Love Is Sweet

Many of you know my good friend, Geniel, and know she has a daughter, Ashley. Ashley is like my little sister/daughter that I never had. We have our own separate relationship from mine and Geniel's friendship. Ashley has been our summer help at work for quite a few years now and that's how we established our own friendship.

Ashley is one amazing girl! A girl you look at and can see that she has it all. She's getting married a week from today (May 26th) and I am so excited for her! She is marrying a really great guy and I know they will have a wonderful life together. Ashley introduced me to my friend, Laura, and so the three of us are now friends. I knew when Ashley announced her engagement that I wanted to throw her a bridal shower but not just a typical LDS bridal shower. I mentioned it to Laura and she jumped right on board with me. So for several months we have planned, prepped, stayed late at work to work on projects, and had a wonderful time doing it all. Ash's shower was on April 30th.

Our theme was "Love Is Sweet" centered around sweet things. We hosted it at a unique and very popular restaurant here in Stockton called Mid-Town Crepery. Their crepes are amazing! Ash invited 40 ladies and I think all but three showed up. They loved the crepes! We gave them a choice of three dessert crepes to choose from. We also had a candy bar with and used our Apothecary jars to hold the candy in. It turned out really cute!!

This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Laura is super creative and she came up with some really fun things. For example, we had Ashley get us a map of the state of Utah and Laura hand-stitched a pink heart around Salt Lake City and framed it so they could hang it in their home. We also put together several of Ash and Ben's engagement pictures and mounted them and tied them with ribbon. Then we strung a small rope and hung the pictures from it with white clothes pins. The women loved seeing all the different pictures they took. We also put together little thank-you containers for the women to fill with sweet treats from our candy bar. Instead of games, we put together envelopes with cute paper in them with a piece of advice on the front that the women were supposed to write on the card and give to Ashley to open at a particular time in her life. One of them was "Open when you have your first baby", another one was, "Open when the laundry pile becomes taller than Mount Everest". Just little pieces of advice that we've all neede along the way. It was well received!

Ash's good friend from New York, whose name is also Cara, surprised Ashley and showed up! It was so cute to see how surprised Ashley was when she turned around and Cara was standing there. They both cried! I was so happy with Ashley's turn out and the gifts she received. It's looking like her and Ben will have all the essential things they'll need to start their life together.

I felt so honored to be able to do this for Ashley and to have Laura there in it with me. I couldn't ask for better friends! I am truly blessed by the women in my life. I wish Ashley and Ben all the love, happiness, and joy in the world. The best part is they will be living in Cali so I'll get so see them and still be a small part of their lives.

Josh Turner

I have one of the best friends in the world! Laura B bought us tickets to the Josh Turner concert here in Stockton for Mothers' Day but the concert was the Friday before Mothers' Day. It was so much fun!! We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and then on to the concert. Laura gave me this adorable basket with a cherry pie, butter beans, and lip gloss in it because he relates to all three of those things in his song lyrics. Clever, huh?


I have reconnected with Country music once again because I am so tired of the Pop-Rock station and all the garbage that's on there. Don't get me wrong, I will always love The Black-Eyed Peas but I am really tired of rap! I have missed Country music! Easton Corbin was his opening act and he was great! Both he and Josh were very fun, energetic, and fun to listen to. The best part was being there with Laura! We also bought matching Josh Turner shirts and I have worn mine to death!!


Laura and I kept threatening to jump on the tour bus but as you can see we couldn't get close enough. There were body guards all over the place. We did send a pictures to our husbands, though, with us waving good-bye. They didn't think it was near as funny as we did.


Thank you, Laura B, for the fun time! One of the most memorable concerts I've been to.

Tribute To A Wonderful Woman

There have been so many things happening during this holiday season, I can barely keep up. Many happy things and many sad things. My friend, Geniel, lost her mom, Neva, on December 21st. It has been a sad loss for all of us. I feel it's necessary to write about Neva and my love for her and to pay tribute to the wonderful life she lived.

Neva was a Mary Kay Consultant for many years and served many clients throughout Cache Valley.

I met Neva in 2006 when she came to California to spend Christmas with Geniel and her family. Meeting her was like meeting my second mother. We instantly bonded and she reminded me so much of my own mother. Maybe it's because I love Geniel so much that I felt that connection with Neva but it was almost like I had known her before. While she was here, she was constant entertainment. She has a great sense of humor and the cutest laugh. Geniel is a younger version of her mom, in every way.

Neva struggled with asthma most of her life and fought for every breath she took. She had an attack while she was here one morning and Geniel called Ryan to come and give her a blessing. CP was out of town with the team and Neva needed the comfort and help from heaven to help her get better. When Ryan gave her that blessing, I felt the spirit in a way that I had never felt before. I knew that Neva was special and was being watched over. Again, Ryan and I both bonded with her in a special way. As she has aged, her sight has failed her, so she's not been able to see like she would like to and has struggled seeing most things that we take for granted.

Geniel and I have talked a lot about Neva. It's customary for me to say to Geniel, "How's Neva?" and then we giggle because we get such a kick out of her and the cute things she does. There is a saying that I have heard that reminds me of Neva, it goes: "Some people come into our lives and leave the same way they came, but there are those precious few who touch our hearts so deeply we will never be the same". That's how I feel about Neva. Even though I wasn't around her everyday and didn't spend oodles of time with her, she changed me in the few times we were together. She made me want to be better and to try harder.

Geniel and Neva at "Wicked" this spring in San Francisco.

Neva had an unwavering testimony of the gospel and that's what I love most about her. You could feel her testimony and goodness by just being in the room with her. I will miss her dearly and will think of her everyday. It's times like these that I am once again reminded how lucky I am to be a member of the church and to have the knowledge and blessings of eternal families. I know that I will get to see Neva again, hug her, and tell her how much I love her. For now, she will have to know through my thoughts. As hard as it has been to lose her, I know that she can breathe and see and watch over her family. Her goodness and legacy will live on through her family and I am blessed that I get to be such good friends with part of her legacy, her daughter.

Girls Day Out

As many of you know, I have the most wonderful friend in the world! Her name is Geniel and we met at church shortly after we moved here. Right off the bat, we hit it off! I was so grateful to have someone that I could turn to. I had no idea how our friendship would develop and take off. I know I can never express here in this blog how much Geniel and her friendship mean to me, so I'm not even going to try!

We started walking together every morning at 5:45 AM. To say this was easy would be the biggest lie I ever told! But we did it, every morning for two years, 4 days a week. They say women bond by sharing, well share we did on our walks every morning! Before either one of us knew it, we had both spilled our guts about pretty much everything in our lives! I call the loop we walk the trail of laughter and tears. Now that I am working, we don't walk early in the mornings but we try to go in the evenings as often as we can.

Geniel is the kindest person I have ever known. She is truly amazing and I am in awe all the time that she's friends with me. Her husband, Chris, is the Athletic Trainer at UOP and they along with their two kids, Aaron and Ashley, have taken us in and have treated us like family. I love the way Chris interacts with Colby and Taylor, he treats them like they are his nephews and he has taken the time to do fun things with them when he was under no obligation to.

I love Geniel like a sister and she is my best friend! We have done everything together from glittering pumpkins to coloring each other's hair. She is so much fun to be with and lifts my spirits when we are together. She is such a true friend and I admire everything about her. She knows everything about me and could consider some serious blackmail if she wanted to!

So this blog is dedicated to her and our "Girls Day Out" in San Francisco. Every year for our birthdays, we try to go somewhere fun to celebrate. This year we chose San Francisco and I was amazed we didn't get lost, well except for taking the wrong train but that was my fault. Here are some pictures of San Francisco and Geniel and I at Union Square. I also snapped one of Tiffany's. I have never been to Tiffany's store and never thought I would get the chance but I did and it was so much fun!