BIRTHDAYS, MOTHER'S DAY & MEMORIAL DAY
(P.S. Today, July 28th, is POOPA'S BIRTHDAY!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOPA!!!)

After coming home from our trip, the pace of our lives sped up quickly. May is probably the busiest month for us because about 15 people between our two families have birthdays in May!!! It's nuts! Not to mention that I had some I.V. treatments in May that lasted two weeks. Brian's parents were very gracious to watch Vaughn while I went up to the hospital EVERY DAY for several hours. I just don't know how we would have done it without them! So to begin our month of birthdays, my little niece Prairie celebrated her 1st birthday on the 7th. So did Brian's sister Amy. We don't have any pictures of these events unfortunately!!!

Mother's Day was May 13th. Brian was an absolute doll that day! I woke up to find flowers, a box of chocolates, some Hostess treats, and a homemade card on the kitchen table! I took a picture of it all, but I can't find it anywhere! But the card did show Vaughn after he had poured cornstarch all over our bed. Brian really helped to make my day very relaxing. We went over to his sister Amy's house, and while he watched Vaughn, I just sat out on the back lawn and relaxed and talked with people. I couldn't remember the last time I had done that! I was totally stress-free and loving it!

Tuesday the 15th was Brian's birthday. It was also his sister Linda's birthday. Linda lives up in Boise, Idaho. So we went to Brian's parents' house to party. Brian turned 32, so I told him, "What a short birthday! It was only a thirty-second (32nd) birthday!" Get it? It only lasted thirty seconds.... Anyway, I thought it was funny. Here is Brian making a tie out of some tissue that was in one of his gifts. I actually like it!













Brian's sister Julie provided the tissue, and along with it some very tasty Taco Bell bowls of stuff. Brian was very grateful! Brian and Julie have always been close, and it makes me happy to know that they can still share a good friendship.













Here is (from left to right) Brian's nieces Kimball and Alex, and Brian's brother Jared. Jared is so good with kids! All of the nieces and nephews adore him!











Here is Vaughn and his cousin Sammy just enjoying the atmosphere. Vaughn was trying desperately to get a hug from Sammy. He just resorted to leaning on him. How cute!













Kimball understood Vaughn's needs, and gave him some attention. Vaughn LOVES Kimball! She is always so sweet to him. And Vaughn is infamous for giving Kimball extremely long hugs. I love this picture of the two of them!












This was slightly embarrassing..... I wasn't sure if I had already given this gift to Brian because it was still shrink-wrapped. So I decided to risk it, and I gave it to him. Well, I guessed wrong. I had already given it to him for Christmas or his last birthday. We shared our little joke, but I was determined to make up for it.








So I got Brian a Super Mario Brothers Arcade! This is the only picture I have of it, and it just happens to include a naked little Vaughn! Brian was really happy about the arcade, and he decided to forgive me! Vaughn couldn't even wait to get dressed after a bath to play it. He just ripped off the towel and ran. What have I done?!?!? And by the way, the arcade currently looks 100% better because Brian restored it. But it is still sitting in our living room. We have decided though to move it into our walk-in closet (along with the Ms. Pac Man that I picked up for Brian two weeks ago). We will consider the closet our game room. Brian even wants to put a sign above the closet that reads "Game Room" or "Arcade Room."









May 19th we celebrated Sammy and Robert's birthdays. Sammy is Amy and Brenden's youngest, and he is really fun. I think Sammy's birthday is close to the 19th, so we just decided to celebrate birthdays together.


















Robert had some friends over. From left to right is Jared, Jasper, Sammy, Robert and Letizia. Sammy and Letizia are brother and sister, can you believe it?









The next week several other birthdays were celebrated for family living in the Boise, Idaho area. Then on the 24th, Ben and Emily celebrated their 5-year anniversary! Way to go you guys!


On Monday the 28th, we celebrated Memorial Day up in Ogden. Brian's mother's side of the family, the Lewis side, mostly lives up there. Brian's mother's parents are also buried up there, so we have made a yearly gathering out of it. It is quite an event, and we really enjoy being up there.






We typically start the day out at Aunt Margaret and Uncle Larry Cole's house. We get everyone there and then we have a picnic or BBQ or some sort of nice lunch. We eat, then everyone mingles while the kids play on the big trampoline and the swing set. Here's Kimball and Ashlynn during some fun on the trampoline. Ashlynn is another niece of ours. She is quite a cute little thing with a very funny personality.









Vaughn couldn't get enough of the watermelon. In fact, he liked it so much that we found him eating it off of the plates that people had left around! I figured if he was that desperate for it, that I wouldn't interfere!














This is Uncle Larry and Aunt Margaret. This is Brian's mother's sister and her husband. I absolutely adore Aunt Margaret. She is one of the most kind and loving people you will ever meet. She is also a great example to me. She recently had a brain tumor removed, and it has not been an easy recovery for her. But she is ever positive, kind and thoughtful of others. While we were visiting with her, Aunt Margaret gave me two of her paintings she has done. She is an exceptional artist, and I have always wanted a painting of hers in my home. I was totally shocked, and started crying when she told me to take the paintings. I don't think she realized how much it meant to me. So now I have two of her paintings in my home to always remind me of her. I am so grateful! I will take a picture of the two I have and post them later!


Here's two of our nephews hanging out. On the left in McKay, and on the right is Lincoln. They are good buddies, and they had a good time together.








Here's Brian's sister Julie with three of our nieces. Aubrey is on the left, Riley is on top, Makayla is on the right and Julie is in the middle. This picture is totally appropriate because Julie is known as "The Favorite Aunt." Julie is excellent with children....they are just naturally drawn to her.







Below is a shot of most of Grandma and Grandpa Lewis' posterity. It doesn't look like a ton of people, but there were. And everyone there was so nice! We sat around their graves and just shared memories of them. I just like to listen, since I never knew either of them. But from what I have heard of them, both of Brian's grandparents were amazing people.


So that ends May! Slowly but surely I am getting caught up here! This takes a while of course because I have little free time to work on this, but Brian is always wonderful to try to take Vaughn while I do a little here and a little there. Until next time!

Here's one for the road.....


Love, Lisa