ALENE!!!!

Ok so I wanted to post this yesterday but due to the fact that the electricity was out for like 4 hours yesterday I didn't. I just wanted to wish my very great friend and old roommate Alene Angle a very happy birthday! She is amazing I mean look at these pole skills! I am so grateful to have Alene as a friend! We've had so many late night talks that it's a wonder we ever made it to work on time! It's great to have someone to relate and share "super awesome" dates with! I'm thinking she tops me at this point! Just so everyone knows we have a strict Twins rule now. Neither one of us will be set up unless the guys are twins, have jobs, at least 6 ft tall and church goers! Anyways sorry about the tangent! Back to the one and only fabulous Alene! I am so lucky that I got to live with her and Melody for almost 4 years! I got to see her overcome so many trials (Dave!!), raise Melody into the smart cute cookie she is today, serve others, and grow her already amazingly strong testimony! I'm telling ya I had the life! What a great example I had on a daily basis! Spiritual,Intelligent, Funny, and Beautiful I am tell you what guys out there do not know what they are missing! I've appreciated her friendship for so long! Who would have guessed when we were roomies at EFY that we would be roommies how many years later?! I just can't even watch TV the same anymore or do Power 90! Alene is just plain fabulous I can't say anymore! Heart ya big Sister friend!!!

My friend Tanisha!

Well, Slap mah fro! It was one of my great friend's and even cousin's (it's true!) birthday a while back and I am posting pictures from her brunch we had last weekend. I am a sucky friend and didn't even acknowledge this African princess on her actual birthday so I hope this makes up for it. I might just get my butt kicked by this too either way I'm letting the blogging world know how awesome Tanisha Gardner is! She is one of a kind, a super Mom to 5 amazing boys!, supportive wife, super hilarious (hello PerkyO's!), generous, great party thrower, and a beyond amazing friend! Some of the "cliquers" have put together some "spice racks" for their lucky hubby's and much to Tanisha and Cole's shagrin (I just wanted to use that word!) we started one for her for her birthday! We also went to the very delicious Cracker's for brunch (good job planning Liz!) and ate very well! Although it was kind of funny that they somehow for got the bday girl's order. The picture above is one of the "spices" our lucky lady received.. These are the other spices. Alene and I had a good time putting the jars together! Alene and Donelle deserve the credit for the "super great" Police, Nurse, school girl,and Ghetto, spices! There was also a "kitchen" spice with a very cute apron made by Chrissy! Some of us even got our toes done by this ghettorific place that has more paint options than you can even imagine. Ya my toes would be the one's with the generic purple flip flops sorry I didn't have cute shoes that day! It was a great time and I think our birthday girl had a great time. Below are some pictures of the girls that came to celebrate and a slide show of some of the "spice" wear!!

Families!

Families are such a great thing! I used to make fun of that church commercial that truly does play over and over if you ever go to the MTC to drop a missionary of that says "Family, isn't it about time!" Lately I have been really seconding that very thought! I am so very grateful for mine, and the constant source of love, strength and support they are to me! Recently I have been thinking a lot of families and the importance of them. These times are so scary and turbulent and are only going to get more so and how smart was our Heavenly Father to bless us with a source such as the family to cleave to. The fact that our families can be Eternal is another precious gift from our loving Heavenly Father and how grateful I am for that as well. This fact has really been weighing on me as a dear family I am friends with recently lost their precious baby boy! It really made me realize how probationary and temporal this mortal state is. The strength that my friends have is amazing by the way, and I cannot tell you how moved and touched I was to see the love this family has for each other. They are a true example to and for me! On Saturday I attended a funeral service for a friend's brother who had been diagnosed with MELAS when he was 12 and made it to the age of 27. This is another amazing family who's love for each other is above and beyond! This family was not LDS and in my ignorance I was suprised but also comforted to find that the main message given at this service was on the importance of family. One of my favorite and biggest examples from high school, BB Andrews spoke about families and the fact that we need to be there for each other and how important the family is.
I also then got to thinking about my friends and how really when I was living away from my "home" in Safford they became my family in a sense! I have truly been blessed in every move that I have made and(yes, they have been many) that I have gained a second family of friends to strengthen and support me when I needed it! I have a second Mom in Utah, Leanne who played Mom and friend for me more times then I can count. My roommates have been sisters and listening ears that helped me out many of times. Most recently the "Clique" as I like to refer to us as has been the biggest strength, example and support group yet! They and their husbands are examples to me of what I want when and if the day should come for me to find a man! The men in the clique could not me better examples of what true Priesthood holders should be and on more than one occassion have provided the Priesthood Power to Alene and I when it was needed. They are great husbands, dads, and friends! The lovely ladies of the clique are equally if not more amazing! I mean there aren't too many ladies out there who willingly donate their husbands to two single "very attractive" :)females when a man is needed at their house! They give their time, service, listening ear, support and love without thought! If that isn't family I don't know what is! I am grateful for my friend family as much as my own! You all rock!!!