Announcing...

Last week we had our big doctors appointment! My parents came up, Dad watched Bailey and Mom, Ben, Lyndsie and I all went to the big ultra sound. So we are having a baby girl and WE are way excited. We are so happy for Bailey to be having a little sister! She is healthy and very shy! She covered her face and hid the entire time! We are way excited and I am WAY big.

Catching Up!

Ok- all I know is that it has been a long time since I have blogged so I am just going to do a catch up on the things that I can remember!

I went to the JJ Coles sale and spent a ton of money! Luckily most of it was for other people! Had fun and I got a lot of cute stuff.

My brother Todd came up with his wife, my nephew and his wife, and with Lyndsie we all went to the BSU/USU game. We had a lot of fun, didn't freeze and stayed up way too late.

The day after the game we all headed to Idaho. My dad has been in the Stake Presidency for 18 years, not kidding. He was called as the first counselor and when his 9 years were over they called him to be the Stake President. Any way his 9 years as Stake President were up and all five of my brothers and sisters and their families went home to be there. Well we were all there except for one of my nephews, we missed you Brandon! Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to Idaho to release my dad and call the new Stake President. He and his wife stayed at my parents house for the weekend. We all stayed at my brother Todds. Thanks for putting up with all of us Todd and Brenda. Dad did a great job on his talk on Sunday and it has been a real change for him. After 18 years of meetings it would be a change for anyone! We were all able to meet Elder Oaks and his wife on Sunday after lunch. They were very nice to take the time to meet all of us. Elder Oaks is a very powerful speaker but very warm and loving.

Thanksgiving was great. After Dad's release Bailey and I stayed in Idaho instead of coming home for two days and heading right back. We spent time with the Browns and Gerratts ate a ton of food and enjoyed spending time with one another!

As a first Ben and I hit the Day after Thanksgiving sales! He had me awake way to early! We got to Wal-Mart before 5:00am, but they had opened their doors before 5 so no crazy maddness getting it, but getting out was hard. We were in the check out line for over 30 minutes! We got a new computer, my Christmas, and picked up toys for Bailey. Ben wanted to go for the computer and for the experience, I'll probably never do it again.

After Thanksgiving Todd and Brenda wanted to keep Bailey for two nights and three days! Yes, I let them and it was hard, but I was able to get Christmas up, the laundry done, and most of the house clean while she was gone.

I also went to the Nutcracker with Lyndsie, she had to go for a class. It was fun to spend time with her, but very different from the Nutcracker we danced in when we were younger.

And NO pictures. I took my camera, but it just didn't ever make it out of its case! So sorry for the very boring blog. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

An Awesome Weekend

Ok, Ok so I know that today is Friday but once again I'm behind so we are talking about last weekend.

On Friday, of last week, I went to a craft fair with my friend Krista. We haven't hung out for a while so it was great to see her, talk, hang out and of course shop! Hopefully we can get together again sometime soon.

On Saturday Ben and Bailey took me to Brigham City to meet my sister-in-law Brenda, my niece Lyndsie, my nephews wife Kristi, and Brenda's mom Kenna. I said goodbye to Ben and Bailey and we headed to Salt Lake for the weekend. We had great food and went to Tai Pan, IKEA, Target, and the mall. Our main purpose was not for shopping but for a show. Lyndsie and I danced most of our lives and we love to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" so we all got tickets and went Saturday night to see the tour they do of the top 12 dancers of their last show. We had an awesome time together, it was so much fun. Our original seats were on the floor of the E Center but that put us level with everyone else who had seats on the floor. So Brenda was amazing and after the show started talked to an usher and got Lyndsie, myself and Kristi moved to a box on the side of the stage that put us so close to the dancers and the stage that our chairs shook! After the intermission Brenda and Kenna were able to move seats and be next to us too. The dancing was awesome and it was so much fun. I spent way to much money and needed the whole day on Monday to recuperate! I missed Bailey and Ben, but it was good just to get out and play.

Fall!

Ok, so I know that I'm back to two weeks again. Sorry. I love this time of year! I love the weather, the colors and the activities that come with fall.

So two weeks ago my brother Todd and his wife Brenda came to Logan. They are Lyndsie's parents and they came down to go to a play with her. They went to Sweeny Todd and brought some neighbors with them whose son was in the play. So we all met for dinner. Whenever dinner, Logan, and my brother Todd are involved we can plan on eating at Iggy's. He loves that place. So we all went to Iggy's, there were about 12 of us. We had a great dinner and talked for awhile after dinner. After that we left and headed to Chili's for dessert. Yep we hit two different restaurants in one night right after the other. After that Ben and I took Bailey home and the rest all went to the play. Lyndsie said it was a good play, but it started at 7:30 and didn't end until 11:30!

On Friday of that week we went to the Pumpkin Walk. I love going and seeing how creative other people can be. Lyndsie was doing laundry here so she and Eric (photo guy) came with us. We all had a great time and the weather wasn't too cold.

On Saturday our neighbor had a Halloween carnival for the kids in the neighborhood. She had games, food, and coloring. It was really cute and of course Bailey just kind of did her own thing! But it was fun, I dressed up like an oven and had a bun in the oven window and we bought Ben a chiefs hat and he wore his cooking apron. A lot of people whispered and were wondering if I was really pregnant.

This last week our friend Eric Webb broke his leg and had to have surgery. We all went up to the ER to see him. Bailey couldn't go in the ER so Ben and I took turns staying with her. We got her a little mask to play with and she loved the hand sanitizer. Eric can't put any pressure on his leg for 6 months and has had to go to the hospital everyday and Lyndsie has been giving him blood thinner shots every night. She is such a trooper and really loves medical stuff.

For Halloween we went home to Idaho. My parents were watching Shaydon while Scott and Sommers had an amazing week in Hawaii! So we went down as soon as we could so the two of them could spend some time together. They are really cute and got along really well. Every time Bailey got out of Shaydon's eyesight he would run around yelling her name until he found her. He is so cute!

On Saturday Ben and I went to Pocatello to help Jacob with his computer. Ok Ben helped while Breawna and I went shopping and hung out. We had a great time. We left and went to be with Bailey who spent the day with my sister-in-law Brenda. We got Bailey dressed up and headed back to Brenda's for Trick or Treating. Bailey decided she needed one of every kind of candy she had! We went to see both of Bailey's great Grandmas and some of my parents neighbors. She knew what to do, but has only had a little candy! I just can't bring my self to let her eat a lot of candy yet.

Since my last blog!

Well I know it's been about 2 weeks so here goes on trying to update our lives!

General Conference was AWESOME! I love General Conference and Ben was great about watching conference and not football! What was probably the cutest thing was that Bailey was soo sick of being with us cooped up in the house that when Eric (our amazing picture guy) came over to give me the proofs of our family pictures Bailey had to get as close to him as she could! I think she was just so happy to have someone new to hang out with. Eric is so sweet with her that he just snuggled her back!

We also celebrated Ben's 30th birthday in the past two weeks. I got him to leave work early that day and we went out to dinner at Texas Road House with our friends Tyler and Tiffany - Cara :) I promise we WOULD have invited you and MitChell, but I was told you were already going that same night. Lyndsie was great to babysit while we went to dinner and when Ben and I could eat again we had Banana Cream Pie, Ben isn't a fan of cake, with Bailey, Lyndsie, and Eric. Happy Birthday Ben, we love you!

Ben's sister Misti come into town and spent a Thursday night with us. She had training in Ogden and we were closer than home. It was great to see her and I wish she could of had her son Corbyn with her so he could play with Bailey, but maybe next time. The very next night my sister-in-law Brenda (Lyndsie's mom) came into town. We did some shopping and they went to Tap Dogs together and came back to talk. On Saturday morning we had breakfast got ready and went shopping again! I loved it and Ben and one of Lyndsie's friends came with us this time too. After shopping we met Eric at Firehouse for a wonderful lunch. After lunch Brenda headed back home, but we all had a great time.

Ben and I also celebrated our 7th Anniversary. I can't believe it's been 7 years, since we knew each other 18 years before we got married I really can't imagine my life with out him. He is a wonderful Husband and father. He works so hard so I can stay home and be with Bailey which is a huge blessing. He is my perfect match in every way. And after 7 years I still love that we can laugh together and enjoy spending as much time as we can together. I love you Ben.

Sometime during this time frame, Bailey got a package in the mail from Shaydon. I have the most amazing sister-in-law. When Sommers and Scott came to Utah they went shopping at IKEA and I had mentioned one time that I wanted these bibs that Shaydon had and Sommers remembered and not only bought us some but mailed them to us. After Bailey opened the package she had to put on her bib and wouldn't take it off for the rest of the day! Sommers is a wonderful sister-in-law, mother, wife, and aunt. Thank you Sommers and Shaydon!

I also went to Menopause the Musical with Lyndsie. We really didn't enjoy it as much as most of the older women that were in the crowd, but it was fun to spend time with Lyndsie. I have LOVED having her in Logan this year. After the show we went to Caspers Ice Cream and we both got a Hot Shot. It was soo good.

This last Saturday Ben decided that we needed to really enjoy college Football. So we got tickets and went to the USU game at 1:00pm. Bailey decided that a nap just wasn't going to happen for her that morning so we took a napless child to the game. She did pretty dang good until about half time. She was hot, tired, and really frustrated that she just couldn't move very far. So we went home to we get out of the sun and get some rest. Ben got a ride home from Tyler, thanks for bringing him home! :) There was a BYU game on that afternoon also so after the game we woke Bailey up (a little crazy) and headed to Shawn's house, he works with Ben. For the BYU game which started at 4:00 but thank heaven's for DVR we got there at 6:00 and were still able to see the whole game. Lucky us, and lucky us that BYU won! After the game we got pizza and Eric brought over the Proposal which I have been dying to see, so thanks Eric for hooking us up!

Wow, I think that's about it. Sorry if this blog is a little long, but I honestly haven't been on the internet for about 2 weeks, just haven't had a lot of time!

Food, Food, & other things!

On Monday night (of last week) Ben mowed the lawn and after neither one of us felt like cooking so we went out to eat!

On Tuesday I cut Bailey's bangs! My Mom has cut Bailey's hair for over a year now, but she really needed a trim and No Mom. So I called a friend got some advice and went at it and THANK HEAVENS they turned out all right! I cut her bangs because we got family pictures taken that night by our good friend Eric Webb. He took the pics of Bailey and Shaydon. We haven't had family pictures done ever so it was time. Eric did a wonderful job and was awesome with Bailey, who didn't like the idea of being outside and not being able to run and play. Lyndsie came with us and was able to help control and make Bailey smile which was awesome! After pictures we all went out for pizza.

On Wednesday I went out to eat with my cousins Katie and Avery who live here in Logan. We went to Olive Garden and had some great food!

On Thursday my friend Angie, from high school who I haven't seen in a year, came to Logan for the day. She had some appointments and than after that she and her daughter came over. We went out to lunch and talked for a few hours. It was awesome to see her and the girls were so cute together.

On Friday I went out to eat with some friends from where I worked before the Bailey days. We went to FireHouse and had a great lunch. It was great to see them and keep in touch with them.

More time with Family and Friends

On Monday (last week) we met the Tyler & Tiffany A. Family for dessert and time at the park. We had a great time, it was a little cold, so we didn't stay as long as the kids would have liked. Their son was so cute with Bailey and their daughter and Bailey had fun on the swings.

On Thursday Scott, Sommers, and Shaydon came to visit. They showed up around 11:30pm, crazy kids! We talked for a little bit and than went to bed. Friday we did some shopping, had lunch, and than I talked a family friend Eric T. W. into taking pictures of Bailey and Shaydon and they turned out amazing! THanks so much Eric!

After pictures Scott and Co. headed out to my sisters in Sandy. About 2 hours after this we headed out to Burley! I know we were just there, but we were able to go to Ben's little brothers football game on Friday night, the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday and Ben was able to watch the BYU football game that afternoon. After the game was over on Saturday night we headed back to Logan! I was exhausted! But we had sharing time on Sunday!

I love that the weather has gotten cooler! I absolutely love this time of year, I love the decorating too. So I was so excited when I was able to go to the Pumpkin Patch with my Mom. I was able to come home with all of this and Bailey loved walking around with all of the pumpkins!

Time with Family

We got back from our trip to Boise on Sunday and we were short one person. We took Lyndsie home when we went, but my brother wanted her to stay until Monday and he and my sister-in-law Brenda would bring her back to Logan on Monday. So we were able to all go out to dinner at Firehouse. We had great food, dessert, and so much fun just being together. Well Lyndsie hung out at our house after her parents left and then went back to her apartment. We she got there, there were some major issues going on so she came back to our house and lived with us until Thursday when we could get her into a new apartment. It was great to have her and I'm soo soo happy that we could be here when she needs us. She is in a new apartment with a lot less drama.

On Thursday Ben had a flag football game that Bailey and I were able to go to. It was a good game and soo crazy trying to chase Bailey everywhere. My cousin's daughter Brookie was there with her uncle, who is a partner at Ben's accounting firm. She was so cute with Bailey, I don't know if Bailey even remembers her but she helped keep an eye on Bailey for me which was really nice.

On Friday we had our last gymnastics class. Bailey was a lot braver about the horse, tramps, etc, than she was when we started and she had a ton of fun so I am happy that we took the class.

The afternoon my parents came into town. My Mom and I had tickets to Time Out For Women for Friday night and Saturday. The speakers were awesome and we had such a great time together! On Saturday Ben, Dad, and Bailey, picked up lunch, picked us up and we headed to the park. Bailey loved running around and I loved spending time with some of my FAVORITE people. The meetings lasted until about 4:00pm and than my parents had to rush home for a stake meeting my Dad had. It was great to be with them and I am so grateful for the wonderful people who raised me!

Trip to Boise

Last week one of Ben's friends got married in Boise it is about a 5 hour drive and made for a very crazy Friday.

Bailey and I left gymnastics early and headed home. Ben and Lyndsie (my niece) were already here when we arrived. We made it out in good time, but because we hurried so fast we didn't get time to grab lunch so we stopped in Tremonton at a Burger King. It's usually fast but we had to wait for 20 minutes for our lunch which slowed us down. My parents had a funeral to go to and they were keeping Bailey so we dropped Bailey and Lyndsie off at Lyndsie's house and hurried to my parents house to drop off bags and the dog.

We made it to Boise about an hour and a half before the wedding. We dropped all of our bags off at my brothers house, chatted with his wife and kids for a few minutes, changed our clothes and off we went. The wedding was nice and we knew some people from home. After the wedding it was back to Eric's to change clothes again and head over to my other brother Scott's house. We hung out with Scott, Sommers, and Shaydon until around midnight and headed back to Eric's.

On Saturday two of Eric's kids had soccer games that morning so we hung out with them and then headed out to meet Scott and family for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Breakfast was good and it was so much fun to hang out with my brothers and their families.

After breakfast we headed back on the road to my parents. Watched the BYU game, hung out, went to church the next day and were back on the road for home sweet home.

And of course no pictures so these two pictures are some old ones from this summer of my nieces and nephews!

Labor Day Weekend

Ok, Ok, so I know that I am way behind, but better late than never.

So for Labor day weekend we headed back to Idaho for Ben's family reunion. We left Logan in pretty good time, but we had to stop in Pocatello (Ben's 2nd home) to help Jacob out. It was soo great to see Breawna just to talk and hang out. After the stop in Pocatello Bailey DID NOT enjoy getting back into her car seat and we enjoyed the hour drive home with her screaming! We got her ready for bed and then fought with my parents about putting her down. They won, kicked us out to go and get some dinner and they put her down.

We hung out at Ben's mom's house until late Friday night and decided for the family service project to head back to Pocatello to help Jacob with his shop. I was totally ok (honestly) with going back, but not with the time. Ben was waking me up at 6:45AM to get ready to head out! So not cool. But we had a really fun time Breawna and I on the roof painting the side of the building. What a memory! :) We headed back just in time to watch the BYU game with Ben's Grandma and she loved laughing at Ben and how excited he gets about his BYU games.


Sunday we all went to church and some of the newer members of the ward couldn't believe how many Brown's there were! Ben's mom headed to nursery with three of her grandkids just to be with them! I did feel better about dropping Bailey off knowing Grandma was there to protect her! I know I'm a little out of control! That night we all went outside and sat together as a family and all the kids told a story about Don. We all laughed and remembered a great man.

On Monday we went golfing and had a great time with everyone. There was a lot of us and the people who ran the course were really nice and gave us clubs to borrow for free, free carts, and a bucket of free balls. I think the guy was just trying to hit on Ben's sister Bethany, but it was really nice of him anyway.

Thanks to my parents for watching Bailey for us as much as they did and thanks to all the Browns for the great weekend. Yes I forgot my camera on all the days except for the family service project day! Sorry.

A Little Behind!

Last week we started GYMNASTICS! Yep, Bailey and I are now in a Parent/Tot class and she loves it. After class and Bailey's nap we headed to Jamba Juice for a treat for Bailey and I and to thank Lyndsie for all of her help that day and to introduce her to Jamba!

We sort of had an interesting weekend, on Friday Ben headed to Idaho to help his brother Jacob. He left that morning around 6:30am with my car. He wasn't sure that his pickup would make it (or so he said) I think he just didn't want to put the miles on it and it doesn't have any A/C. It was also the first time that I have been at the house alone with Bailey over night since she was born. Ben is usually gone for several days so we head home to Idaho, but it was just over night and I feel that sometimes it is easier to just be at home so we stayed,and I slept like a Baby!

My niece Lyndsie is living in Logan for school and I am sooo happy that she is. She played chauffeur for the day and so she was able to take pictures of our first gymnastics class. Thanks Lou for all of your help. This picture is of Lyndsie and Bailey during class while I fixed the camera.


This is a big round cushion they have to crawl over and after helping Bailey get over it she leaned over and gave me a kiss. That is a way to melt my heart!

Kind of Boring

Well the past few weeks have been exciting, with swimming lessons and traveling, but this last week was kind of boring.

Monday thru Thursday afternoon were all about cleaning my house and running errands. Ben took Bailey and I out to lunch on Wednesday which was nice to get out of the house. On Thursday afternoon Brenda (my sister-in-law) came up with Lyndsie (my niece) to move her into her apartments. She will start classes on Tuesday. We are really excited to have Lyndsie here, Ben so he can play more with his friends, me so I can have one more person to have an adult conversation with, and Bailey so she can have one more person to spoil her. After Lyndsie got moved in we went to Fire house for a very late lunch. Lyndsie came over for a few hours on Friday morning, we went for a walk and talked.

On Friday We also found out that the canceled church on Sunday for the Temple dedication, some how Ben and I missed that announcement, but it was nice not to have to worry about our primary lesson.

Saturday we were supposed to go to Aggie day up on campus, Ben was excited to see an kind of football. But he had gone to play basketball that morning and had gotten hit pretty hard in the head, so after mowing the lawn he decided a nap was what he needed and not football.

Keepin' Busy

Last week Bailey and I still had four days of swimming lessons. I am really glad that we signed her up for the classes, but I was ready to be done smelling like chlorine and ready to get back on our regular schedule. This picture is before class on the last day - she closes her eyes in a lot of pictures just like her father.

On Wednesday of last week Lyndsie and Brenda (my niece and sister-in-law) came to finish making arrangements for Lou to move up here. Bailey and I were able to have lunch with them at Cafe Sabor (Yummy) and they left that afternoon to go back home. Of course I didn't have my camera with me so no pictures.

On Thursday Bailey decided she would try to step off the top of our outside cement steps. Her nose didn't look to bad that day, but when she woke up on Friday morning her little nose wasn't pretty.








On Friday we headed to Idaho. It was the big county fair and it's tradition for my whole family to head home and we all go to the fair/rodeo together. Thanks Dad for buying all the tickets and thanks to Brenda for watching Bailey.

On Saturday we met with Kelby O. he was a good friend of ours from High School. He came over to my mom's with his wife and family, Ben and I haven't seen them since their wedding. They have two cute little boys and it was great to see them for a little while. Bailey also decided that she needed to try on the football gear that my brothers and I had when we were little, she's cute in them, but I was thinking ballet shoes instead of football pads. Also not a big Cowboy's fan.

My AMAZING sister-in-law Sommers also made Bailey a cute skirt and flower that matched a onezee for Shaydon, we never got pictures which is way sad. But I will put her in the outfit and take pictures. Thank you Sommers for always thinking of Bailey and for being so darn crafty!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We had a really fun, busy week. On Monday Bailey and I started swimming lessons. They are four days a week for 40 minutes and she loves them. I don't have any pictures because 1- No one needs to see me in a swimsuit and 2- I'm in the pool with her so I don't have a way to take the pictures.

On Tuesday Ben took half a day off, took me to Cafe Sabor for lunch, and we hung out and had a great time. I was serenaded by two of our neighbors; Nicole, Elli, and Megan sang to me and gave me a package of Oreos, the whole Hofland family sang and brought by a box of Creamies, Jon, Sherri and girls came by that night with a whole banana cream pie! My friends like to make sure that I weigh more than they do. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes - they were appreciated.

Ben and I bought a car a few months ago and decided that the car was going to be our birthdays and he bought me a new ipod Nano which was supposed to be part of my b-day. But when it came right down to it he had a hard time that we were turning 30 (he won't be 30 for a couple of months, but it still struck him a little hard :) So I got the shoes I have been wanting for a while now, he bought me a Cold Stone cake and some other great gifts, I love my Star Wars Chewbacca bobble head! I had a great Birthday - thanks for everything Ben.


On Wednesday Ben was asked by one of the partners at work (we'll call him Brett) to help the firm out that night. I would have been fine with that except that Brett wanted Ben to play on the firms softball team! Ben had decided that he wasn't going to play this year so when he came home at 5:00pm and announced that the game started at 7:00pm we quickly ate and headed to the park for a little while before the game. Well lucky for me the 7:00 game was canceled because the other team didn't show up and since it was the play offs the firm automatically won and would play again at 9:00pm! So Ben took us home and he went back a little before 9:00, at 10:20pm I got a call saying that they had won the 9:00 game and would be playing again at 10:30!! I was thrilled and Ben didn't come home until after 11:30pm! But they came in second so congratulations Jones Simkins.

On Thursday we went to the Cache County Fair. It just isn't the same as our home town fair so we just can't really get to excited, but we got dinner there and Ben enjoyed his immensely. :)

Friday was Ben's firm Summer Party. They rented a theater and took us all to the movie. We saw Ice Age 3 and we took Bailey - it was free so hey why not. Thank heavens Nicole saw us walk in and came and got us and we sat with them. It was great, Bailey and Megan played with each other, ate each other snacks, sat in the same chair, and entertained each other. They are only 3 months apart and I SO wanted a picture of them sitting in the same chair together, but I don't think my flash would have been appreciated in the middle of a movie. After the movie we went to a park for dinner and to play on the park toys. Bailey was ever so grateful that her mommy is under 5'0 so that I could fit on the kiddy slide with her!

Saturday we took off to Pocatello to see Jacob and Breawna, because you know it had been two weeks since the boys had seen each other. Jacob is thinking about starting a mechanic shop and found a building so he wanted Ben to look at it. So we had a fun, rain filled day in Pocatello. We love spending time with J & B so it was great to see them and the boys will only have to wait 5 or 6 days before they see each other again, whew!

And on a side note sometimes when I'm on my cell I sit on the steps and talk. Bailey has obviously seen me do this and now thinks that it is normal to do this and when she is pretending to talk on her cell she hangs out on the bottom step too! I'm already screwing up my kid! Ok I'm sure I started long before now.

My Next 30 Years

In the words of a wise man (Tim McGraw) quote "I think I'll take a moment and celebrate my age." Today is my birthday and I usually don't tell people or make a huge deal of it but after spending some time listening to said wise man this morning I decided to spend a moment thinking about my last 30 years. And yes I am 30 today.

I was raised by AMAZING parents who, even though they were told that it probably wasn't a good idea to adopt a girl of such a different race (remember this was 30 years ago in a tiny town in Idaho) did any way. They were wonderful, loving parents who treated me just like the rest of their kids. I had amazing brothers and sisters who married amazing people who have all helped to shape my life.

Wendy taught me it was ok to be girly!
Todd has the biggest heart and always helps others.
Eric gave me a love for 80's music and Star Wars.
Scott has always been my best friend and even though he has always been a little shy is one of the funniest people I know.
All of my older nieces and nephews were more like my little brothers and sisters and my younger ones more like nieces and nephews that I love to spend time with.

I married an amazing man, who for some reason chose me to fall in love with and marry. He works hard to support his family and is the perfect man for me. He loves me when I am emotional and can't tell him why I am crying and he even watches chick flicks with me (only once but at least he does)!

We have beautiful, healthy daughter who has us both wrapped around her finger. And I wouldn't trade all the crazy late nights and bad weeks of being a mother for anything.

I married into a wonderful family who have accepted me (maybe because they were afraid of Ben :) I have an amazing mother-in-law who with Don raised a wonderful son. She is an amazing grandmother. And I am so thankful that I got to know Don before he passed way.

So in the words of the above mentioned wise man, quote "Lord have mercy on my next 30 years." unquote.