Aunt Shirlene is 70 Years Young!

I hope Aunt Shirlene doesn not mind about me telling her age. If I look as great as she does at 70 then I know would not mind. We all love her and appreciatte her love for all of us Lewis kids. My memories of Aunt Shirlene just make me smile. She sure knew how to throw a party and how to shower all with gifts. And I do mean shower. I remember at our wedding reception we had three or four piles just from the Lees. That must have taken forever to shop for and then wrap each gift. But then there was Christmas! Each child would have his own huge garbage bag of gifts or more. There were 12 of us in the Lewis family! How fun it was!
In honor of Aunt Shirlene's big birthday we would like to list a few of our favorite things about her.

#1. Aunt Shirlene gives the greatest hugs! You felt no doubt about her love for you as she would squeeze.
#2. Aunt Shirlene has a beautiful smile. Aunt Shirlene knows how to get others to smile as well. Her happy smile is infectous!
#3. I remember as I was young that I would never want my grandpa and grandma or my parents to ever hear something bad about me. The same was true for Aunt Shirlene. I would not have wanted to dissapoint her. This made me a better person. I somehow felt she knew I could be great so I tried to be.
#4. Aunt Shirlene is a very loving person. All who are around her know that she truly cares about them. She is great at spreading the love!
#5. I loved that we were both born in April. I always felt that this gave us some special connection.
#6. Aunt Shirlene had a way of making the individual feel special. I know that many of my siblings felt that she took a special interest in them but she actually did that for all of us.
#7. I love to see my children with Aunt Shirlene. It makes me remember the days when she would take me in her arms as well. My children all love her greatly.
#8. I love Aunt Shirlene's choice for her husband. Uncle Mike is full of surprises and much teasing. What a wonderful man! He always has something to make you laugh about!

#9. Aunt Shirlene has also had three incredible and amazing girls who have become close friends to me and all of our family. She has taught them how to love and give to others as well. What a great mother she has been and is.

#10. I love how much Aunt Shirlene loves her Heavenly Father, the gospel, and her family. With her, these are all one. I love how she shares her testimony through her actions to us all. She is truly an elect lady loved by her Father in Heaven.

We all love you, Aunt Shirlene! We hope you truly know how much we love you and how grateful we are for all you have done for us! Happy birthday!!! We hope you have the best one ever!!!

Jenny Lynelle is 29!

Twenty-nine years ago, on the tenth of April, the most amazing little girl , Jenny Lynelle, was born into the Lewis family! Because of her, I am who I am. I learned to love, serve, and grow tremendously because of Jenny. I will forever be in her debt. I hope she knows or feels how much she is loved by all of us. In honor of her birthday, here is a short list of some of our favorite things about Jenny Lynelle Lewis!

#1. I love Jenny's laugh. She grins from ear to ear and makes the cutest noises. Just makes me smile whenever I think about it. Many a smile she has brought to all of us.

#2. I love how Jenny loves to look at pictures of Jesus. I remember when she was just a little girl and would just stare deep into the eyes of her Savior. She also loved to kiss the picture. She never did that to pictures of me! I knew she knew Him and remembered Him. I longed to see Him largely because of this.

#3. Jenny loves to call for "Wayne" - our dad. This is so cute. Nobody else in our family could get away with this other than my mom.

#4. I love to hear Jenny say, "okay?" She will look you in the eye and it will seem as if she is reading your mind. So sweet!

#5. I love to sing songs with Jenny. She has added her own signature to many a song. What a voice! She loves to be sung to as well and will just grin ear to ear. Makes my heart melt!

#6. Jenny has a way of attracting the little ones. I love how they try to play with her and she sometimes is not sure what she thinks about it. She can get a little protective of her toys. She is so funny.

#7. Jenny loves to shut doors. I wish she could teach my kids this trick. She also likes to turn off lights. What's funny, is when you want to come in, but she wants the door shut :)

#8. Jenny loves her parents. As we have all moved on, it has been so sweet to see how much she loves being with them. Mom and Jenny look like best friends hanging out when they watch a movie together on the couch.

#9. Jenny loves to mimmick sounds. So you better watch out what sounds you make. This can be very funny during Sacrament meeting when she hears someone with the hiccups or someone belch.

#10. I love the way that Jenny makes people feel when they are around her. I love to watch her nieces and nephews make her laugh and have fun with her. You can tell that they feel something special as they do this. There is definetely a very special feeling around Jenny!

Jenny, we love you and are so grateful you came to our family. Because of you we know our Heavenly Father and Savior more. We love them more because of you. Thanks for your love sacrifices, and great teachings!

Tsunami Sam

We have now renamed our Samuel Benjamin, Tsunami Sam. He has now passed LaLoni Estelle on the unbelievable scale. She is a distant 2nd - sorry LaLoni. Here is just a quick list of just a few of his adventures these last couple of weeks.

-Poured gasoline around the garage - our work-out room, actually.

-Flushed chunky lego man down the toilet - 4+hours to get it unstuck, and yes, we had to take the toilet off the floor. This job stunk! haha!
-Magic marker on the wall, luckily it was behind the drapes. :)

-Bubble gum in carpet.

-Lotion on walls and fan.

-Fingerpainted in the ashes - even ate some.
-Streaked outside in the snow wearing only his diaper and socks. - (I was feeding the baby.)
-Dumbed a whole box of cereal on the pool table and then sprayed it down with his bottle.
-Collected dirt from the plants and displaced it in several places.

-Dumped a gallon of milk on his bedroom carpet trying to fill his bottle. Thank goodness for the wet vac!

-Colored over the faces on his dad's prophet's book.

I think I will stop here. I am sure you get the picture! He is one smart kid, just very curious. He is very adorable as well. He can pour on the charm.

Sammy has been such a great older brother. He is very protective of his brothers Porter and Jonny. He amazes us daily with what he brings to life. He will be turning 3 next month! How time flies. We all love watching him grow and love how he keeps us laughing.

We love you, Sammy!