Happy Mothers Day!

I wanted to give a big Happy Mothers Day to the ladies who have had such an influence over my life.

To my mother, I wanted to say that I admire you, and I want to be like you, you are such a great example to me and to everyone around you! I am so glad that I am your daughter! How did I get so lucky? I love you!


To my mother-in-law, thank you for raising such a wonderful son! I am so thankful that he had you for a mother! You have taught me many things, and I appreciate you and all your knowledge and know how! I love you!

To all of you other ladies, there are so many of you that have also had such an impact on my life! Thank you for being there when I need you, and for nurturing me, and helping me. To all my sisters in my family, in the gospel, and who are my friends, I love and appreciate you and all that you teach me! I hope that you had a Happy Mothers Day!

David is 7!

Happy Birthday David! We are so lucky to have you in our family! Here are just a few things that we love about you!

1. You are so helpful! You love to do your chores, and help anyway that you can!

2. You love to read, and are really good at it! We are so happy that you like to go to bed early so that you can read!

3. We love that you love to go to your Primary Class. You always want to be the first one there!

4. You are such a great brother! Your brother and sisters all look up to you!

5. You are a good friend. We love that you have so many friends!

6. You love to play all kinds of sports! We love to watch you play and that you always try your best!

7. You are a great eater! You are always willing to try anything that we make!

8. You are a good swimmer. Your Popie loved to watch you swim! It comes so naturally to you! Maybe you will be a good swimmer like him.

9. You love to sing! We love to hear you sing!

10. We love you David! You are such a special part of our family! We are so grateful that Heavenly Father let us be your mom and dad! Thank you for always trying to do your best!

Here it is....

the much anticipated, much requested picture of me doing the splits (not very well, I might add), eight months pregnant.

Mama Monday!

My mom has to sit in a chair most of the time. She gets up to go from point A to point B, but other than that she is sitting in her chair. You might say that her chair is her world. I love this picture because she is so happy listening to her grand kids sing to her. She gets this happy when anyone comes to visit her.

Most of my childhood memories with my mom are of her taking care of people. It all began with her eight children. Making sure they were all where they needed to be. Scrubbing office floors, so her girls could all take dance, and piano. When I was two, my brother passed away from Cancer, he was 18. My mom took care of him. When I was 7 my grandma, her mother, came to live with us. She was getting ready to die, and my mom took care of her until she died. Then my great-aunt came to live with us. She had fallen and broken her hip and could not be left alone, so my mom took care of her for years until she died. She also took care of her father for many months until he passed away. My mom did laundry for an older man for years. She took care of him before he passed away. I look back and just remember her always helping someone.

Now she has slowed down. She can't take care of others physical needs like she once did. However, even with her debilitating disease, she still has a way of helping others. Whether it is a smile, or a big hug (she gives the best hugs) she is still helping others. She helps me by always listening to me, and encouraging me to be my best self. She believes in me, and makes me feel like I could do anything. I am so thankful that I have been honored to have her as my mom! She has set such an example of service and Christ like love that I can only hope to obtain someday.

I love you mom!

p.s. if any of you are near where my mom lives, go give her a hug for me! You won't regret it! She gives great hugs!

Go Earth, Go Earth, It's your day! Get Green!

In honor of earth day today, I have decided to post a few things we can all do right now to help take care of this precious earth that we have been given!

The first thing is to get...

A Cup of Your Own
Every year Americans throw away 25 billion polystyrene cups and 25 billion individual water bottles, most of which end up in landfills. Instead buy a reusable to-go mug and a bottle that you can refill with filtered tap water. Bring your own (to a coffee shop, a meeting), and you cut down on Styrofoam.

I learned today it takes over 100 years for a water bottle to decompose.



Want a Lick?
A cone beats a cup. Why? "You're eating your silverware instead of using plastic," says Matthew Modine, a passionate promoter of earth-friendly policies. "It's all about consuming less, using fewer of the resources needed to make products and packaging."



Clean Without Chemicals
Natural cleansers like vinegar and baking soda do a great job without harming the planet. "And," Matthew says, "a little vegetable oil and lemon juice makes a great wood polish."



Bag It
Get reusable cloth bags for the grocery store and the dry cleaner. More than 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away every year.



Stop Junk Mail
Every year 100 million trees are chopped down for junk mail sent to American homes. Contact the direct marketing association at dmachoice.org/mps to remove your name from mailing lists of their members.



De-Lint the Dryer
Lint builds up after every dryer cycle, reducing the machine's efficiency. Removing it does a lot to decrease its usually massive energy use.



Shut Down
The average computer left on all day uses nearly 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, producing more than a ton of carbon emissions. So turn off your computer anytime you're not on it, and eliminate the screen saver function, which uses more energy than the sleep mode.

From What You Can Do Right Now to Help Save Your Planet in the February 2008 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

Lets all try to incorporate at least one of these things this week! I think we could all empty the lint after each dryer load! :)

Mama Monday!

My niece Rach posted this picture on their family blog. This is a picture of my mom, holding Cristian, one of her precious great grand-babies. I love this picture and love my mom so much. I think Mondays should be dedicated to moms. I know that not everyone is a mother yet, but we have all been influenced by so many women, and by our mothers.

My mom is an example of enduring well to the end. She has had Parkinson's Disease (google this if you don't know what it is) for 29 years. She has suffered so much, and is in constant pain, but she still serves, and makes people happy. When we go to church with them, there is a line of people that wait to give her a hug and a kiss and feel of her powerful spirit. There is a young lady in that ward that has Cystic Fibrosis, she wrote an essay on people who inspire her, and my mom was one that she paid tribute too. My mom has such an incredible ability to give love to all! She is one of my heros! I want to try and work on enduring well this week. I know that there are people in our lives that inspire us to be better. I want to challenge you all to think about those examples in your life and think about how we can all endure well.

I will try to not complain, and to reach out to someone else this week who is in need.

What will you do this week to endure well?

What do you think of this?

"Queenie Kachow Moreau"

A big thanks to all who gave such cute suggestions! We are compiling a list of all of our favorites and will take that list with us to the hospital. When we see the little lassie, we will then determine her name! Feel free to continue to make suggestions. We really do appreciate it!