Memorial day at Topanga Days

We went to yet another hippy fest in Topanga! We had a great time hanging with our friend Pat and his beautiful son, Finn. The girls had so much fun playing with him. We ate yummy food, danced to great music and played a lot.  The kids played a fishing game, got tattoos, and jumped in a bouncy house.  Later, we hooked up with my supercool new friend Brieann and her gorgeous children.

Ceci swinging on her tummy!

Isn't nature beautiful!?

I take my girls on a walk almost every day.  I like for us to get the exercise and sunshine, but we also really enjoy observing nature.  I happened to bring my camera the other day so I took a couple pictures of things we often see.  We see lots of dandelions in all their stages.  My girls do lots of seed-planting by simply blowing dandelions.  Here's a song we sing as we walk:

Oh dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all day?

I just wait here in the tall green grass 'til the children come to play.

Oh, dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all night?

I wait and wait 'til the cool dew falls and my hair grows long and white!

And what do you do when your hair grows white and the children come to play?

They take me up in their dimpled hands-- and blow my hair away!

Another thing we like to do on our walks is watch honeybees.  We LOVE bees and what they do for us.  (Pollinate, make yummy honey and beeswax.)  We found this bee with knees VERY full of pollen.  I had never seen such full knees before!  We watched her for a long time.

Of course we love to smell the roses (and all the other good-smelling flowers we find!)

He's MY American Idol

Yes, I watched religiously every single episode from the first time I heard his audition on youtube.  I had never even watched one episode of American Idol in my life!!!

All I know is that he sings like an ANGEL, and he is an angel.  I LOVE HIM.  I voted as much as I could!  I am shocked and sad that he didn't win.  He is my American Idol!  Thank you, David, for being an inspiration.

Whole Children, Whole Planet Expo

We went to this fun expo yesterday but it would have been nicer if it hadn't been 100 degrees!  We still had fun, and I got the most beautiful pendant.  I know some of my breast feeding mama friends will like this a lot so here's the link.

My Beautiful Mother

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my mom's passing.  Needless to say, I've been thinking a lot about her and have shed a few tears.  Of course, I missed her on Mother's day, but I miss her every day! I just felt like I needed to post some of my feelings about the most wonderful person I ever knew, my mother.  

My mother is the most Christian person I know (in the truest sense of the word.)  She loved our Savior and sincerely tried to follow Him.  She was totally dedicated to our family--loving each of us with so much devotion.  My mother was a true Matriarch, a beacon in our home.  She did so many things to help make our home a haven.  She taught us to believe in God, to pray, and to live as we were taught by our Savior.  She taught us to love, to forgive, to not judge, to be kind, to work hard and do our very best.  Because of this, there was a lot of peace and happiness in our home.  My childhood wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close thanks to her efforts.  No matter what I ever did, my mother loved me and was loyal to me.  And I did a lot of things to break her heart. But she never gave up on me, ever.

My mother was totally dedicated to serving people in all kinds of capacities.  Of course, she was the PTA president for many years, and excelled in her callings in church, but she also loved and cared about every friend we ever brought over (even the somewhat strange ones!)  My mother was not just my mother--she was a mother to many, many people.  She had the biggest heart. She let countless people come and live in our home when they needed a place.  And she would love these people as if they were her own.

As we started families of our own, my mother fell in love with each of her many grandchildren. She was the kind of Grandma that LIVED for the next time she got to see one or some of her grandchildren.  She loved each of our children and when she was with any particular one, she seemed to love them best.  But she loved them all the same--she was the BEST Grandma. (That's the part that hurts so much!!) I can't possibly express what a wonderful Grandma she was.  Only my siblings could understand.

So now I have an angel.  When I pray, I feel like she's listening too.  And because she was such a good teacher, I feel like I always know what she would say when I need some advice.  She was so practical, logical, unselfish, and wise.  I am so thankful for having had the best mom in the world!  I could go on and on, and tell tons of stories that support my claims, but you just have to trust me!!

I found this email that I sent out the day my Mother died and I wanted to share it:

My dearest friends,
I just wanted to let you know that my whole world will never be the same
again. My beautiful, devoted and angelic Mother left this world yesterday
at 1:37pm. She was surrounded by my Dad and all 5 of us children and we let
her go with a family prayer, a priesthood blessing and singing "Families Can
Be Together Forever" among other beautiful hymns and songs.

She had had a very painful and aggressive form of cancer called Multiple
Myeloma for over a year before it was diagnosed. The disease had literally
broken a vertebra, pinched a nerve and fractured her spine and 5 ribs. On
March 28th we finally found out what she was suffering from. She was given
chemotherapy the next day but by the 15th of April she was back in the
hospital with pneumonia. Her immune system had been devastated.

My Mother has spent the last 10 months in great pain and we are now so
thankful to know that her suffering is over. We are so thankful that she
lived a full and exemplary life totally dedicated to her Heavenly Father,
her Savior and her family. I know that she accomplished all that she needed
to do here and that it was Heavenly Father's will to bring her home to Him.

I know this life is a short testing period to prepare ourselves for
eternity. I know my Mother passed her tests with flying colors. I am so
thankful to know that she is now in the best place and that one day soon she
will resurrect in a perfect, healthy body. I know that I will see her
again.

My Mom had of way of making each of us feel like we were her favorite. I
will miss our special times together. I am so thankful that she was my
Mother. She was also my best friend.

I want to thank those of you (who were aware) that offered prayers in our
behalf. The prayers have truly carried us through this. Our faith has
increased and we feel more grateful than sad, just knowing how blessed we
were to have her. She made our home a heaven on earth.

I LOVE MY MOMMY!!!

Love,
Suzy

Here are some family pics--excuse the poor quality--some are pictures snapped of pictures.













Top Row: My parents engagement picture and a picture from 2002
2nd Row: Mom and I in the hospital :( and her sharing her last Sundae from Twohey's with my girls
3rd Row: Family picture in 2002 and our last family picture with Mom in 2004
Bottom Row: Family picture without her, but her presence is still there!!

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. --Abraham Lincoln

Mother's Day and Craig's Birthday!

Not only was Sunday Mother's Day, but it was also Craig's birthday.  (We share it often.) We woke up Sunday morning determined to attend Sacrament meeting.  We were fortunate to find one that began at 9am.  That meant we had to hurry to check out and get there!!  We made it right on time.  It was a very nice meeting--good talks on Motherhood, lots of cute families and little children.  When the primary children sang, I sent all three girls up to sing with them! I was also lucky enough to get a chocolate covered strawberry on the way out!

We next went to quickly drive by the capitol building in Sacramento and then get some groceries at Trader Joe's so that we wouldn't have to stop to eat.  We wanted to get home to Grandma Ginny's to celebrate Mother's day with her and to celebrate Craig's birthday.  The drive went by quickly and we got to her house by 6:20pm!!  She was cooking dinner and we got there in time to make the salad and the mashed potatoes.

For Mother's day, all I wanted (besides a super-fun weekend at the WEF) was a picture of me with my girls.  So we did that.  I also wanted a picture of Craig with the girls for his B-day. We then enjoyed dinner, and then we got to sing to Craig and have cake and ice cream!  YUM!!  He turned 29 for 17th year in a row.  :)

Next, we gave Grandma her presents.  Bella had felted her a heart pin and Lala felted her a butterfly.  I felted a flower from Ceci.  Craig and I gave her a beautiful book called "A Mother's Touch,"  with lots of paintings and beautiful quotes in it.  We were exhausted, but it was a very nice day!

Felting

Tonight I got to teach the Young Women in my ward how to needle and wet felt.  We made pins for their moms for Mother's day.  I was so impressed with their creativity!!  They caught on quick and went for it.  I especially loved the mermaid!

Planting Veggies

Today we did some planting.  It was sort of gloomy and cool so it was perfect.  We planted 3 tomato plants, zuchini, crookneck, and armenian cucumber.  We still have one tomato plant from last year that is flourishing. We also planted a watermelon plant!  I hope next year to do it all from seed.  This year, I lost track of time!!

Hollyhocks and Sweet Peas

I just had to get a picture of these beautiful flowers that are in bloom right now.  A year ago we planted these from seeds.  Planting is such a MIRACLE!!  How do you get such big plants from a handful of tiny seeds??  They are so gorgeous and the sweet peas smell delicious!

The Other Gallups!

Today we got to visit with Uncle Jeff (Craig's brother) and cousins Rachel and Jessie (his daughers,) and their husbands Andrew and Chris, and Rachel's beautiful children, Gabriel (6) and Sophia(3 1/2) at Grandma Ginny's house!!  We had sooooo much fun!!  The kids played like crazy outside with Jessie's dog and Grandma's turtle.  My children are IN LOVE with Gabe and Sophia, but might possibly be more in love with Uncle Jeff!  Grandma made us her famous meatballs and pasta.  SO DELICIOUS!!  We had such a wonderful day with them!