Updates...

I have so much to update but have to be honest, I'm nervous...
People should not get upset about what is seen on a blog.

PINCH Proof!

Second Grade Green Party! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since I am privileged to have SpRiNg BrEaK next week... YAHOO! We celebrated the Irish holiday today! The students wore green, ate green cupcakes, and had green punch! My students homework was to create and write about a leprechaun trap! We are hoping to catch at least one! :) Check out some of these incredible traps!

Leprechaun Resort... vinyl lettering and all! In the back there is a bench made out of popsicle sticks. Looks enticing!

Heavy duty trap! His dad had to carry it for him! (He might have extra luck - the large can is from the church cannery :))

100% Irish! Her pants were painted "I love Ireland!"

To top of our day, we played kickball with another second grade class! It was a blast! Some kids had no skill and others shocked me with their abilities! This is the only picture I got!

The kids have been counting down the days until they can rest from school! Spring Break is here! Nick and I are off to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa Lundahl! Leaving the 80 degree weather to go FREEZE!

Dr. Suess Week!

Happy 105th Birthday, Dr. Suess! This week has been a blast at work! Everyday we had a fun spirit day to go along with different Dr. Suess books. My class and another second grade class made a competition to see who had the most spirit. (Because on average 4 teachers out of close 40 dressed up and a few students from each class. By the end of the week more and more students were fun of spirit.) I took pictures of some of the days and forgot on others.

Monday - Wacky Socks!
No picture: I wore a very professional outfit... black shirt and flowered skirt with knee high snowflake Christmas socks! It worked out perfectly since I hadn't shaved my legs. :)

Tuesday - Red and Green Day!
No picture: The majority of my students participated in this day. It looked like our class was ready to celebrate Christmas in March! I wore a red shirt underneath a green dress. Red and Green totally clash! It was great!

Wednesday - Crazy Hat Day! I had a normal plaid hat and I added a pok a dot flower... It is going to the latest trend!

I love this hat! He had awesome items for each day.

Thursday - Silly glasses! I bought nerd glasses at the dollar store... they were pretty intense! I'm not wearing my glasses because I got a headache in the first hour of school! One of my students had the best glasses- they were thick black glasses with each rim holding a slinky.
On Thursday, my kiddos finally earned ASU Pom Poms! At the ASU vs. uofa game they gave out pom poms... yes I got 30 of them! I have been using them as a bribe. I got observed by my principal and my students were angels! They all earned their pom poms! We are the most Sun Devil spirited class!!!




Friday - Mismatched Day!

No picture :(. I honestly think it took longer to find a mismatch outfit than it would for a regular outfit. I looked stunning! I wore two different colored flip flops, plaid shorts with a pok a dot scarf tied on as a belt, a pink brown flowered top with a bright purple shirt underneath, 2 different necklaces (one st. pattys day and another red), two different earrings, a red bracelet, a gold watch, and my hair ... two pigtails one braided one not. I was pretty attractive! I so wish I had a picture! I loved the reaction from parents and other teachers who were on campus. Talk about people looking you up and down haha.

To top of Dr. Suess week... DRUM ROLL!!!

Our class got a Smart Board! (Interactive whiteboard connected to the computer) It is so AWESOME! We love it! As a class, we spent so much time playing with it this week! Hopefully, the kids learned something on top of figuring out technology. We only get to keep it in our classroom for a few weeks but it is amazing!

The Last Week of February!

Second Grade Pizza Party! I challenged all of my students to meet their A.R. Goals early. The reward was an awesome pizza party! Talk about extreme motivation for them and I was so excited to not eat cafeteria food! :) I bought the pizza and parents helped with the rest. This fruit was divine!!! So yummy!
We all pigged out! Check out how relaxed these kiddos are!
"Guys, Ms. Hendrickson eats pizza?!"




Phoenix Coyote HOCKEY with Friends! Rena was so excited to get a FREE HAT!

Don't I look like a pro:

I totally thought I was going to hurt someone! I made a goal! YAHOO!

I was super shocked to be able to play on the ice!

Mrs. Lehman and Ms. Hendrickson the coolest 2nd grade teachers on the Farm!

I love her, we have so much fun together!

President's Day!

I only blog when I have a holiday off from work!

Happy President’s Day!!!

Memorable Events in the last few months (Kind of in chorological order):


Crazy Hair Day! A dear friend aka Sista, had me over for dinner in December and helped me come up with a ‘fancy do’ for CrAzY Hair day! Here is what we came up with: I had kids coming up to me all day asking how I did it! Thanks Kari!



Katie and Erich moved back to AZ! I have missed Katie so much! She has lived in Provo since she got married. Now she back for good!!! For about a month or so she when she first got back she had a lot of time to play. Since then she has started a job. Before the job, we went on so many shopping sprees, had crafty adventures, and went on dazzling double dates! It’s great to have her back! She helped me make fun bridal shower gifts and Christmas gifts!


Step Family Dinner... I mean all this very nicely. I wouldn’t post it but I think I have already voiced these comments with some of you. : ) The last few months, I have been rather bugged with Step family situations. Starting with a mandatory dinner with my dad and his wife and her kids. It was a typical dinner at their house; they are not use to eating much and didn’t have enough food. I think the thought of 5 children and their families terrifies my step mom. To me cooking for that many is normal since the only time I really ever cook is when it’s the whole gang. While eating dinner, the families were segregated as usual. I was in the kitchen with my Dad and Kyle when I overheard a conversation the stepsiblings were having. Things were normal until this... My stepsister’s husband went off on an extremely rude and wrong tangent about Autism. I listened and glared at him... it was all I do to contain myself. I was trying so hard not to ruin my Dads night. I will not repeat the things that he said because he was very ignorant and wrong. If you don’t know about Autism then you truly have no reason to talk about it. I will never be able to think of him the same or at that have a conversation with him. Kyle and I both caught on to the conversation but my dad had no idea. My biggest regret of that night is not standing up to him. My nephew has autism so it hits much closer to home that he will ever realize. I was so upset when I left there and was praying that Troy did not hear the comments knowing that it would crush him. I called my dad to explain to him my concern and he flipped out on me and told me not to worry about it. I told him that he better tell his wife to explain the situation or else one of us would. All these thoughts made my dad upset at me. All he said was next time you can stand up and put him in his place. I told him their better not be a next time. I wish my Dad would stand up to his wife and simply explain things to her. My Dad doesn’t realize how much he misses out on because of the fear of upsetting her. The next few days I had very ugly thoughts of revenge! Instead, I just hope to share my knowledge of Autism with others. I am so blessed to have Braden in my life! I know that all of my siblings would agree! Braden is so incredibly smart, he is going to go far in his life! He is simply the best!

A few weeks ago, my stepbrother got married. It was nice of them to invite us to the ceremony and reception. I hope they understand they don’t have to. I don’t think because people are Step siblings/parents things need to be forced. It was so very awkward. I went once again to support my Dad. It was fine until it came time for pictures. I made it very clear that I had no reason to be in any of the pictures. Knowing well that there was no reason to be included in the family photos. I hate that my Dad things we all have pretend to be peachy so that we don’t offend his wife. Every time we do family, pictures he and she insist in have both families together. I wish we could just do stuff individually. I want nothing more than to have pictures with just my Dad. Is it that wrong? I always thought with time these situations would be better but I’m beginning to think they get worse. Blah... Sorry back to happier thoughts!

Christmas: Christmas was marvelous! I love when all my brothers and their families come over! I don’t know if there is anything better! Early Christmas morning, I went and picked up my Grandma (not knowing it would be her last Christmas with us). It was a struggle to get her to come but she did! When we got back, I made some cinnamon rolls and the presents began! As a family, we had some very memorable moments with our Grandma. She quickly let me know that my cinnamon rolls didn’t taste very great (honesty is good)! After all the grandkids opened presents, the big kids began. I got the silliest hat from my mom, the best part is she LOVES it and really thought I would too! I thought we were all going to die laughing when I put it on. Landon was terrified to look at me so I knew it was bad! Julie, Valerie, Nick and I were almost rolling on the ground laughing so hard. Look at these sexy pictures! We got Grandma to model it for us! Grandma stayed for a couple hours until my other family showed up for lunch. I had to take her home, I will always cherish the opportunities I had to cart her around. The things you take for granted until you can’t do them anymore.



Bowling adventure with some friends: Friends reunited! Since everyone is hitched, have children, jobs, etc it is so difficult to get together and play! Right after Christmas, we planned to go bowling to catch up with some high school buds. Lara and Tyler came to town and we all wanted to see them. It was perfect timing for one of those adventures were you want to play with your friends and show off the new goods! : )





New Years Eve: Our final adventure of 2008! Katie and Erich had connections to get tickets to the Tostitos Bowl at ASU. Caleb and I went with him to the game. We took the NEW Light Rail! The Light Rail was packed, it had for an interesting experience. No doubt about it we were most definitely entertained by the mixture of people abroad! We watched the game cheering for both teams not really knowing anything about either of them. : ) That night we all pigged out with Barros Pizza, Native New Yorker Wings, and On the Border Chips and Salsa. The hours were long waiting for the new year to begin! We did our best to entertain ourselves.




Wii!!! I gave in! A few years late but I joined the Nintendo age... never thought I would do such a thing! My mom told me if I bought the Wii she would buy the Wii Fit. It was a deal! It has been so much fun! Kyle, Valerie, Nick, and I have spent so much time trying to break each other’s records! Waste of time... maybe not it is always a great family event!

Leader to Committee: For the last year, my calling at church has been compassionate service, which consists of celebrating birthdays, welcoming new girls, and other random things. It has been a lot of work but enjoyable each Sunday. I found out a few weeks ago that I am no longer the leader, I am now on the committee... little do they know to my excitement that means there is no need for me a Horizon ward every Sunday! I’ll be out to see new sights shortly!

Dad’s Cabin with Lillian and Landon: Road trip with L and L for Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend! I took the kiddos with me to my Dad’s cabin in Payson! It is so much fun to watch him play and love his grandkids! Lillian loves everything about the outdoors! She will do anything to go fishing, camping, or to play at Grandpa’s Cabin. On our way up there we stopped at Walmart to get food for the weekend, I let Lillian choose our meals. She did a great job, My dad was shocked with the food we bought! I realized that weekend that my Dad does not get home-cooked meals very often! He was in heaven with breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I finally asked him why he was so excited... I know my cooking isn’t that great! : ) Turns out his wife only cooks once or twice a week! I couldn’t believe it. I wish I could cook for him every night! I love spending time with Dad. I wish we could spend more time together.
>
ICU Trips to see GMA: On Monday, February 2nd I got a voicemail from my brother, Wade. He had gone out to see my Grandma to find her on the floor struggling to breathe. She was talking and he followed her orders and tried to help her out. She asked to lie in her bed. He took her to bed and then realized that the situation was worse than he thought. He quickly called the EMT and they took her to a hospital about a mile away. When he got to the hospital, she was in the ER and he could not go in because his youngest son was with him. 20 minutes later the nurse came out to tell him that she was put on a ventilator to help her. After I heard all of this, I was frantically trying to reach my mom to tell her. She started a new job and is very difficult to get a hold now. I talked to one of my friends and he had no idea how scared I was of these thoughts. I was kind of afraid to go see her in the hospital. It wasn’t until he mentioned something about going to see her that I realized the importance of going. That night I went to see my Grandma, it wasn’t much to see. She was there with tubes all over her and down her throat. She wasn’t very responsive. The nurses were everything but informative. I have never been so frustrated. I wish I knew more about the medical field. Even my mom with her background could not understand or figure out what was going on and why they were doing what they did. Almost everyday for a week I went to see my Grandma, there were no positive changes. Little things happened each day to get her further away from recovery. On Saturday, Valerie and I were hanging out and were going to go to lunch. Val decided she wanted to go see Grandma. We went down there to find she has an inflection. We had to wear gowns and gloves to go into her room. It was a very scary experience. All I could do was laugh to keep from crying. The other visits had been full of tears but I knew this was the worse she has been. Grandma opened her eyes and I was scared to death. I did not know what to say. She could only listen she could not talk due to the ventilator. I rubbed her head and looked her in the eyes, I was speechless for several seconds. I have no idea if she knew it was me or if she understood what I did say. I held her hand and could not spit out the three words I wanted to say... I love you. I know she knows and will always know I love her but I wish I could have said those words! After visiting her I knew, she probably wasn’t going to make it. We went to her house and tried to get house keys back from her neighbors. My Grandma never met a stranger. All her of her neighbors had house keys to her house. Not something you would usually do, when you live on Crismon and Broadway! Many “tender mercies” occurred that week. I would have never made it through without my family and a close friend.

Grandma is reunited with her loved ones who passed before her: The most “ridiculously rough” few days of my life... On Monday February 9th, I left school and went to Walmart to get things for my classroom. While there, I called my mom, to hear that my Grandma had a horrible day and the nurses had to resuscitate her. My Mom told me to call my brothers and to ask them to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Nick and I drove out there together full of emotion. While driving, we got a call from my Mom telling us to hurry because it was just a matter of time. When we arrived most of my family was there waiting for us. While we waited for Kyle and Troy, so many thoughts ran through my mind. My Mom was a mess and I think we all felt helpless. When the other boys arrived, My Mom, my 4 brothers, and I surrounded my Grandma and waited while she passed on to the other side. It was a calm experience, I will never forget. We all went to my Grandmas, order pizza, and enjoyed being at her house. Lillian saw her dad and asked “where is GG?” Kyle explained that she went to Heaven. Lillian replied asking if she could go with her. That night I realized how hard it was to be humble. We started planning funeral arrangements. I convinced the fam to have the services at our church building. I called the Relief Society President to get some numbers. When she found out she took to care of several of the things for us. Shortly after our Home Teacher called to see how my Grandma was. I told him the events of the night and asked him to help us plan music for the service. He and the RS president called several times each day up until the services to make sure everything was taken care of. It was the hardest week I think I have endured this far in my life. Once again I realized the tender mercies of the Lord and wouldn’t have made it through without my family and that one close friend.



I went to work the next day, it was class picture day and I thought I would be okay. My Mom and Troy made arrangements with the funeral home. I called to check in with them at lunch and lost it. A teacher came in to ask me something and I told her what had happened. Shortly after, I was sent home from work and my students were spilt into other second grade classrooms. I went home and helped with some of the arrangements. It was a neat experience. I had no idea about all the little details of a funeral or about all the outrageous costs! It easily costs $10,000. I took the next few days off work. I had only shared with a few friends the events of the last week. I am so grateful for their love and support. I received sweet cards and flowers from several friends. You all touched me greatly! The night before the funeral, an awesome friend stopped by my mom to leave some flowers and talked to my mom for an hour. She will never know how much that affected my Mom. My Mom needed that more than any thing. The morning of the funeral, much to my surprise I got a call and there was a special delivery to Diet Dr. Peppers from QT! Thank you girls! I’m so indebted to all my friends! The services were very special and helped put me a peace. When I returned to work on Friday, one of my students had brought me tulips. He said, “I felt sad for you and wanted to give you these”. There were several cards from my students. I’m extremely spoiled!

My Grandma, “Mrs. Pots”: I miss her so incredibly much! I had no idea how hard this would be in my life. I have so many extremely precious memories of her. Each day I remember more and more things she did for me. As well as things, we did together that I will never forget. Enjoy the time you have with your loved ones in your life her on earth!!!

What would I do without WORK: I’m so grateful for my job! I really think it’s the only thing that keeps me sane right now! I love teaching! I love my students and all their unique personalities! When other aspects of my life are not rolling so smoothly I can always count of my job to lift me up! Our school has a service club and one of their services projects in January was to collect valentines to give to students who don’t have the funds. As a class, we had talked about donating to helping other kids out. Well one of the girls wanted to give a speech... Side note * my kids love to give speeches, kind odd how that all started... One of my girls entered an oratorical contest and wrote a speech on Martin Luther King, Jr. I let her share it with us before she performed it in the contest. Ever since my students keep asking if they could share a speech. I don’t think I would have ever wanted to do that in Second Grade!!! Anyways, back to this Valentine service thing... Sarah got up to share a speech and it turned out to be great! She just reinforced us about the service drive but it started us on a conversation on the economy. I didn’t know if my students could say let alone know what economy means! We ended up having a class discussion on the economy and how it is affecting boys and girl and their families. My students were so insightful! Most of them were great but my favorite was when a girl shared that “Other kids can’t get Valentines because when they went to get money from the back in was closed”. She started saying things that lead to the fact that banks had an endless supply of money for all our parents. We quickly fixed those thoughts and several students chimed in saying that one of their parents had lost their job etc. These kids are growing up in a very different economic state than what existed 15 years ago when I was their age.


Valentine’s Day Party: On Friday when I went back to work, I was bombarded with hugs and letters from my students. It’s always great to know you were missed! I felt so loved! I have 26 sweet second grade valentines this year! We had a great day and ended it with a fun filled class Valentine’s Day Party!

Valentine’s Day:
I offered to watch two of my true loves: Lillian and Landon while their parents worked.
We trekked it to Katie and Erich’s for a yummy french toast breakfast just like Kneaders! Thank you Katie! It was amazing! Your skills are so impressive! Someday I will follow in your footsteps! Lillian steals the heart of all adults. She kept Katie’s Father in law entertained with why questions and he loved it answering every single one. He showed her all kinds of things at his house even bearded lizards while Landon tried to destroy their house.
We ran some errands to get something special for a Valentine. I felt bad for not planning something “cool” to send to Caleb. I ended up scanning a itunes gift card and emailing it to him. Once that was taken care of, we went to Chris’ to ride Handsome and swing on his sweet tree swing! We rushed towards home to get ready for our Hendrickson Family reunion.

Family reunion – What a joke! For months, I have known I had to go to an Ice Cream social aka family reunion. So I pictured a few hours sitting around at tables pretending to enjoy myself and pig out! Nope I was wrong, not a shock my dad played the sneaky role again. It was a TALENT SHOW! Yikes! It was an extended family thing with people I have never met in my life. They had so fun talents did the Hendrickson family share talents... do we have talents to share? Haha My dad and his siblings performed a few goofy songs. The family had requested a family picture from the 1st cousins... well back to my step family comments... my step family won... The picture of my Dad’s family was missing 2 of his OWN kids and 4 of HIS grandkids!!! But the step siblings and their children were all in the picture, Ridiculous!!! Let’s just say I will not go to another one of those.

Much to my surprise this is how my weekend ended... THANKS!!!

It was been a very pleasant weekend considering all the events I have gone through this week with the loss of my Grandma! I am so grateful for my amazing family and incredible friends!!! I love you all!

For all of you who think I'm cool enough to "blog stalk"

I'm starting to realize I will never be a good blogger! I'm going to take that a good talent! Some of you spend so much time on here... part of me is a little jealous! I'm lucky if I look at peoples blogs once a month!

Now, what do you want to know?! haha

I don't have anything amazing to write about! Here I go... rewind...

I just looked at Julie and Adams blog about Second Graders voting! I have to go off of that. For the past week or two, my kids have been learning about voting, presidents, etc. It has been hysterical to see how the kids react to each others political views... more like to each other parents views. All of my students were very opinionated about should be elected. Tuesday and Wednesday, I had a few tearful students and several little arguments broke out on the playground related to the results. Kids were cheering candidates names and making comments like these:
"McCain is a christian"
"Obama will take away taxes"
I tried to stay away from the sensitivity of the election. I had to laugh at the materials I was given to teach the 2008 election. It was very much geared towards republicans. One of the pages for the kids was all the information on McCain and the Obama information had to be researched.

I have never felt so sick regrading an election! It was a nerve racking day waiting to see if 102 passed and who our president would be.


11/4 : On Tuesday, I went with Randa to her ward's enrichment activity. It was so awesome to be a family ward setting!!! They provided food and awesome thoughts of gratitude! I'm so glad I got to go. It helped me get into the "thankful" mode for November!

11/2 : WALK NOW for Autism! The family clan joined Braden on a walk at Tempe Town Lake to support Autism! It is our 3rd year participating. It is always a fun event. It is the only time I ever remember my family exercising together! This year they had the normal 3 mile walk and a 1 mile walk. When we got the spot to decide to take a short or normal route- tension arose! Needless to say, the healthy people won we walked 3 miles.
That night, I got my mom is ride her bike for the first time! I asked her to go with me thinking she would say no and guess what she said sure! We started down the street and I told her to turn so we could leave our neighborhood... she flipped! That's when the interesting things starting flying out of her mouth! I don't know how but I convinced her to go with me to Kyle and Valerie's. We went there and they were gone! She was very unhappy- she was hoping for a ride home in the truck! We rode back completing our 3 mile ride. She was sore as can be... I don't know if I will be able to get her back on that bike again!


10/31: HALLOWEEN or FALL CELEBRATION ;)
At school, my kiddos dressed up for a costume parade. It was fun to let the kids wear their costumes and get the holiday started! Kindergarten through 3 grade walked around the soccer fields while the older kids cheered us on. I had several parents come in to watch and parade and to help with our class festivities! My MOM even came! I was so excited! It was the first time she had met my students. She helped the kids make flubber while other parents assisted with different centers. The kids had a blast, maybe too much fun because my classroom is still a mess!!!

For Dinner, the fam came over for our traditional Chili and Tricker Treating! I have the best nephews and nieces ever!!! It is always so much fun to see them!





I'm out of time! I've gotta go back to work for our Falcon Festival! I will update more this weekend!

September 4th!

I bought a new car yesterday! I decided after years of driving my white beater, I needed to upgrade! I feel a lot safer now! Jason took me to test drive some cars because I didn’t want to do with car salesmen! Jason use to sell cars and this was his classic saying, “I’m a car salesman, I can’t lie!” Anyway, he helped me find a car I liked and a great deal too! We worked with another friend of ours Dave and he hooked me up with a sweet ride! Shout out to LeSueur Car Company www.usedvwaudi.com!

I got a VW Passat! It is very nice and super fun to drive!
It even has a sun roof! High rollin’!

I can drive more than a few miles and not worry about my car overheating! EVEN better, I can drive down the freeway without holding my window up! My old car the drivers window, liked to slide into the door as I drove! You didn’t even need keys to get in! Just your hand to get the window open!



Since I made this purchase, the parents think I should pay all kinds of bills haha! YAY right! I’m saving my pennies! Dad thinks now that I bought a car, I have more money. Doesn’t work that way! Mom found out about Dad wanting money from me for my cell phone (I grateful I’m spoiled :)) and thinks she needs it more and that I should pay rent haha... the perks of living at home! They are not going to see my $$$ anytime soon. :)

This past weekend, was super eventful! I was suppose to go with my family to our cabin in Payson instead I stayed in Gilbert and i'm glad I did!


I went to the ASU football game on Saturday night! GO DEVILS! We creamed the Lumberjacks!



For you married girls and anyone else who cares- there is a new hunk...! Another long distance situation! But he is Tall, Dark, and Handsome!
Call me for details... I’m not sure where it’s going to go!

Visits from friends: I’m so excited for when Katie and Erich move back in December!!! This weekend, Katie and Erich came for a visit! It was super fun hanging out at Katie’s parents with some of the crew! We thought about going to the lake on Labor Day and decided not to go when the boat owner, Walter, realized that it was a holiday! It would have been packed! We will have to go in April, May, June ish!

Crafty:
Two weeks ago, I got together with some fun girlies for Super Saturday Crafts! I love Sister Bryson’s craft days! Haha Go Julie! Here is a picture of the awesome frame, Julie taught us to make! Many of you will see these as your Christmas present :)!!!


-PICTURE TO COME-, I left my camera at work!

All of the girls who come to the craft days are usually married. “My husband ...”, “I have to go I told my hubby I wouldn’t be gone long...”, and “I husbands going to die when he sees one more craft in these colors!...”
I love spending time with the married girls! I’m sure they crack up listening to my random dating stories and the joys of singles ward! Yippee!!!

On the Farm: My class is doing great! Everything is how I expected so far. I’m really having fun! I enjoy all 26 of kiddos! I have 15 boys and 11 girls! The boys have all discovered how to make farting noises with their arms! I don’t know how my mom raised 4 boys! All of the students love to talk! They are getting the hang of when it’s okay to talk and when it’s not. I had a formal walk through evaluation on Wednesday. My principal came in and watched me teach a lesson for about 20 minutes. I didn’t know he was coming. It worked out fine. We were reading an awesome book “How I Became a Pirate”. If you have kids, read it to them! After we read the book, each student created a treasure map! We have been talking about geography: mapping. On Thursday, they wrote pirate stories! The stories and maps turned out awesome! I will post pictures some day.

This weekend, I have the luck of staying at school! Friday night from 4-8 and Saturday 8-4. I have classes at my school for the extra money. :) Every little bit counts. We have a goal of increasing writing, we have to do workshops of 15 hours and do extra writing activities in our classrooms. Then, I earn a tiny bit extra in December and May. YAHOO!


In memory of my incredible Uncle Tony:

Last week, I went to a funeral of one of my dear uncles. As soon as I found out of his death, I called his daughter to see how she was doing. I keep my emotions in until I hung up the phone with her. I lost it! I can’t imagine what life must be like for her and her family without their father, papa, and my aunts husband. I had the opportunity to work at my cousin’s house all summer watching her kids. While I was there about once or twice a week, my Uncle Tony and Aunt Jae Dee would drop by to spoil their grandkids. I got so use to seeing them so often I took for granted the time we spent together. Growing up, big holidays were usually when I saw aunts and uncles. We always do the typical big hug... no cheek squeezing :). Since I saw my uncle Tony so much this summer, I didn’t always get or give those big hugs! I just want one more big Uncle Tony hug!!! I can hear his voice in my head and I’m so grateful for the knowledge I have of knowing I can see him again someday! It was one of the hardest funerals I have ever attended. Tony is my Dad’s first sibling to pass. I have never seen my Dad or his siblings so down and broken. The day was long but filled with great tributes and time together as a family.
Thank you for all who listened and supported me last week!

I love my family so much! I have an amazing extended family. I am so lucky to have great parents and loving brothers! My brothers crack me up, all 4 of them constantly try to protect me. I don’t know what I would do without my close knit family!