Day 5: Breakfast in Bed

One of the earliest memories and traditions i have are of "Breakfast in Bed" Each year on our birthdays you would wake up early to prepare this special breakfast served on special tray with special dishes to us in our beds. And as you can see with an adoring crowd of hovering siblings. This was the perfect way to start off a birthday. The tradition of breakfast in bed has been passed on to each of your grandchildren and Porter keeps asking if it his birthday yet because he also looks forward to eating his breakfast in my bed. Mom, thank you for all of the breakfasts in bed and thank you for making us all feel special every year. You are the best mom EVER! I love reading this blog because it reminds us all of how lucky we are to have you.

 On a lighter note, I think it's funny that of all of these pictures you are only in one. If you we gone every year who made breakfast for me? Elsa? 

                                                              (am i naked under the bear? )

                                                  (Maggie, why aren't you chubby anymore?)

( a couple things here. Are we sure Bob doesn't have Asian ancestry? I put this somewhere around my 11th birthday so that means Bob is 10 wearing pajama a onesie. Classic.)

                        I hope that this year is an extra special one because you deserve it! I love you!

                                                                  

                                                                       Here's looking at you.

Day 4: Food and Fabric

Before I ever met Ruth Ann, I had met her food.  Her cooking was the stuff of legend among Tom’s friends and my first taste, Walnut Toffee Bars ,  did not disappoint!  Since then, I have tasted too many wonderful things to count.  I have also, unfortunately, abandoned some of my strict healthy habits and learned that EVERYTHING is better with butter.  I am constantly inspired by her love of and ability to cook.  Although my cooking will never compare, I’m grateful that I have had the opportunity to pick up some tricks of the trade and at times cook alongside her.   I am also grateful that her love of cooking was passed on to her son,  who has definitely followed in her footsteps.

Ruth Ann likes to push me to try new things.  I never wanted to sew.  I was a scrapbooker by trade and didn’t feel comfortable venturing into the realm of sewing.  She continued to insist that I try sewing so finally I gave in. I didn’t even bring fabric on our St. George craft retreat because I didn’t intend on sewing, but everything changed that trip.  I learned that I love to sew!  It is such a great creative outlet for me and I never would have known that or even tried it if it hadn’t been for Ruth Ann.  I am so grateful to her for helping me discover sewing (not to mention constantly giving me fabric, patterns, and supplies to supplement it). 

Thank You Ruth Ann, for constantly inspiring me and motivating me to try new things!  I am forever grateful to have you in my life!  

Day 3: Fried Ham!

Happy 60th Birthday Ruth Ann! I totally lucked out on gaining you as a mother-in-law and will forever be grateful to have you in my life.

There is so much to love about you: your natural creativity, amazing skills in the kitchen and the way you happily make delicious meals for your family to enjoy. You seriously create such adorable things and I have always loved your baby burp rags, bags of all sorts and sizes, aprons, and a hundred other things you seem to whip out without even batting an eyelash--like the darling "sharf" you presented Bentley with the other night (here he is proudly modeling it!)

I love that you are a loving grandma who spoils all her grandbabies with attention and special Nanny gifts. My children adore you and feel so happy and excited in your presence. It's fun to see the kids fight over who gets to be held next or who can sit by you at Sunday dinner and you are always going out of your way to see them and play with them (AND let their moms and dads have date nights out--that is true love right there!) You are very easy to talk to, a good listener and a true friend. You continue to be an amazing mother who raised a big family full of silly (but wonderful) sons and happy daughters who all love, honor and respect their mom. I really admire your testimony and deep knowledge of the scriptures and gospel doctrine. You really understand the words and life of Christ because you truly show it in the way you embrace everyone around you with love and friendship and always try to find ways to serve others. I love that I am part of your family and that you asked me out for Joseph and then told him afterwords that you had a date lined up for him! I love you very much and wish you all the best on this your 60th birthday.

And I'm excited about this blog and the fun things we can share and learn about you (and Neil) over the next few months. I'm hoping your kiddos will share some great LeBaron writing on here and keep me laughing for the next 120 days. Simple pleasures...

Day 2: 60 Things We Love About Nanny . . . (from her fans in NC)

Wait for a minute for this to load, and then hit the play button (below) each time you want to advance. Happy Birthday! We love you.

Things we love about Nanny on Prezi

Day 1: Happy Birthday Mom

Ruth Ann with Anders—Chicago 2010

At 60  years old, you've never been smarter.
You've never been more beautiful.
You've never ceased to amaze us.

So here's to you.

60 days of blog posts dedicated to our one and only.
After that, we'll dedicate 60 days of blog posts to dad.

February 1 to May 31.

Exactly 120 days.

Happy Birthday.