Three's a Charm!

This day is a blessed birthday with 3 family members at once! (OK so Joslyn maybe an adopted family member but you can't tell me that) It is one I am thankful that can be celebrated!

• Uncle Doug
• Cousin Dakota
• Joslyn Whiting
  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The birthday celebrations started off Whiting style with a family dinner for Jos. They made her favorites crepes and Pazookie's for dessert. She received a quilt from her mom with all the T-shirts from each event she was in as youth and a singing Hannah Montana card! We had a fun For Strength of Youth FHE knowledge bowl too!

For any of you that know Jos you know that she is a burst of positive energy! Finds joy in life both during hard times as well as the best of times! She is always seeking out high adventure (thanks Wade!) and you will catch her singing and dancin at any given moment if she has the chance. She also has a love for a pretty face! Believe me if she has a chance to talk about Zac Effron she will :) Jos is very creative and crafty like he mama. He recent love is making the CUTEST headbands ever!

She handle's lives challenges with faith and optimism and never let's anything get in her way! She is a girl that is dedicated to finding joy in the journey, reaching her goals, family time and the gospel. I am SOOO lucky to have sweet Jos in my life!

Next was Dakota's surprise 29th Birthday celebration! She has the best hubby around and he planned a birthday surprise that was RIGHT UP HER ALLEY! We all showed up at their old reception center and he had There she is, Miss America music on repeat so that when she walked in blind folded that was what was playing! Amazingly enough we got everyone including small children to stay quiet so she thought they were just going someone privately! When she was allowed to lift the blindfold, SURPRISE! He 3 small boys were in front of her with a cape, a sash a crown and 4 dozen roses!! Oh yes the reaction happened! Tears were flowing and kisses being handed out! She was a HUGE fan! Then we Karaokied the night away! So much fun!

Koty is one of the most amazing women that I have in my life! She is so on the ball! Not only does she have 4 boys under 7 yrs old, she runs a fully functioning farm, has a few side businesses, serves people freely and willingly, is the go to girl for EVERYTHING! Believe me I call her for food quanities for a wedding, sales, to borrow things, get advice, vent.. she rocks! You should check out the things that she shares on the If you care to share blog! Always useful items, sales, and crafts!
She was one of my bestest friends growing up and continues to be well into my adult years. She has never gotten tired of me.. now that is LOVE!

My Uncle Doug is one of my Mom's youngest brother's so he was always around as I was growing up. I remember writing him as a 10 or 11 yr old on his mission. And the way I felt when I got a letter back it was so awesome! He is so patient and loving. In our older years I have LOVED watching that loving, patient side of him shine through with how tender he is with my aging grandparents. He is always trying to help them and I can tell that he really enjoys serving them. He has always been so family focused! He comes to our family things even if for only a moment to lend that support! It means the WORLD to us! He even showed up while he could be out celebrating his own Birthday to Koty's surprise party! Now that is commitment and love! I think that says a lot about a person. I am thankful for his choice in who he married as well. His wife Kim was instantly my best friend and some of my fondest memories are with her! Way to go Uncle Doug! Lot's of reasons why we celebrate you!

Grandma's 76 TODAY!

Seventy-six years ago today one of my best friends was born. You've got it right,

My Grandma Schroeppel.

I got the awesome privilege to spend A LOT of time with my grandma growing up, since Mom had to work. I talked to my Grandma about everything. She taught me to cook, she played games with me and taught me my first lessons in service! Gram was ALWAYS serving someone.. everyday. She would write letters to missionaries and orphans, take in food ALL the time to the needy, drive people places, take her kids and grand kids (Pat and I) to places. My Gram taught me how to drive, I could always sucker her into to let me drive at least, she has been a pillar of strength and love to me all the days of my life.

Gram is Patient. A little background... When I was 9 months old my parents divorced and my grandparents moved my family (Mom, Pat and I) plus their other 10 children to Utah. I grew up with uncles around similar ages as me. One uncle is one year older than me and an uncle one year older than Pat. Grandma jumped right in and helped take care of us in any way that she could while Mom went to work to financially support us. Yes as you can tell, Gram has the PATIENCE of Job!

Gram plays with her grand kids. Some of my fondest memories include cooking with my Gram, playing dress up in all of her heals and handbags (someday I want to own them!), visiting people in her ward, hanging out with her when I was sick, her homemade popcorn, Sunday night popcorn and caffeine free Dr. Pepper for dinner, her sneaking homemade popcorn in the movies in the shoulder's of her coat, glass bottled soda pop, her swimming pool and the hours of fun and recreation that brought to us, her chuckle (her whole body shakes but not much noise come out), singing me silly songs, taking naps with her and hearing her snore, The red mercury and all the many adventures we had in it (pushing it down the hill with fireman, forgetting to take out the gas hose and pulling out the whole gas pump as we drove away, and then finally me ending up totalling it).

Grandma has a Mother Heart. I always admired Grandma's nurturing spirit. She always had needy friends and she loved them where they were at. She would let them talk to her on the phone for hours and never complained about it. She has for sure written and sent out hundreds of get well cards in my lifetime. She would give anything to anyone and has been reprimanded by our family for being too nice and getting taken advantage of.

Gram is selfless. Gram lives in St. George(Ivins) and really gets homesick there and wishes she could be with us in Utah County but stays and chooses to be happy cause that is what Gramps needs for his health. She has quite the people that miss her while she is gone. 11 children, umpteen grandchildren and we aren't even going to try to count the greats!! SHEESH! She is the WOMAN. (When Gram let's me know the counts after reading this, I will post the real numbers!) Growing up I wanted to have 12 kids cause Gram made it seem so easy and so I thought could get one more and be OK.. as you can tell, that isn't going to happen, but I thank Gram for letting me believe it were possible.

Grandma loves unconditionally. EVERYONE that crosses paths with my Gram has nothing but POSITIVE things to say about her and that always makes me feel so proud to call her Grandma, in fact anytime that you introduce her to any of your friends she says, "Hi, my name is Grandma!" and that is what they call her.

Grandma is prayerful. I don't know of any other women alive today that prays as long, as much, and as individually as my Gram does. I remember as a child waiting forever to talk to her in the morning cause she was saying her prayers. She is a spiritual giant and the FIRST person that I want praying for me when I going through something.

As you can tell, I have the best example, the most Christ-like friend, the most patient person in my life and it is an honor for me to call her Grandma!

I love you FOREVER Gram!!

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY....Uncle Mark

As you can tell this has been 3 days in a row of BIRTHDAYS! But I just had to post about my Uncle Marky.. He is such a BIG part of who I am...

I mean where do you think I got my loudness from?!

As most of you know, I grew up with my Dad out of picture and my Uncle Mark was one of the men in my life that picked up a few pieces. My life was blessed several times by Uncle Mark at Daddy daughter dates and blessings of healings etc. I always felt like the luckiest girl there when I had Uncle Mark at my side!

Mark was my protector. He also took the role of Dad when My brother and I were having issues. He would always come to my rescue, probably LOTS more than he wanted too! :)

Mark always has a joke in a hand, always relentlessly teases the waitress at the restraunt, gooses you in a store when you don't even know he is around, but our whole family will tell you what the BEST thing about him is.. HIS LOUD BIRTHDAY SONG in public places. He sings a few notes behind everyone else at the top of his lungs.. and yes this is on purpose! He has done it our whole lives and it still makes us laugh to tears every time he does it.. Never gets old!All the joking aside Uncle Mark has one of the purest and loving hearts of anyone in my life. He is sensitive to the spirit and loves deeply. Whenever he comes into family things the first thing he does is go hug and kiss everyone. I love that I can always count on him for that!

Uncle Mark, I hope you always stay a child at heart and even though this is considered a doom and gloom Birthday, I hope you see it as a celebration of all that you have. You have loving parents, 1o wonderful Brothers and Sisters, millions of neices and nephews (even though you don't know most of the little ones names) A gorgeous wife, 5 amazing and beautiful children, 3 fantastic son-in-laws, 6 grandbabies, and HUNDREDS of people that love and support you!

50 years doesn't seem so bad after all! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

THANKS FOR ALL YOU'VE MEANT TO ME!

I LOVE YOU!

Happy 55th Birthday Dad

I have been blessed in my adult life to be able to re-connect with my Dad and I am so glad that we can spend time together and that I have been able to spend holidays with him and the Gazaway side of the family. Almost two years ago we got to spend a straight week with our Dad in Utah with us and had so much fun together. Here is the evidence!


Happy Birthday Dad!

I love you!

Wedding Wednesday: Justin and Kassi Carr Sealing

My cousin Justin, Kassi, Jada and soon to be son were sealed in the Mt. Timp temple for time and all eternity on August 20, 2008. It was a beautiful ceremony with such a sweet spirit and love. I just kept staring at Justin and watching the love that was emulating off of him!

The group who came to share their special day...
all immediate family but Mom, Pat, Andrea and I.

Jada is their little girl and she is the cutest thing ever and she knows it!! Princess Jada!

How I love them! So Happy for you Justin and Kas!

Happy Birthday Thomas!! Your the Best!

This is another time I wish I had a scanner and knew how to use it! It was my sweet Thomas Heaps 10th Bday and I have the cutest pictures of him from when I got to watch him 6 years ago while his Sister Emily was going through her first Bone Marrow transplant.

I love Thomas because he knows who he is. He knows how to treat others and he is one of the most loving, accepting kids around.

I have so many fun memories of Thomas as a little guy. He always wanted to chase me around and pretend to kill me just to come and comfort me when I was faking dead on the ground. "Get Up! I was just playing..it's not for real! Are you ok?!"

He loved to sing at the top of his lungs with me. We had the EFY CD in the car and sang "We Believe" at the top of our lungs the summer before my first year. He was 3 and he had the whole song memorized!

We sang and read so many books on the couch every day. He loved to run errands with me, go shopping and just be my little buddy!

Thomas is great at anything he tries. He is good at sports, singing and I believe one day he could make an AMAZING actor, his voice is deep and so actor-esk.

One of the things I treasure most is at the time I watched Jackie and Thomas, I had only been home from my mission about a year. My mission buddies were always calling me or around all of us. They always called me by my last name, so Thomas started calling me Gazaway. I love it to this day when he calls me that cause it reminds me of such a sweet time in my life, when I got to be with this kid every day!

Thomas, I am so glad that you are you! I am so thankful that you know how to love and smile and sing and laugh and be sweet. Everytime I get to be with you, I am happier when I leave!
You have a real zeal for life, for adventure. You play hard and you love deeply!







Happy Birthday Big GUY! I'LL LOVE YOU ALWAYS!
Gazaway

Thankful Thursday: Mike, Val and Emerson Hall

This week I have been really reflective on my sweet Cousin Val's family! My cousin married such a great guy. His name is Mike and we call eachother "Janet" it is too long of a story to describe but basically I called him the wrong name at Brad and Staci's wedding and so he started calling me the wrong name, and I knew that I would remember his name always if I called him the same thing, so I do! hahahha Dumb i know, but it has endeared us to eachother!

Val has been one of my best friends before she even knew what best friends were! She was my little baby that I would carry around with me... I would take her on stroller rides.. I would walk with her to the gas station in Spanish Fork and buy her candy.

When they moved to Orem and she grew up a little we would spend our whole summer's together. We would ride our bikes down to 7-11 and get White Cherry Slurpees and Laffy Taffy's all the time. I even had Val with me when I totaled Grandma's car before I was 16 (we wont go into that!).

Basically Val, Amy and Jamie (all my cousins) were my little adopted sisters that I dragged to the Tiffin room at ZCMI, movies, Mi Ranchito, anywhere that I could spent all my babysitting money on them. We played house, store and fought a lot!

As adults, Val has become my lunch buddy and I have loved having lunch with her and Emerson.

I am so thankful for Val. She has a huge heart and is ALWAYS wanting to help with any project that is too much for you to do alone.

Mike has moved her away from all of us to go to Dental School in Arizona for 4 years! It has been a hard week for us all realizing that she may never be permanately back to us... but so thankful that there are airplanes that can get her here quickly!

I have the cutest pictures of Val and I from chilhood that will be amoung my posts when I learn how to scan! We were adorable (ok, I was a little awkward looking, but she was adorable). Val, I am thankful for cell phones, blogs and planes that will make you being 12 hours away seen so much closer.

Thanks for always being my WITTO WOWIE! The memories we have together are priceless and I will never forget the void you helped fill in my life by taking the place of the little sister I always asked Santa for every Christmas and prayed for every night.

YOU ARE MISSED!

"Janet", we are so proud of you and your hard work! Val we are proud that you are being brave when we aren't. And Emerson you better stay just as cute and adorable till the next time we see you.... don't grow!

I LOVE YOU FOREVER!

Wedding Wednesday: Justin and Alyssa

Saturday August 16th was my little cousin Alyssa's Wedding. I say little cause I literally feel like I was just babysitting her 8 yrs ago! Oh wait.. I was :) My sweet cousin met a great catch and had a ginormous ring on her finger before she even graduated High school! Now that is impressive!

Her wedding day was perfect in every way until the mean ole friends decorated Justin's car and chapped his hyde! hahhaha I hate the whole car decorating tradition too.. I think cake smashing, garter throwing and car decorating should be banned! Who wants to have a mess to clean up (whether on their face or their car)... I sure don't! I guess that what being 30 and single does to you... bah humbug! hahha

I can't wait to share the highlights of their day through the fab pictures my camera took. Here is an intro to my extended family, ENJOY!

This is Auntie Kay with her grandbaby Emerson. Oh, how I adore Emerson!

The Clegg Family. Rob on the back right will be getting married to Rocio in 3 weeks then there will only be Chels and yan (bottom left) remaining and Kay will have several years till that happens (I will probably still be single then too, so I will be there for you Kay!!)

Lyss hugging her sweet Mom, my Aunti Kay!

Lyss was really lucky to have Gma and Gpa Schroeppel there, gramps has been ill lately and it is a miracle that he has been able to come up so often lately.

This is my Aunti Debbie and her husband Kevin

( sometimes I mix up their names and call them aunt devin and uncle kebbie!)

See why I love this kid! This is adorable Emerson on his Uncle Brad's shoulder....PRICELESS!

Emers Mommy Val. She is holding my cousin Kylie's baby Irelyn

What a gorgeous picture of the bride and her Mommy

My Uncle Mark and I were having WAY TOO MUCH fun with Irey, If you can't tell, we put the Baked Lasagna sign on her and had her holding the to go box... we were laughing pretty hard

(real mature I know!)

The Flowers were hanging from the umbrellas instead of being on a center piece.. so cute!

This is mini me... ever wonder what I looked like before time corrupted me... here she is, my neice Chloe.. such a mess.. but isn't she cute!
My nephew Dylan

(how could you not be smiling, when you get coldstone ice cream!)

This one's for you James.. what a priceless picture of you and Gramps and Hallie

My Aunti Leslie. She is the wedding dress sales person of the century! If you want a low price and someone to tell you the truth and get you into the dress that you look the greatest in.. she is your woman! Verionca Michael's is her place.. check it out!

So glad this baby isn't my little Jesse's but isn't she gorgeous! Love you Jess.

Last but not least (and you will be hearing more about them in my blog tommorrow) this is Lyssa's oldest sister and her hubby Mike (who I call Janet and he call's me Janet..long story) and of course baby Emerson.

As you can tell from my countless pictures we had a family filled day... I spared ALOT of pictures but you get the feeling of who I am related to and why I love them all so much!

Alyssa, thanks for letting me be a part of you beautiful day. I love you my Witto Wyss. Welcome to a kooky clan Justin!

Memory Monday... My Grandpa Schroeppel

About a week ago my dear friend Angie did a blog on a Daddy Daughter date that they did with the Achievement day girls in their ward. It reminded me of one of my favorite memories with my Grandpa Schroeppel when I was about 10 yrs old and in Merrie Miss (remember those days ). We did a daddy daughter activity( and since I didn't have a daddy at home to go with me Grandpa was delegated) called a Box Lunch Social. We were to decorate a box as unique as possible and make all the yummiest things we could possibly make to put inside. There was a contest for the best box lunch (we won that). Next we had a dad shaving competition as part of our relay race. They took the blades out and we shaved them (won that) then a pie eating contest and of course we won that! It ended with us recieving a letter our dad's (grandpa) wrote to us.. Sweetest thing I have ever read. I know I have that somewhere in my memory box. I will find it sometime this month and add it to this entry.

Growing up as a young child Grandpa had a full plate with 11 kids of his own and then 2 father-less grandkids to raise. I loved on Mother's Day our Saturday date with Grandpa to pick out the perfect gift for Mom. He let us choose anything that we wanted and it really made it so special for us.

I loved how Grandpa sacrificed to bring my Mom to pick me up from my mission in Ohio. I don't think I would have EVER got on that plane if I didn't have Grandpa, Grandma and my Mom forcing me on. What sweet memories I have with my Grandpa. He is full of love, charity, sarcasm, and honor.

I love you Gramps! Thanks for making events that could have seemed so lonely for a child without their own Dad there so memorable and special to me. That Daddy daughter date is in my top 10 of favorite childhood memories. YOUR THE BEST!