previous, and that suited me just fine. I love me a good party.



We met at Willow Park to see the animals.

Then went to USU's TSC to enjoy a meal indoors. It wasn't freezing outside, but chilly and this worked out perfectly. Hollie's family were also on hand to celebrate. Blake and Jane are just as cute as can be --they are Hollie's nephew and niece. I love Hollie's family--they are always fun to hang out with.

A Mumford-side family celebration followed on Sunday. I wish I could have been there, too. As I said, I love me a good party.
Here is a collage of her successful cupcake eating adventure. Video would have been better for the animated clapping and shrieks. But this will have to do.

















Happy 1st Birthday, Anslea!! I love you! You are too cute!!!

If I were...

a month, I'd be May.

a day of the week, I'd be Friday.

a time of day, I'd be 7:00 pm.

a sea animal, I'd be a dolphin.

a direction, I'd be south. a gemstone, I'd be a diamond.

a tree, I'd be a shade tree.

a flower, I'd be a gerber daisy.

a kind of weather, I'd be a hot.

a musical instrument, I'd be a saxophone.

a color, I'd be red.

a fruit, I'd be a cherry.

an element, I'd be oxygen.

a food, I'd be rib-eye steak.

a place, I'd be a beach.

a material, I'd be chenille.

a scent, I'd be rain.

an object, I'd be a book.

a song, I'd be "At Last".

I got this from my friend Amber. If I were a person, I would be her. Love her!

Seattle...you're my kind of town!

In November, I was elected to the executive board of my professionals organization. January is our 1st meeting at the location of our next annual conference. It's a busy weekend of meetings, but we managed to find a few hours for my favorite past times..food, folks, and fun!

James and Desi are a couple of my favorite people on the planet. James works at BYU Graduate Studies and Desi at SLCC. They are so much fun! So kind! So great to hangout with!

Here we are before we take off for Seattle, the 3 amigos. The 2nd picture is me and Desi on the way back to Salt Lake. Where is James, you ask? Oh yeah, he got "bumped" up to 1st class. He didn't even get me extra cookies! The bum! Just kidding, James. His SkyMiles status got us lots of perks, so we won't complain. Now if only I could get those miles.

There were a lot of homeless on the streets of Seattle.
Sadly, they all seemed to have Tourette's. Language, people!
They were creative homeless, I'll give them that.
Here is an abandoned sign advertising Kissing Lessons. haha! So funny!

Our dear friend, Dannette, lives in Seattle and wanted to show us some of the sites.
We had to get up pretty early, "Whose idea was this!?!" (said James), but it was worth it.
She took us out to her neighborhood in Eastlake. She is an absolute DELIGHT to be with. I adore her to the moon. On and the breakfast was awesome. Highly recommend and I will be visiting this place in November.

We didn't make it to the side of Seattle that has the space needle. Not that Desi would have gone up with us if we had. So this will have to suffice for now. We'll see how it goes in November. :)

13/13 - 1st birthday's that is...

When my first niece Grace was born, I made a commitment to be at every one of my niblings 1st birthday's. This promise has taken me to NYC, LA, Wisconsin, Clifton, and now Mountain Home AFB in Idaho. Cailin is my 13th nibling and she is SOOOOO stinkin' cute! Just a few weeks ago, she would cry if I even looked at her, let alone tried to hold her. (I tried not to take it personally, since she did that with everyone, but still!) I don't know if it was that she was in a familiar setting this weekend or just finally growing out of that phase, but she was adorable!!!! Alexa Jo. is the cutest big sister, too. She basically took over Cailin's doll and accessories, but Cailin didn't seem to mind.
I don't know if you do this in your house, but we love to see them make a mess with the cake. Cailin did pretty good. Here's a collage of photos I took:

Brad and Cassi are perfect hosts and me mum is a hilarious travelling companion. We went to Boise and had lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then got pedicures. Well, Brad just watched the little girls while the ladies went to have pedis. A few games of TRAINS and some awesome PhillySteak sammiches, makes for a great party. I love my family!!

Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, you may or may not know this, but the only camera I have owned was one that you had to advance FILM with your thumb...Yes, I know, it's been a while. But, thanks to my awesome brother and sister in-love Lissa (and new nephew Pierce) I am the proud owner of a new camera and it's DIGITAL!!! So, now i have gone hog-wild in the first few days of ownership. You're welcome!

The Niblings:

Duke's Family (above)
Random poses with commentary (below) - (Click to enlarge)

More random (more commentary) - more clicking to enlarge.

New Years Day we celebrated with our tradition of bowling. I scored a 163. Not bad for a gimp.

Hopefully having a camera will mean I do better at blogging. Cuz this is kind of like my journal. (I said kind of. :) )