Moving Mountains

Hi everyone...just thought I would point you in the direction of a little tribute to my mom. I received a comment on the post I made for her birthday from an author who is working on a book about mothers and daughters. I sent him an email and a photo and he has included it on his daily blog. Check out www.gregoryelang.blogspot.com, it is under today's date, May 15th!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Happy Birthday Mike! You are the dad of the man who makes my heart happy. You are a wonderful Father-in-Law and I am a lucky girl to have you and Joan in my life. Thank you for being such an adoring Grandad and for making the effort to be a part of our lives!

Carter also wanted to send a little birthday message to you! We hope you have a happy day!

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love my mom. It is so hard to believe that she has known me my whole life. From the moment I took my first breath she has been a part of everything I have done. Even now, when I live halfway across the country, she is so much a part of me. Nate sometimes says we should have walkie talkies to communicate...he is so right.

But, before I was a part of her life, she had her own. I know her as my mom but her life started long before me. She was born the first daughter of Vida and Cliff Hughes, the apple of their eye:

She showed the early signs of quite a silly side:

She channeled Twiggy as a tween:

And met the love of her life at the age of thirteen:

Her beauty was easy for the eye to see when she graduated high school in 73':

She married my dad looking perky and cute, he was equally handsome in a baby blue suit:

She was a teacher by trade, but her true talents were seen in the art that she made:

Pictures show things I couldn't see, like this one of her shortly before she had me:

Then came the babies, I was the first of three:

How she managed us all is a mystery to me:

But, manage she did to make everything fun:

And in planning our lives she made us all one:

And as we grew older the fun didn't change:

The only thing changing with time was our age:

I can't think of a moment when she hasn't been there:

I am who I am all because of her care.

I love you mom and I hope you have the Happiest Birthday! Wish I could give you a big hug...I can't wait to see you soon!

P.S. I decided that one of the most meaningful gifts you can give has to come from the heart. So, here it is. Please appreciate the humilation I'm putting myself through for you! For your viewing pleasure--Happy Birthday from Carter and I--Roger Rabbit style:

I'm hoping this will release me forever from the "Monopoly deal"! I love you!

P.P.S Carter just couldn't believe that I didn't post a picture of her with her Roxie-she loves you!

Busy Bee

I've found myself a little busier than usual lately. I think for some reason when I'm gearing up for Nate to leave I feel like I need to get a lot of things done. I think it's my way of accounting for the fact that I may be a little bit of an emotional wreck for a few days and it will be hard to motivate myself to do anything. I'm always thankful when that feeling passes and then comes the next stage which is where I usually get on some sort of a fitness kick convincing myself that by the time my husband returns I will have never looked better!

Anyway, some of my friends and I have been updating our nursery at church. A lot of painting so far and we're about halfway done. It's looking pretty cool, I'll look forward to sharing some before and after pictures once we're done. I've also been busy with a few creative endeavors for the spouses group in our squadron. I really enjoy a lot of the girls and the support that they bring. Most recently we had a fundraiser that we participated in. You had to pick a movie theme and ours was Urban Cowboy. I headed up the decoration end of things and it turned out pretty cute:

I didn't get a great picture of the table we decorated, but here are the stick arrangements I made:

The other idea, that I have "borrowed" from my super creative friend Nicole, is making diaper cakes. As a squadron we give a gift to new moms and this is what we have decided to give. I think they are really cute and also very practical, what a fun way to receive a pack of diapers! Thanks for the idea Nicole:

Last but not least I've had several designing projects to keep me busy lately. Unlike my mom I'm not to handy with a paint brush (although I think this summer I'd like to give that a try) but I do enjoy creating via computer. I've added all my new design to my website if you have a chance to check them out. Here are a few of the latest things I've been working on:

Thanks for letting me share, hope your week is a creative one!

Mom

We were watching T.V last night and I saw a commercial that I really like for about the 10th time. It's a mothers day commercial from Zales. I don't know if you've seen it or not, but it features all these different situations (ranging from sentimental to comical) with people saying the word mom. It's actually pretty touching. Nate even liked it. It ends with a young couple holding their new baby. The husband is on the phone talking to his mom and the young wife looks down at her new baby and say, "It's mama." Of course I can really identify with this. I am a mom. Not for long, just a brief two and a half years into the whole gig, sometimes I still can't believe it myself. The part that I just can't seem to wrap my mind around is that my mom did exactly what I am doing for me. Of course I can't really remember anything quite as far back as being born, or even being a toddler, but I know my mom can. I have pictures to help, but I know she has all the moments stored up in her mind:

Every little thing Carter does, all those things that make me laugh, or cry, or just want to squeeze her til' she pops...my mom remembers and did all those little things with me. You just can't quite explain how that feels. I know it brings tears to my eyes, maybe that's the closest I can get to sharing the emotion. I love my mom. She did a great job raising me. She was fun, spontaneous, and different. I like that about her. She wasn't the cookie cutter mom and I have a hard time believing she worried much about what other people thought. She did her own thing and took us along with her. I doubt we lived on "schedules" or routines. The closest we got was planning our weekend around the best garage sales to go to. She was the kind of mom that took us for donuts in the park before school and on long walks down an old dirt road. She fed our imaginations and our hearts. My mom and I are very different, everyone sort of knows that, but some days I hope we're not so different after all. Like when Carter and I set out on a nature walk, or head down our own little dirt road to pick some blackberries. I hope that she feels a little bit of my mom when she grows up with me as hers. I guess that's sort of the best part, once your a mom you live on indefinitely.

Happy Birthday Mindi!

Happy Birthday to one of my best life long friends! Mindi is one of those people who feels like she has been in my life for about as long as I can remember! We hit it off in the fourth grade and have been buddies ever since. I can't remember a time when we didn't get along (except for an occasional evil eye here and there)! We've seen each other through a lot and in in honor of just how far we go back here's a little trip down memory lane...

Mindi and I in our earliest day's together, this may have been around the time I invited her over to spend the night and suggested we go to bed early and read books...it's amazing she stuck with me!

As sixth graders at Midland Christian (our very first homecoming):

A few years later we had some pretty hot dates (mine just happens to be Mindi's husband Jerod, who I might add was also my first kiss, friends are good at sharing right!?):

And, just for comparison sake, here is my husband at about the same age, maybe he and Jared are really long lost brothers:

Mindi and I were a pretty dynamic pitcher/catcher combo back in our day! We played together through college, here we are after winning a state championship in high school:

A few weeks later we were ready to hit Hollywood on our senior trip to CA:

Mindi has been there for all the BIG moments in my life, see how happy she is for me: She has been one person in my life that I can always count on: She has always gone above and beyond to be a there, like this time when she surprised me and flew to Florida for Carter's first B-Day!


They just don't make them any better than Mindi! Happy Birthday to one of my very best friends, and new Mama to baby Hudson! I can't wait to see you and meet that little cutie pie! Love ya'!

Be Kind Don't Whine

Today was just one of those day's. I feel certain we all have them. All things seemed to be leading toward me feeling a little down. I won't elaborate on all of them, some things aren't meant to be blogged about. But, after the day I had I'm feeling more convicted than ever about life's latest lesson I'm learning. I was running late for Bible study at our church yesterday but managed to catch the tail end of our last video sermon from Beth Moore. We've been doing the study she recently wrote on the book of Daniel. Anyway, she was emphatically encouraging her peeps on the best way to stand out for Christ. "Do you want to stand out?" she asked. "Do you want your neighbors, people around you to wonder what's different about you?" She's pretty feisty when she gets worked up and she was. "Don't complain!" She went on to explain what a, for lack of a better word, whiny society we have become. I thought it was so simple and so profound. I think I'm going to have to start really small and just ask God to get me through one day (maybe even one hour) at at time without complaining. Wouldn't that just be so refreshing!? After dealing with some complainers today I'm feeling more and more like this world would just be a better place without the "C" word. And you know what? Just when I thought my day couldn't get much worse? It didn't! We had the nicest surprise waiting on our doorstep this afternoon. My sweet aunt and cousin sent Carter a little package with 2 new Lilly Pulitzer dresses just oozing summer goodness! Now there is an example of the absolute opposite of complainer...a do gooder (Thank you Lyn and Nat we love you)! Carter said it best when we pulled them out of the cutely wrapped package, "Those are so adorable!" In case you haven't noticed she's pretty crazy about the word adorable! She just couldn't wait to try one on....It was just the pick me up we needed. It energized me enough to make it to the commissary (grocery store for all you non-military folks) and today was pay day, you can imagine the chaos! I was happy to make it home alive, get all the groceries put away, and escape to my room for a nice hot shower. I walked in and was met by all of my shoes, which had been moved to the middle of my floor by a certain little critter. I must admit my first instinct was to mutter a COMPLAINT under my breath...but God is good. The first thing that popped into my head was how nice it would be when I could just have all my shoes nicely arranged in my closet. When Carter would be old enough that she wouldn't daily pull things out. You know what God said? You'll miss it. Simple right? So true. What will I do when there is no one to mess up my shoes everyday? I'll miss it. I love it. I hope she wants to dress up in my shoes until she's ninety. God is good.

Well, gotta' go my husband just made me dinner!! Was I having a bad day? I suddenly can't seem to remember why.

P.S. I can't believe I almost missed it! HAPPY BIRTHDAY-To my one of a kind brother-in-law John! I always enjoy the time we get to spend with you...never a dull moment, always enlightening! I knew the first time we made "cheese art" together we were going to be friends! Thanks for all you bring to our world, we love bragging about you and your accomplishments to all our friends...it somehow makes us feel like we're super intellectual too! Hope your day was a great one!

John and Carter when she was just a wee little thing:

John's most recent accomplishment--Graduating from The University of Chicago...

John, Dad Mike, and Nate hanging out in WA on our most recent visit...

Did I mention he was just awarded the Fulbright Scholarship? (I told you we like to brag :)