Shane is a great family man! He is so good to Vicki and the kids and is always teaching the kids something. I am jealous of his gardening skills and his great Scottish accent (sorry Snick! I was thinking the same thing) and his willingness to be involved in dumb family movies with his, also great, Mexican accent! Shane appreciates old fashioned family values and I admire him actively fulfilling his role as the patriarch of his family and as a husband and father. He is a great example. Happy Birthday Shane! We miss you guys and really enjoyed having you up here last summer.
~Suzy
by Vicki Conger
Evan is such a special boy. He is very smart and does very well in school. His teachers always comment on how much they enjoy having him in their classes. This year he was put into the GATE (gifted and talented education) program and has enjoyed learning there. He really had fun making his own camera and developing the pictures he took.
Evan also has such a fun personality, he is very funny and goofy. One thing I love about Evan is that he is very tidy. I can count on him to put things away! He is very responsible too. He has been in charge of collecting the eggs and feeding the chickens and does a pretty good job. He also gets his homework done without me having to bug him (although, I do have to remind him to practice his piano). When it comes to piano, he is doing very well and I love listening to him play. Evan is a perfectionist, which can be good or bad. He is so much of a perfectionist that he thinks that he should play every song perfectly, without having to practice, and therefore gets frustrated when he messes up.
For the most part, Evan has been pretty easy to raise. He can sit and play by himself for hours and usually gets along with others. He is also a home body. He likes to play with friends, but sometimes would prefer to stay home and color or play with blocks. Evan is also very creative and has a wonderful imagination. We love you Evan and are so proud of you!
~Love, Mom and Dad
click here to read about Evan's birthday festivities!
Evan at last year's May Day Dance.
Evan and cousins at Yellowstone last July.
Evan the Alien using the Photo Booth on Grandma's computer.
Happy Birthday Mom!! You are the best mom ever. You have always done so much for me. I've always appreciated you, but appreciate you even more after having Lyla. Lyla loves coming to your house each week when I work. All the grandkids love you so much because you always have fun stuff for them to do. I hope you know just how much we all love you. I hope I can be to Lyla, what you are to me. Love you so much mommy.
~Natalie, Lance, and Lyla
We hope you had a wonderful Birthday!!! We love you so much and are so grateful that we live close to you! The kids love having piano lessons (even when they haven't practiced like they should!) and just being at Grandma's house. We truly admire you and all of the wonderful talents you have. You are a blessing to all of us and none of us would be who we are if it wasn't for you, your example and your unending love. We love you with all of our hearts.
~Brad, Candi & Kids
Mom is very dedicated to her family. I can't even imagine what it must be like to worry about 8 kids! I am so grateful for her classy example. She was never one of those women who gossiped and was into everybody else's business. She has a strong testimony and serves in the church faithfully. She is extremely smart and talented too. A lot of people tell me I look like my mother, and I find that to be a great compliment. We hope you have a Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
~Love, Debbie
Mom, you might want to trim that beard a little!
Happy Birthday Mom. You have so many good qualities I don't know where to start. You are such a good person and wonderful mother and grandmother. I cant think of anything I would change. You are awesome and we love you so much. Hope you have a happy birthday and many more to come. We are so excited to be moving out there in the near future and being close to you.
~Love, Kevin Cynth and kids
I love my grandma so much! She has been such a great example to me all my life. She has a wonderful testimony of the gospel and with her influence it made it much easier to choose to serve a full time mission. I love the Gospel and am thankful for the many blessings it gives us as families. I know that we can all be together someday and thanks to your testimony your many descendants have been blessed.
~Peace n Love, Elder Carlson
We definitely have the best mom ever! She is always so helpful and willing to serve her children. I love living near her and being able to take the kids over all the time. The kids love going over there and enjoy being with her. I don't think I could have made it through the last year without her. There were days I had to go to town to an appointment and I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do with the kids, when out of the blue she would call up and tell me to bring the kids over. It seems she always senses when I need help and then she steps in a does it. One thing that always amazes me about her is how much she gets done in one day. She always has things to do and places to go, yet still finds time to spend with her family. She is also very talented and I hope someday I will be able to be as talented as she is. We love you mom! Thanks for everything you do for us!
~Vicki
I usually have very high expectations of myself trying to follow in mom's footsteps and feel I fall short when I can't do everything that mom used to do. She was a great example all around! I don't know how she raised eight kids, kept a clean house, cooked and baked, gave us fun things to do, sewed clothes and costumes, kept things organized, wallpapered, embroidered, canned, gave piano lessons, went to everyone's events, exercised, gardened, ironed while listening to Saturday conference, held church callings, attended and graduated from college, worked later on, and put up with Dad, all with a positive attitude! Wow!!! (I think listening to John Denver helped).
Mom, thank you for your great example and for your loving support through the years. You are like sunshine on my shoulders that makes me happy. I love you very much and miss you lots!
~Suzy
I would just like to say "Ditto" to everything that has already been said. Mom is awesome, talented, sweet, smart, etc. I don't know how she does it all. Even now that she is retired from teaching school she's busier than ever serving in the temple and the family history center, teaching piano lessons, gardening, sewing, and making cute cards on the new Cricut machine dad gave her for Christmas. Mom likes to play games and is very competitive (is that who Wayne & Vicki get it from?). Mom used to come into my room at bedtime and scratch my back so I guess I must have been her favorite... how could she have made the rounds and given everyone else special treatment like that? I have fond memories of mom coming to visit twice while Chuck and I lived in North Carolina. We did fun stuff like picking strawberries, making homemade ice cream, going to a butterfly exhibit, a botanical garden and the Biltmore Estate. Here's a few pictures to remind you of our fun times together there. I love you Mom! Hope you had a great birthday.
~Love, Julie
Baby Shower for Melissa
Saturday, April 24th
Open House style 2:30 - 4:00 pm
At Melissa's House
Hey everyone! Just letting you know about the baby shower being planned for Melissa. She originally told me she absolutely didn't want a shower but her friend Christina talked her into it. Invitations should be coming in the mail, but I wanted you to know the details as soon as possible. I also told Christina that we would be willing to help, so let me know what you would like to do. She asked for:
Chips & Salsa
Veggies & Dip
Desserts
Also, if any of you have decorations for a girl baby shower, let Christina know. Please come early (1:30ish) if you are able to help decorate and set up.
FYI: The baby's room will be decorated in a classic Pooh theme.
Questions??? Contact Christina at 839-9425 or christinagirl56@hotmail.com
My Conference/Easter weekend was pretty awesome, as I hope yours was. Here's a little bit about it... My companion and I biked up to the stake center on Saturday morning to watch the 1st session of General Conference with investigators and other missionaries . I went and put in 2 cakes in the oven that I had prepared as a special promise to one of our investigators. Well immediately after conference was over the rush began because we had a baptism to do! It was so exciting and I was/am so happy for Mary Junge. She asked me to baptize her so thus it made it even that much better for me. Everything went smoothly and my companion and I even sang a song "When I am baptized". It was great and she bore her testimony at the end which really finished it off great. Then we watched the 2nd session of General Conference in the nursery with just us and the Junges because the kids were getting restless. All the messages were so good. We went out and ate dinner after that with the Junges and I had some good calamari. We went back to watch the Priesthood session, which of course was awesome and very inspired. Then we had an opportunity to give a blessing to one of the members in our ward which made me feel great.
Mom made these delicious cookies with maple & pecans the day before Easter. Apparently she got the recipe from a Martha Stewart magazine and has made them before, but they were new to me... I went "NUTS" over them! Here's a copy of the recipe mom wrote out for me:
