Friends or Family?

Someone famous said, "You can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends". In my case I am lucky to have found wonderful friends in my family. My Jones Cousins, or as we are loving called, "The Cousins", have a unique relationship- We are Good Friends and enjoy each other's company. We laugh together, cry together, share secrets together, vent together, and even travel together. I don't know what I'd do without them. I know I can call on any of them at any moment, and they'd be there. I know they don't judge me, no matter what I do or say (and we all know I say a lot). I know I am very lucky to have found such wonderful women as my friends. Thank you to "The Cousins" for loving me and being there for me!

Here's to more Fabulous Family-Friend Festivas!

Our most recent travels took us to St. George (and some of us on to Phoenix for a concert). We swam, scrapbooked, played, shopped, ate out, and SLEPT. Being wives and mothers we don't have much "alone time", so this weekend was totally enjoyed!

Tara & Kris at THE Concert of the Millenium in Phoenix

Gary

Keith

Kenny

Summer has Arrived!

It is official, summer break has arrived for The Hunsaker Family. Darren has his June (Cleaver) home in June. He is estatic, the girls too, I think. It has been so fun to play, play, play and not wonder who will take the girls to dance, lessons, school, and when/if the babysitter will have to be our backup. LOVE IT! I made a summer calendar of all the activities we plan to do. I put it on Darren's desk and told him he was invited to participate or not, but "we girls" were going to have some fun festivas this summer.

Let the good times roll...

Oh HAPPY Day!

Levi & Sandie * Oh HAPPY Day!

Today I received the best text message. It said, "Levi is home tonight". I shouted for joy and started phone calling the family. Our cousin Levi has been serving in Camp Bucca, Iraq for almost a year. Tonight we gathered as family & friends at the SL International Airport to hug and celebrate his safe return HOME. Levi is a soldier, a leader, a son, a friend, a cousin, a husband, a father, and a HERO. Levi is married to my cousin Sandie. They have two adorable boys, Luke & Cort (see www.raising4boards.blogspot.com for more info). It has been my honor to support Sandie and Levi as he has served in Iraq. Hearing about the soldiers has new meaning when you have a loved one serving. Sandie has been a "single-mom" for the past year. She has had to figure out how to get the boys where they need to be, work at her job, and try to find time to enjoy life and keep her sanity. Sandie is my hero too! She has had such a positive attitude thru the year. As I was purchasing lots of flags, posterboard, markers, etc. to prepare for Levi's arrival, a woman in line asked me if I was welcoming home a solider. I proudly told her yes, my cousin. She said, "Tell him thank you". I told her I would and both our eyes filled with tears. Levi- We love you & we THANK YOU for your service to our country! God Bless America and all the soliders who still need to come HOME safe!

Family & Friends welcoming home Levi

Our family with Levi & Luke

Fun Family Festivas

Last week we took the girls to Thanksgiving Point to wander in the Tulip Gardens. The girls and I have made this adventure many times, Darren never. I'm always telling him I am the FUN in our family adventures and he is the... (You know him, fill in the blank). We dragged him along with us and showed him our kind of fun. The girls love to run, laugh, and roll down the hills. I love to take pictures of the girls. Usually they will tolerate my picture moments and pose for a few good shots. My favorite of the day is this one- three sisters, holding hands, enjoying each other. These moments are rare, so I have to capture and document them. Someday, when my girls are all grown up and turned into teenagers, I'll prove to them these types of LOVING sister moments happened. I added one of Darren; I just couldn't resist!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day is the epitome of D's: Dreams, Desires, Dramas & Disappointment. So many expectations, so many women to please, so many ideals, and so many...

To some Mother's Day means great gifts and bragging rights at work on Monday; hence the Dreams & Desires. To others, a potted geranium or piece of chocolate. Ultimately it means fighting children, daily chores, and no sparkly Hallmark card; the Drama & Disappointment. Is it ironic that the words happy and mothers are in one sentence? How can a mother be happy when she has to tend to the household chores, work at an out-of-home job and an in-home job, love grumpy children, love a grumpy husband, get up at 3am for someone, and hear about all the fabulous mothers out there. I'll tell you how: you count your blessings everyday for the beautiful children you've been blessed with. My girls (three small children as I like to say) bring me the most joy (and the most tears) anyone could possibly bestow. I've never known this kind of love until I looked into my baby's eyes, gotten slobbery kisses from a toddler, and had muddy hands give me a hug. I'll celebrate these moments of sunshine and fill my pockets FULL of them. Darren says my Mother's Day will be complete when all my children are grown and gone and the grandchildren come over to play for an hour and cook me dinner. I wonder if that is true :) For now- I'll take a day full of LIFE (fighting, noise, chores) and maybe a little bling! To all the MOTHER'S out there- HAPPY HAPPY DAY!!!

I Have Been Tagged

Thanks to cousin Sandie, I've been tagged. Which means I need to list 7 unusual things about myself. I'm not sure how unusual these will be, but at least I have seven.

1. I absolutely LOVE chocolate and Mt. Dew. Actually, truth be told, I love pretty much anything that contains sugar. It is a problem, I know it is a problem, but I'm not facing my problem.

2. I am a Shop-aholic. I know, not a surprise. Most of my hobbies involve needing to shop. I think that means, my hobby is shopping. I like to buy almost anything. I've been known to splurge shop at the grocery store check out counter, purchase something just because it was on sale, and buy two of something I already have because I've forgotten I have it. Darren says I cannot use the words, "because it was cute and on sale" ever ever again.

3. I am addicted to LOST. I arrange my whole week's schedule so I can spend Thursday nights at Teresa's watching LOST (she records, so no commercials). I cannot figure out the show, which makes me want to watch the show more to figure it out. As Gary says, "This episode raises more questions than answers, enough already. Well, OK, we'll watch one more week's".

4. I am a fanatic about charts, calendars, and organizing. I like to color-code and document everything. I may have been the first person in line when Franklin Covey started selling daily planners. Beware anyone that touches my desk calendar at school/work. I have the "Hunsaker Family Weekly Activities" chart on our door going out to the garage. Everything is on it and I love it! Our life is a mass calendar (poor Darren). I guess this means I am a type-A personality (again, no surprise there).

5. Someday I would like to become a professional photographer. Next to shopping, my hobby is taking pictures. I took so many pictures with my first digital camera, the repair guy told us I'd worn it out and it wasn't worth fixing. I love my new digital camera and lens (thank you Darren). I now have so many pictures, our computer hard drive is full. What to do, what to do (how about buy a new computer with more memory to store all my pictures).

6. I am an emotional nostalgic girl! I will fight to the bitter end if it means getting family together for an event. I love spending time with family & friends and love to document it all. I cannot throw out any old piece of paper if it means a piece of heritage will be lost. I've saved almost everything from my childhood and can't bear to throw out any memories. I cry at stories (sad & happy), songs, movies, commercials, you name it, I cry.

7. I love my GIRLS. I love spending time with them and playing! We have so many fun adventures. We go everywhere (I have the pictures to prove it). I never thought I'd want to be a home-mom. You know what I mean. I admit it is the hardest job EVER! But it is sooo worth it. Being able to volunteer in Kindergarten class, go on preschool fieldtrips, and watch my babies grow makes me laugh, cry, and fill with joy. Darren's dream of a fulltime June Cleaver cooking in pearls has almost come true.

I tag Heather, Stacey, Sommer, and Bobbie-Jo

Fill Your Pockets Full of Sunshine

In R.S. we talked about enjoying the journey and finding delight. Instead of working & enduring all the time, we should take some time to find the joy in living life. For me, life is always busy, overwhelming, and sometimes down right stressful. The lesson I learned today: In this crazy world, take time to stop and focus on the FABULOUS moments that "fill our pockets with sunshine". Here are some of my week's SUNSHINE moments.

Joining Isabelle's preschool fieldtrip to Wheeler Farm for an adventure with animals

Driving two hours, one way, with Teresa & 6 children, ages 6 and under, to watch a rocket NOT launch (note to self: do not tell children a rocket will launch when viewing a test firing of boosters, they do NOT launch, just lots of noise & fire)

Taking two wiggly girls to watch cousin Cassie dance & act in school Spring Show

Enduring an allergy attack and a two-year old to take Bethany & Isabelle to riding lessons