50 Interesting Things In My 50 Years

HOLY HANNAH!

I'M TURNING THE BIG FIVE-OH TODAY!

I'm not sure how I feel about turning 50.

I hate that I'm 50 years old now,

but making a list of cool things I've gotten to do over the past 50 years 

definitely makes it a little easier, 

not to mention that I'm on my grandest adventure yet 

at this very moment (I'm about to see some pretty amazing stuff!).

I've been extremely lucky to have a little adventure over the years, 

along with the triumphs, heartache, surprises, day-to-day routines, 

and best of all, great love.

Someone whom I highly esteem once told me that my life was so interesting 
that I should write a book and it would be a best seller.  
At the time I was only 20 years old.  
Add 30 more years of adventure 
(and crazy) 
on top of that, and it's been quite a ride.

My husband calls Fifty the new 'f' word.  haha.  Now I will too.

I've been working on this list for weeks.

I'm sure there will be things I'll think of later that I'll wish I had added, 

but as of today, here are the most interesting things I can think of that I've done/seen/accomplished over the past 50 years.

50 Interesting {to me} Things I've Seen/Done

In The Last 50 Years

(not in order of most interesting)

Awww

1.  Gave birth to five beautiful kids.

2.  Met my husband online.  I call him my mail-order husband.  He has five beautiful kids too.

     Adventurous

3.  Ridden in a hot air balloon

     4.  Zip lined on the Big Island, HA and in Ensenada, MX

     5.  Been on an Alaskan cruise (as of yesterday)

     6.  Flown closely over an active volcano

     7.  Helicoptered over Molokai and Maui, HA, saw the steepest coastal cliffs in the world.

     8.  Snorkeled many times in Hawaii

     9.  Kayaked to Captain Cook’s Monument

    10.  Climbed to the top of Mt Timpanogas (signed the book)

    11.  Scuba dived in the drifts in Cozumel

    12.  Snorkeled with sea lions in Mexico

    13.  Seen the Napali Coast in Kauai

    14.  Water skied Lake Powell

    15.  Snow skied CO and UT

    16.  Rappelled down a few cliffs

    17.  Drove coast to coast in a borrowed VW bug

    18.  Rode on an elephant

    19.  Boated with dolphins

    20.  Floated the Salt River (several times)

    21.  Eaten alligator

Other Travel 

    22.  Times Square in NYC

    23.  Disneyworld

    24.  Niagra Falls

    25.  Toured many church history sites in the east, including Nauvoo, The Sacred Grove, the Whitney store, Hill Cumorah, etc.

Cool

    26.  Modeled swimsuits on the strip in Las Vegas 

    27.  Was the ring girl for boxing matches in Las Vegas (my sister saw me on ESPN 2,500 miles away)

    28.  One night I had my own personal body guard

    29.  Won Miss Congeniality in a beauty contest

    30.  Attended an International Winter Olympics event

Really??

    31.  Met Gordon B. Hinckley in a private meeting with my family

    32.  Kissed David Hasselhoff

    33.  Met Alec Baldwin (he even gave my baby a banana)

    34.  Michael Ballam sang Happy Birthday to me on my 40^th birthday

    35.  Was life-flighted on my honeymoon from Mazatlan to SLC in a private Lear jet.

    36.  Been proposed to at least 7 times

    37.  Pretended to be blind for a whole day.  In public.

    38.  Almost caught the whole neighborhood on fire (don’t play with matches!)

Random

    39.  Been to MX about 50 times. 

    40.  Been to NASCAR in a cpl diff cities

    41.  Stung by a scorpion

    42.  Got comp’d great seats to Donna Summer in Las Vegas.

    43.  Comp’d the biggest hotel suite you've ever seen that had 2-story electric curtains opening up to the Vegas strip.

    44.  Been married 3 times, twice to the same man.

    45.  Lived in foster homes in high school (it was a really good thing, my parents were wayward, not me)

    46.  Sat front and center at Cirque du Soleil

    47.  Seen horse races at Del Mar

    48.  Been top salesperson for every sales job I've ever had.

    49.  I win a lot of great door prizes. Maybe I should be buying lottery tickets?? I've NEVER bought one....YET! (since writing that, a friend gave me a lottery ticket.  I didn’t win.  haha)

    50.  Horseback riding on the beach


                                                   

I guess I should also mention that I'm the youngest of seven children.

NEVER have I seen all six of my siblings at the same time, and never will

(a couple of them have already passed away).

A few of my kids have already reviewed this list

and believe me, THEY HAD QUESTIONS!

I had some 'splainin to do.

     I've come up with a Bucket List too.  

Wanted to put 50 things on it, but honestly, 

it's hard to come up with 50.  Wow.  

That's surprising.  I'll keep working on it.  :)

HAPPY ADVENTURES TO YOU!!!!
AND HAPPY FIFTY YEARS TO ME!!!!
       

Best Homecoming Ever!

How do I explain how it felt to have my son return home after being gone for two years?

THANKFUL Subway Art

This was my first attempt at Subway art, and I've gotta say, 

I was surprised that it was so easy peasy!

I had ordered the vinyl {inexpensively} online....it came with lots of words, leaves, pumpkins, etc.

You can also easily cut out your own if you have a Silhouette machine.

Be sure to use a variety of colors and fonts.

Postcards From Peru {a mother's account of a missionary son}

As some of you know, I've had a son serving a full-time LDS mission in Peru for the past two years.

We have not seen him in person at all for TWO.  WHOLE.  YEARS.

If you're a mom, you know how crazy and hard that is!

We've only gotten to talk to John on the phone TWICE.....the past two Mother's Days.

We got to Skype him ONCE, last Christmas.

Those were cherished moments like you can't even imagine, 

where we were all huddled around the speaker phone or 

smashed together in front of the computer so we could all fit into one Skype screen.  

I didn't want to miss one single word he had to say!

{he talks with a Spanish accent now, which is truly hilarious!}

We've exchanged an email every Monday, where he tells us about the good,

 and sometimes the not-so-good things that are happening.

We tell him what's going on with everyone at home, which honestly, compared to what he's doing and sacrificing, usually sounds so superficial and unimportant.

At times he's had awful health issues, 

beginning with being sick in the MTC {Missionary Training Center} in Provo, Utah, where he learned Spanish, plus how to teach the people of Peru about Jesus Christ and the restoration of the gospel.

Then imagine adjusting to a whole new diet in a third-world country.  

Yeah, that came with a whole lovely set of challenges!

{in his emails he talks about American food incessantly!  He misses it!!}
{see the food list he sent me AFTER this was posted!}

{I don't think he'll eat chicken, beans and rice again for months!  

He just wants IHOP, my homemade Gumbo, and a whole list of other things!  lol}

He's suffered greatly for months from ingrown toenails that required surgery, only for them to quickly return on the other side of the toes.

I know, gross.  But he's the first missionary that offered a Book of Mormon to the foot doctor! lol

He's walked up and down mountainsides so much that he's worn out his shoes and pants.

So what do you do when you're 6'3", tall and slender, you need a new pair of pants, but you live in a country where the population is very short?

Yeah, even new PANTS have been an issue!

After serving the Lord honorably and selflessly for 24 months,

after spending every dime he's ever saved in his whole life {for this purpose},

after giving up everything he's ever known and loved to go off to a country and a people and a language that he knew nothing about,

He's coming home!

 NEXT WEEK!!!

We will soon be at the Phoenix airport celebrating, hugging and crying!

I can't wait!!!

Serving a mission has helped him to grow into a man, more mature and wise than the boy who left two years ago,

but he's never stopped being John!

Check out these pictures from Peru!

He's a character!!

                         

                                                                              He LOVES him some Peruvian Inca Kola 

                                                                                           {anyone know where I can get more?}

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was quite simple,

and yet, it was one of my favorite.

I'm just so happy with life right now,

my husband, my children, church, community, everything.

(except my weight....but there's always gotta be something, right?  lol)

Saturday Highlights:

The UPS guy delivered this

Welcome Colby!

We just became grandparents today...

FOR THE EIGHTH TIME!

Welcome to this beautiful wonderful world, Colby!

Can't wait to meet you in July!!!

Congratulations Tara, Kyle and new big sister Makenna!

(p.s. I never looked that good right after having a baby....sheesh, Tara!)

Book of Mormon Read-A-Thon

A couple of months ago I read in the newspaper about an LDS Youth group 

who'd had a Book of Mormon Read-A-Thon.  

It intrigued me, but I was sure that OUR youth group 

would be bored to tears.....

Temple Worthiness Card - Young Women's Handout

Years ago at stake conference, 

one of the stake presidency counselors stated that he wished teenagers could have temple recommends as a reminder to conduct themselves 

in a more worthy manner.  

My Obsession with Valentine's

So yeah, I'm pretty much obsessed with Valentine's Day this year.

I blame THAT on Pinterest too!  lol

Decorating for ANY holiday is fun, but getting new ideas and rearranging the old adds to the joy!  :)

And, um, well, I had this Valentine stuff up before the Christmas tree was even all the way down.

And I had that tree down the first week of January!  hehe

With Thankful Hearts

Our Thanksgiving was, well, I don't even know the right word. 

It was peaceful. 

It was lovely. 

It was homey. 

The food was more delicious. 

It was full of gratitude. 

It was one of the best I ever remember. 

If I had to sum it all into ONE word I guess it would have to be Magical. 

All that was missing were our four far-from-home kids. *insert real tears here*

Our missionary in Peru, John, practically forgot it was Thanksgiving due to being so 'lost' in his work for the Lord.....he says he had rice and beans.....again, but that he'll make up for it next year when he's (barely) home again.  :)

I'm pretty sure our daughter Devin, who is still in the Missionary Training Center in Utah (for just another week and a half) got fed some turkey.

We also very much miss the other two (and their families) who live out of state and couldn't be with us.  We pray that they had a wonderful dinner and day as well.  We often think of ALL of our kids, but something about the holidays makes me miss them more and think of them even more often and fondly as I recall past holidays and the special and fun times that we've shared.  

Holidays are family time.

I can't help but wonder if the extra special Thanksgiving was due to having two missionaries out right now. If so, much thanks to them for making our Thanksgiving extra special!

I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving too!

Every Thanksgiving morning starts with the men and boys playing football.  

They come home muddy, hungry and happy!

After football they all head over to Gables' property to 

unbury the treasures they hid deep into the ground the night before.  

What could it be?

Suspenseful, isn't it?

Ohhh, it's smokey.

There are several, and I do mean SEVERAL turkey, beef and pork roasts that have been cooking all night, wrapped in butcher paper and foil.

(Cowboy and the boys do this every year and this is actually the first time I've seen it.  

It's about time I sent a camera off with one of the kids!)

FREE DELIVERY!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.............

OTHER meal preparations are taking place.

We only use the china once a year.  I know.  But dishes are such a pain.

Setting the table the night before sure saved a lot of stress.

A special placard for each guest.