Happy 60th MOM!

My Mother is the best mom in the world. I wish I could make that last sentence sound original and new but I lack the words necessary to describe how amazing she is. She graduated from BYU with her Bachelors in Nursing and has worked the bedpans for 30 plus years. She is a single mom and started completely over at 46 when she divorced my father. She had only a couple thousand dollars to her name and now has her home completely paid for. She is an inspiration not only to her children but to countless others.

This past December 26th my Mother turned 60. Six months prior to her birthday my sister mentioned doing something special for her 60th. Of course I was on board and we started the planning process. Sonora Grill in Ogden was the venue. WOW what amazing food they have. I can't get over their green salsa and amazing carne asada tacos!

My sister did the sweet invitations shown above. We thought a lot of people wouldn't be able to make it since it was the day after Christmas so we sent out more invites then we had room for in the restaurants banquet room. To our complete surprise EVERYONE rsvp'd! Steve Ballard, Owner/Manager graciously made the extra people work. There were a few people that didn't get to come last minute because of the weather but most everyone was able to make it. Looking back I should have realized how freaking cool my Mom is and that everyone would want to come.

On to the big surprise...we never thought we were actually going to be able to pull the surprise element off, I mean we have some pretty big mouths in the fam ;) me being the biggest one. I almost slipped so many times, but, WE DID IT! Mare-Mare was totally surprised and that was the best part for my sis, bro and I. The middle pic above captures her surprise quite well I think.

There are so many more things I want to say about my Mom but I'm extra emotional when I'm prego so I have to remember to reign myself in or else I regret how mushy I can write.

Snow Blows!

These pics were taken a few hours ago. Nat was a total baby and quit trying to shovel after 5 mins, okay more like 3 minutes. Will and his crew came to the rescue. I didn't get everyone in one picture but there were 6 guys and two snow blowers. I think it took them all of 15 minutes to finish.

Sledding

Sledding on the road in front of our house the first week in January. You would never have thought Tess was enjoying it until we tried to take her off the sled.

Halloween

These are T-bear's Halloween pics. I was pretty sick that day but she had so much fun trick-or-treating with her cousins that it made the day so much fun. Tess was a natural at knocking on the doors; Instead of trying to say trick-or-treat she mooed for her candy.

Back Online

I changed my blog to private but then I never invited anyone to view it. I just never got around to it. I'm still thinking I might go back to private so in case I do decide on a private blog and you would like an invite please email me at jholfeltz@hotmail.com Email me even if you think I have your email address because I'm just as organized on the computer as I am in my home.

Tess is testing me

Tess has really been testing me lately. She has gotten such a lil tude. She has been trying to pick my flowers all summer. Finally a few weeks ago when I still had flowers I just gave up and let her pick them. She thought the whole flower behind the ear thing was so funny I had to get a pic.

Tess has discovered the therapeutic attributes of art. Apparently she was so into her painting (penning) she didn't see where the paper ended and where her arm started.

Tess thinks that everything and everyone is a chair if it's on the floor. If you are laying on the floor she will sit on your face like it's no big deal. Then when you protest she will move to your stomach and bounce up and down repeatedly.

Some of you will find this hard to believe but I don't wear lipstick much anymore. Not because I don't like it but because I just forget to get ready most days. Anyway I was truly shocked when I saw that Tess knew where to apply lipstick. She is such a naughty girl I found her like this, lipstick in hand, she knew she had done something very very bad.

Dressing our age

I couldn't agree more with my sisters post on dressing our age. It's really funny and worth the time to read. Here is a link to her blog http://grifandlisa.blogspot.com/ if this link doesn't work for some reason just click on "Lisa" under "Blogs I read."