It's My Birthday

Today, Friday the 10th day of October 2008 is my birthday. The exact time that I entered this world was at 3:30pm. I've never been one to get "excited" about my birthday. To me it's just another day but with gifts, cake and well wishes from family and friends. But, I have to be honest, I am alittle excited about this birthday. Not that I'm excited about turning another year older. But that 1) I took the day off from work. 2) It's going to be "all about me" and 3) Ok, so this is where no one is to laugh or make fun of me. I am going to see Niel Diamond. Yep, the man who wrote "Sweet Caroline". It's going to be my "first" concert ever. Unless you count the time I "heard" Billy Joel in Christchurch, NZ. The stadium was so close to where I was living that it felt like the concert was inside my flat. Today is going to be a great day!!

PS: I would like to give a shout out to my Uncle Robin who also has a birthday today. As well as, my friend Wendy Clover, Happy "16th" Birthday. And if my Grandmother was still alive she would have been 101 years old today.

Happy Birthday...

To my older sister, DeAnn. Tomorrow is her Birthday. DeAnn is the crazy one in this family. But we like crazy. She keeps us all laughing.
Here she is opening some of her gifts. Since her birthday is tomorrow she wanted to wait and open some on her real birthday.
Happy Birthday DeAnn!!

(crazy nephews in the back Ivan and Bradyn)

Since we have several family members who have birthdays in October, we celebrated all the birthdays with one "cupcake" cake. So to all the other October Birthdays..Happy Birthday to my brother Darin, my niece Daryn "Ashlyn" and to me. HaPPy BiRThdAy!!

Family + Food + Gifts = Baby Shower

This morning, my sister DeAnn threw a Baby Shower for her daughter, my niece Jessica at MiMi's Cafe. We had brunch and the food was so good. Jessica flew down from Idaho along with her sister, Chloe. Family drove and flew in from California to celebrate the soon to be "birth" of a niece, great niece, granddaughter and great granddaughter. Our family can't wait for the birth of this baby. Too, bad she'll be living in Idaho. So, Jessica you better update your blog everyday with pictures once the baby arrives. My cute nieces, Jessica and Chloe
DeAnn, cousin MariAnne, Me and friend Paula
Soon to be great grandmothers Bev and Patricia and grandmother DeAnn
Niece, Daryn "Ashlyn", Jessica and sister-in-law Rachel
This is just one of the many gifts I gave to Jessica for the Baby. I don't know why everyone was surprise that I picked out a cute outfit. Ok, so some of my other gifts were from Nike. What can I say I love Nike. Jessica also received many handmade knitted blankets from grandmothers, great Aunts and friends. Plus a handmade quilt from her mother. It was fun to just spend the morning with family and close friends. Love you Jessica and I can't wait to meet baby Ruby "LaVonne". Love ya :)

Happy Birthday Ivan

My nephew, Ivan is 14 years old today.
The Indian name I gave him is "Little man with a big head". When he was little he had a big head. (actually his curly hair made it look like he had a big head) Ivan is a smart kid. He is serious about everything he does. I love this kid and not because he is buying my a BMW.

Ivan makes his family laugh, as he imitates his older brother Jordan. We always get a big laugh when Ivan does his imitations. Even Jordan laughs. Don't worry its all in fun...right Ivan?. I am so happy that my little man with a big head lives closer to me. ( not even a mile away from me). Happy Birthday Ivan!! I love ya! :)

I'm having a BABY!!

Ok, so I'm not "physically" having a baby.

My niece, Jessica and her husband Chris are having a baby. So, in a way, I am having a baby. I will be a "Great" Aunt. Am I even old enough to be a great Aunt? I think not!. Last week we found out "we're" having a girl.

My sister, Shana and I have been talking about names - Middle names. (i could care less what the first name is) I told Shana that Jessica should go with "LaVonne". She said Jessica would never name her "LaVonne" as her sister, Abigail already has the name "LaVonne". I then stated "that I would pay Jessica to name her "LaVonne". Shana came back with "No, No, No (while shaking her head) I'll pay her not too name her "LaVonne" to which I came back with "I have much more money then you". End of conversations.

Tour de France

Its one of my favorite times of the year. Every July marks the start and finish of the Tour de France. I love to watch the tour. I really look forward to getting up at 5:30am to watch 2 hours of the tour before heading out the door to work. Thanks heavens for TiVo. I have always enjoyed riding bikes. I've been into cycling since highschool. Words can't express how excited I was to ride a bike on my mission. (sorry companions for riding to fast and leaving you behind) One of my goals is to go to France during the Tour and seeing several of the stages. One day I'll be there.

I'm Back

My main reason for not blogging for the last month and a half is because I've been studying for my license. No, not my driver's license. That's good till the year 2030. I have been studying for my Insurance license. It's for my job, so it's not by choice. In order to work at LeBaron and Carroll, LLC I have to be licensed even if I don't sell personal or commercial Insurance. I have so much more to studying before I can even think of taking the test. I took what, I like to say was a "pre-test" back in November. It's multiple choice questions only. The questions are really tricky. You have to read the questions very carefully. There are 4 possible answers and they are all similar. The test is set to a timer. I have 2 hours to answer 230 questions. It doesn't help to have the timer in the upper left hand corner of the computer screen. Back in November I spent more time looking at the timer then reading the questions. I'm not stressing out..yet. Who am I kidding..I am very Stressed out!! For the next 3 days while at work I plan on spending 8 hours studying. My boss is at scout camp this week, so it's a good time to studying.