It's my Mama's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to the best Mom in the world! I want to be just like you when I grow up.

Like for instance be beautiful and happy while raising three kids under three. On second thought, I don't think I could pull that one off so lets just say I will try to happily and beautifully raise one.

Learn how to cook as good as you. Which probably involves making a larger variety than three meals and four desserts.

Maybe I can have kids one day that love me so much they like to follow me around wherever I go, even when they are grown adults. Unfortunately, this probably means that I will never get to sit next to Sam during church so we might have to rethink this one as well.

And I know for sure that my kids will never get pets like we did. No Humphrey, Clyde, Ruffy, or Sapphire's for my babies. You and Sam are wrong for thinking I will change my mind.

You sacrifice your hatred for camping and wrangle the troops to live in the dirt every once in awhile. Something I consider very praiseworthy.

Plan my entire wedding because I am too lazy to do it.

And make a twelve hour trek to come to a graduation that I did not even care about.

Mom, I love you so much and don't know what I would do without you. You are the best Mom, and the seven of us could not have asked for anything better.

Happy Birthday!!! We love you a ton!!!

Police Beat

Halloween started a little early for us, like 4:30am early, when I was lovingly awoken by my drunk neighbor shouting he was going to kill some guy. I believe his exact words were "I gonna kill you real quick, man. I gonna kill you real quick." Hearing this shouted over and over peaked my curiosity, so I immediately crawl over Sam (trying to wake him up) and look out my bedroom window. And what did I see? A guy holding a gun, shoving it in some other guy's face as he continues to shout he is going to kill him. Awesome, I am about to witness a murder.

I turned and jumped on Sam, shouting for him to wake up and call 911 because there was a drunk guy about to kill someone. Now the good thing with waking Sam up in this scary fashion is he gives you an immediate reaction full of jumping up grabbing the blinds and mumbling incoherent words. The bad news is sometimes his nightmares ignite similar reactions so you can never tell whether he is truly awake or just sleep talking/moving.

After getting Sam under control and on the phone we watched out the window for the next hour as the cops showed up, diffused the situation, and arrested one guy. The dispatcher told us to go outside and give the officers our statements, but there was no way I was going to let the hooligans know it was us that called so we chose to stay anonymous and hide out in our house while we spied on the situation.

The Good News: No one got killed, we got some good entertainment for a few hours (even though it affected prime sleeping time), and I don't think anything got traced back to us!

The Bad News: I am tired, my nightmares that deceased after cutting out law and order from my TV watching have now come back, oh yeah, and my crazy neighbor has a gun.

Happy Birthday Papa Galeria!!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite Dad, and the best Police Officer I know. We really appreciated you coming all the way to Utah so you could celebrate the special day with us! And a special thanks to Dana for starting school on yours and Dad's birthday so he didn't have a choice in coming.

Of course there are other uniforms that you look snazzy in as well, whether it be a a white jumpsuit at my baptism...

...or a black tux at my reception.

I know that you are starting to see the retirement light at the end of the raising 7 kids tunnel, but just remember that it won't be long till grandchildren arrive!

What is important is that even though you work very hard, you still find time to play hard.

Whether by land...

...or by sea.

I am grateful for all the experiences we have had together over the years,

and I'm looking forward for many more to come.

Happy Birthday Dad, we love you!

18 Down, A Lot More To Go?

My little mini me Dana is growing up so fast! I can't believe she is 18 years old.

It seems like just yesterday I was toting her around...

...and changing her stinky diapers :)

You always look so angelic out on the dance floor as you twirl and leap but occasionally your inner dinosaur comes out at the most unexpected moments. It may be a duck allergy :)

Sorry about that one Christmas that I made you sit by Sam, I know how chipper he can be in the morning. It makes me angry sometimes too.

Its nice to have sisters around to hang out and play games with, hey, is that my shirt you're wearing? I want it back!

I can't remember if you like ice cream cake or not, but I hope you do because this time of year I think that is the only kind available in Rexburg. I'm sorry that you had to spend your birthday driving, but at least at the end of your drive you got to see your favorite sister, me!

Happy Birthday Dana, we love you!

Little Punk

So I am just sitting at my desk, minding my own business like usual. I am looking at my computer when I hear a commotion out in the hall. It is not a super loud one, just a normal, 'I am done with therapy and now preparing to leave' commotion. Next thing I know an eight year old boy (not the smallest 8 year old I have ever seen either) is running straight towards me.

Now in my defense the majority of the children I am around every day are super nice, outgoing, talkative and tell me all about their days, how pretty I am (yes I did get this once, but am writing it like it is an every day occurrence for my self esteem boost), what they are coloring, etc. Because of this, my first impression is that this little guy is coming at me to try to give me a hug. Boy was I wrong.

His arms were outstretched and ready for that hug and then the last minute adjustment left him with his fat little hands around my little neck, squeezing, chocking, strangling, whatever you want to call it. It all happened so fast, but fast enough to leave my poor little neck sore for the next few days and me startled a good one.

So if you would like the update on how I like my new job so far my answer to you is.....I got strangled by a decent size 8 year old who knew what he was doing about a month into it.....does that about sum it up? :)

A Clyde Monster Birthday!

September 1st is very special because it marks the 3 year anniversary of Terri's first trip to Boise...to see the new baby Clyde!!!

Thanks for the help Clyde! Sorry if your first impression of me was a bit traumatic :)


You were an adorable little Santa Clyde,


But now you have grown into quite the Clyde Monster.

Even during your terrible twos though you still maintained a sensitive side.


You are definitley a child genius, I still can't believe that we read the same kind of books!

I know that we didn't give you your birthday present yet but I promise we have it, you are one of our two favorite nephews and we love you very much! Happy Birthday Clyde!!!

Happy Birthday To Sam!!!

Today is a special day. My Sam had his golden birthday....27 on the 27th.
Here a few reasons why I like him...

He was a pretty cute little boy.
Now, he was obviously not the prettiest little girl...but at least maybe our male offspring will having a fighting chance in the looks department.

He is also quite the singer and dancer.
And did I mention he does the dishes while he sings and dances? Quite the multi-tasker.

He is very strong. If you haven't felt his muscles you should ask.
Oh and he also did not kill me after I forced him to paint the guest room maybe 4 different times? Turns out June Day is not a good yellow to use to cover 3 walls.

He is super good at reading stories and using funny voices.
Even little babies know to laugh at his jokes.

He is always finding things like this on the internet to make me laugh...And even though he is getting old :)
I guess I am too (only he is doing it faster which thankfully makes me feel younger, one more thing that I love about him).

Happy Birthday Sam....I love you!!!!