Spending the weekend with Crystal

Crystal at the Temple in Newport Beach

Crystal and Me

my friend Joe

All her friends

Katie with her cake, her favorite colors are blue and orange

So I am far behind on my blog and I have some fun things too blog about. I just have a hard time wanting to get on the computer after 8 hours of it at work. So I am home sick today with lower back pain that basically makes sitting miserable and lying down okay. All things said, I have time to catch up on my journal/blog. This happened last month, this is from the discovery center weekend. See how far behind I am! So anyways, We went to two party's that night. I managed to take pictures at only one of them and forgot about the camera for the rest of the night after. I am doing this a lot lately, forgetting to take pictures of all sorts of fun friend nights. We first went to Katie Lopez's party, girl in the green and it was fun! The food I will always remember, because I probably not get to eat food like that again for a really long time if ever again. So it was enjoyable. I was able to catch up with my friends from my old ward. Crystal was also glad because she got to see everyone. Katie is a really nice person and so it was fun celebrating her birthday and also learning more about her. She has the nicest family. I got to know her Dad and cousins that night.

The second party was Carolyn's. She is in my ward and is the best person ever! I love her dearly. She has so much light about her and always builds me up and makes me feel special. So we went to her party too and I got to talking to different people. One of them is my friend Ryan Booth and we both are determined to plan fun group activities or outings for anyone from our ward who is adventurous. She has this beautiful view from their patio of the Newport beach area and you can see the temple. I had promised Crystal that we would get to a Golden Spoon and we did! Barely. We hurried over there before 10 and she got the yogurt and I got the sweetheart fries and we then ate some and went home to finish it off and then we talked for awhile. It was such a fun weekend. Then the next day, we went to church at the seacliff ward, and then headed over to my ward for Break the Fast. I had committed to bringing dessert. Then we snapped that picture of Crystal at the temple and went home and talked some more and watched a few Father Knows Best episodes and went to bed we had to get up super early. It was a fun night!

Happy Birthday Mom and Aunt Kath! (March 29th!)

My Mom

My Mom is an identical twin and so I am blessed with two dear, sweet wonderful women in my life. I am so grateful that the person given to me as a Mother is my Mom (Marlene). She is incredibly dear to me and I was missing her today. I just got off the phone with her, we had a nice long chat. Sometimes I wonder why we can't live near each other. Why the Lord wants me here in CA. I went to a choir Fireside and the spirit was really strong. I was sitting with some friends. One of my friends, Jen started to tickle my back and it felt so great! It also reminded me of my Mom and Aunt. Because they always tickle my back when I am with them and I love it!

My Mom is funny, adventurous , has a love of learning and history, is a genealogy pro and loves temple work. She has the incredible ability with children (they flock to her), faith in the Lord and has a gift with people. My Dad and Mom always find something funny in tough times and have always stayed faithful to each other.

She raised me to not be critical of others, but to see the best in each person that I get to know. She has taught me what it means to serve others and how to be a great Mom when my time comes. I just love her so much and am glad I was given her as my Mom and no one else. I feel really blessed that we got to get away and spent some quality time together while I was in TN. I cherish moments like that.

My Mom also got me through Young women's when I was a teenager, I sometimes hated going to young women's, if I had it my way I would have skipped all of my Laurel years and moved directly into Relief Society. I loved the leaders, I just did not fit in well with some of the girls once my friend Emily and Amaree moved. I had Whitney, but she was in a different class so we did not get to be together during the classroom time and some activities. I had other close friends at church, they were all the older Relief Society Sisters, young adults and a lot of the children and some of the younger girls in YW. I was friends with everyone, but the girls my age! I had a lot of great guy friends though at church so that was always nice.

So anyways, needless to say, My Mom would go with me (since it was her calling) and I always felt better having her there. We were inseparable and would spend a lot of time with each other! All my school friends loved her as well which was always nice. That is probably why I love Gilmore Girls because I can related it to my Mom and I and the closeness we have to each other.

Aunt Kath

My Aunt Kath is also the example of love and service to others. She and I laugh so much when we hang out together (since she is in CA, it is often!). I can always be my silly self with her and know that she loves me unconditionally and thinks I am funny! It has always comforted me to know that if anything ever happens to my Mom, I have my Aunt Kath. She is a loving grandmother to her grandchildren, a faithful latter day saint and puts her relationship to my Uncle above all else. She also is not critical of others and loves with her whole heart the people she comes across. I loved that when I moved out to CA, I gained instant popularity by being related to my Aunt. Whenever I would tell people I am her niece in the stake, they would get a BIG smile on their face and tell me how much they love my Aunt!

I loved coming to CA every summer to spend time with her and her family. My cousins are like my immediate family. I always remember loving my Aunt's cooking and just being there felt so good. It still does. She is my little Movie Buddie, we watch so many movies together. I get excited at the thought of spending time with my Aunt. There was a month where we did not get to do anything together and I was going through withdrawals! Its the same when I spend time with my Mom and then have to leave.

So as you can tell, I am very blessed with these two twinnies in my life and know if it was not for them and their faithfulness my life would be very different! :)