15

Fifteen years ago today, I gave birth to the sweetest little peanut-headed boy.

After already being the mother of two darling boys (depending on the day),

there was a part of me that would have welcomed a girl and everything pink.

Yet when I delivered a boy, a huge wave of relief and gratitude flooded over me.

Our third boy - so perfect, so precious, so instantly loved, this sweet, tiny mouse.

From the moment you entered our hearts and home, you have been the Mouse -

a term of endearment we never knew would stay with you, but amazingly it has.

It always makes me smile to myself whenever I still hear anyone call you Mouse.

❤ Happy 15th Birthday Mouse - I Love You ❤


Matthew James Walker, for 15 years you have truly been a pure joy to us.
The sweetest baby, the most adorable toddler, the funniest little guy...
It has been a challenge to keep up with your endless interests and talents -
I never knew one child could have so many, but you are one of a kind!!!
It's been amazing to see how extraordinary and diverse you really are,
and we are so proud of you and all you have experienced and learned.
I hope you never lose your zest for life and your yearning to experience it all.
xoxo
P.S. stay close to the Lord because you will really need his protection!
P.P.S. I will always see you as my sweet little five-year-old... I'll work on it.
P.P.P.S. you might want to try experiencing better grades - just a thought.
P.P.P.P.S. don't worry, you'll be able to beat up your brothers pretty soon.
P.P.P.P.P.S. don't forget to wear something under your kilt. Just sayin'.

welcome

Welcome to beautiful southern California, the envy of the entire world!

Palm trees, surf and sand, blue skies, Hollywood, and perfect weather!

Popular tourist destination from everywhere around the entire globe!

We've got mountains, desert, coastline... and don't forget Disneyland!

We keep it simple: 2 seasons, hot & hotter, between 80 & 114 degrees all year.

I guess that's why they call it "the Golden State". 

Have a pleasant visit!

24 hours

~ Sea of Girls ~

The same weekend the Mouse was flying down hills on the triathlon,

I was with 40+ AMAZING young women from church, mostly ages 12 to 18,

and the rest of the leaders that love and adore these girls as much as I do.

Our challenge? To read "the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ"

aloud, straight through in 24 hours - all five hundred and something pages of it!

I'll never forget the moment I walked in and saw this endless sea of girls...

all these smiling faces that I love so much, everyone taking turns reading aloud,

the sight of them all and the sweet feeling in the room nearly drove me to tears.  

I have to hand it to our faithful leader Kerrie and these undaunted girls.

The majority of them have sports, after school activities, work, AP classes -

in other words, they do so much and never get enough sleep as it is!

Bless their hearts, they still participated, ALL of them had a great attitude,

they tried sooo hard to stay awake the whole time, and they were SO. MUCH. FUN.

We had special guests come read to us several times, even during the wee hours,

 lots of support from moms with food, and Brenda's amazing house to hold us all. 

I became weary and tired in a physical sense of course,

but never once did I tire of looking around at these young women,

and listening to the sound of their voices, and watching them interact,

and seeing how much effort they were putting into this challenge -

even at times when they whispered or giggled or chatted a bit too loudly :)

And my fellow leaders, I love you all so much - you are wonderful.

Oh, look at WALKER... she thinks she's so spiritual, reading her...

hey WAIT! She's not reading her scriptures! She's TEXTING!

She's breaking the rules RIGHT in front of the girls... that WALKER...

Awww... Tori and Katherine - how cute are you guys!!!

And so early in the morning too - wow! :)

Me and Kat-Dog! Obviously I've had a rough night and need a diet Coke. 

Yeah, I know - weirdest pic ever! It looks like we're superimposed, heh -

I don't even remember who took this! We had been caught texting again :/

I just want to say, the whole activity was an awesome experience.

I felt like the Spirit was very strong with us the entire time, especially

at the beginning when I first walked in, and the end when the Bishop spoke

and Kerrie spoke, and we prayed together. I am so proud of all you girls :)

xoxoxo

nice triathlon

The Mouse turns 15 next week (!!!). For his birthday present,

he asked for a mountain bike so he could still do come cool riding

in between the times he gets to ride his motorcycle.

He did a lot of research and a lot of test riding in a lot of bike shops!

So here is one happy guy with his new Specialized mountain bike :)

I guess you could say he had to try it out for the camera...

(where is your helmet, Matthew James Walker?!?!)

Can you believe bikes come with actual disk brakes now?

I'm still trying to get over the shock that the Mouse is turning 15!

The reason we got Matthew's bike a bit early was so he could participate 

in the triathlon our church was having at Castaic Lake.

This group of boys/men are the participants from our congregation -

I've known all of them, except a few, for nearly their entire lives!

They are a terrific group of guys and leaders -

they did the whole triathlon, while Matthew did the biking segment only.

The biking segment has some gnarly hills that the participants had to 

run their bikes up instead of peddle. OY VEY. Nice job Matthew!

Fortunately though, he had ridden the course once before the race 

(thanks to those dedicated leaders I was talking about)

and he knew the places where he could get some insane speed!

He did really well and got first place in his age category - niiice!

Keep training Mouse - I'm proud of you for participating :)

tgif

Have a great weekend everyone!

Phil: "Not too early for one of these, I hope"

Lenny: "I'm thirsty"

so proud

~ For some things there are just no words ~

When Davy was in 1st or 2ond grade and came to me all dressed for church,

looking so sweet and handsome... and blinking his eyes a little more than usual...

perhaps I should have been concerned when I noticed he had put some mascara on.

Forward to Davy's high school years, when in his first band, he developed

a love of wearing eyeliner and performing in nothing but his spandex boxers.

More recently, in his current band, he has fortunately decided to wear clothes.

Yet one of his happiest moments was when a friend gave him his very own eyeliner.

Forward again to now, taking film classes in his second year at the local college,

while he waits to go back on his 2 year mission to Washington state.

His Cinematography class is shooting a scene from "Rocky Horror Picture Show"

and Davy has been asked to appear as Tim Curry. He jumped at the chance.

Here is our first indication that something is different.

He bought the fishnets and the shoes - 

he could hardly wait to get those shoes.

Janet, Brad, and the whole "Rocky Horror" gang.

Davy is rockin' his heels and loving it.

And then there was the corset fitting, which apparently was very important.

You just can't be too careful when assembling an outfit like this.

It's a good thing he's watched his girlish figure.

Plus there's the added bonus that the corset matches his chest hair.

Get ready for the entire outfit (drum roll please).......

YEOW! Davy, I just gotta say, you've got one GREAT pair of legs.

He does love the shoes ❤

114

Just look at this wonderful face. 

You all know I love human interest stories, and I ran across a great one yesterday. This is Walter Bruening, the oldest man in the world. That's right, in the world. Yesterday was his birthday. He turned 114 years old. 

Here he is celebrating his special day at the Rainbow Senior Living Home where he resides. Walter is somewhat of a celebrity. There are so many people wanting to come meet him and talk with him, the staff has to schedule appointments for him, or he would never have time to rest.

Walter showing a photograph of his elementary schoolhouse in Minnesota. 

Can you imagine all the things he has seen in his long life?

~

There were many articles written about Walter yesterday, but I found 2 I liked that seemed to be more personal:  

MONTANA HEADLINES

Walter Breuning celebrated on 114th birthday

Posted: Sep 21, 2010 2:22 PM by Fred Pfeiffer, Tim McGonigal - KRTV (Great Falls)
Updated: Sep 21, 2010 7:57 PM

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GREAT FALLS - A birthday party for the ages on Tuesday afternoon in Great Falls, as Walter Breuning celebrated his 114th birthday.

Among his accomplishments are being the oldest living man in the world and the fourth-oldest person on the earth.

Governor Brian Schweitzer, a fact-checker for the Guinness Book of World Records, and fellow Masons were among the honored guests who helped Walter celebrate another milestone.

Breuning made a speech to the assembled guests, and among his pearls of wisdom: "Teach me still to be thankful for life...if you can remember me only with tears, then don't remember me at all...to get the most out of life, we should enjoy what we have accomplished."

Walter was born in Melrose, Minnesota in 1896, and took a job with the Great Northern Railway in 1913, moving to Great Falls five years later.

He was active in the Masons until the age of 99 and was a manager at the Rainbow Senior Living Facility - which he still calls home - until well past the age of 90.

Breuning is officially listed in the 2011 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest living man; he inherited the title after the passing of Henry Allingham of England in July 2009.

Walter is only the sixth man ever documented to reach the age of 114; about 70 women have reached the milestone.

He's among the top 100 oldest people of all time, coming in at number 78.

And Robert Young, an expert on gerontology and a fact-checking consultant for the Guinness Book of Word Records, says Walter is in elite company when it comes to living a long life.

Young noted, "He's a man. Nine out of ten people that are aged 110 are females, and by age 112 it's 92% female. By age 115, 95% (are) female. So for him to be getting up there in the 114 range is getting to a range where very few males have ever reached that age."

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GREAT FALLS - Walter Breuning of Great Falls is celebrating his 114th birthday, and the whole world is celebrating.

A birthday party for the world's oldest living man got underway on Tuesday afternoon at the Rainbow Senior Living Center in downtown Great Falls.

Among the attendees are Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Breuning was born in 1896, the same year that Utah became a state. He has been honored throughout the years for his civic involvement and profiled on many TV shows and magazines, including CBS News last year when he celebrated his 113th birthday.

Walter inherited the title of Oldest Living Man after the passing of Henry Allingham in England in July 2009.

Breuning is the oldest undisputed American-born man ever, and is currently the 7th oldest man ever. He is one of only five men in history to undisputedly reach 114 years or more of age.

Montana Senator Jon Tester released the following statement to commemorate Walter's milestone: "Sharla and I join many proud Montanans in sending our congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Breuning. Born when our state was still a fledgling rough-and-tumble frontier, Mr. Bruening has seen most of the Treasure State's fascinating history unfold firsthand. Through 22 Montana governors, 21 U.S. presidents, two world wars, and the dawn of automobiles and airplanes-Walter has experienced it all. His long life has shaped Montana tremendously. Mr. Breuning is a living treasure himself, and today we all celebrate another notch in his remarkable life."

Montana's senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus introduced a resolution on the Senate floor today honoring Walter. Below is the text of Baucus' resolution is attached. The Senator's complete floor statement follows below:

"Mr. President, today I am introducing a resolution honoring Walter Breuning, the oldest living man in the world. Walter is celebrating his 114th birthday today. He was born in Melrose, Minnesota on September 21, 1896 and moved to Great Falls, Montana in 1918 while working for the Great Northern Railway. Walter is still a proud resident of Great Falls and delights fellow residents, staff, and visitors at The Rainbow Senior Living home."

"Despite all the honor and attention bestowed upon him for being the oldest living man in the world Walter is very humble. He has worked hard all his life and advises others to do the same. Walter began working for the Great Northern Railway at the age of 16 and gave 50 years of service to the railway. When he retired in 1963 Walter didn't stop working; he began a second career, one that would last until he was 99, as the manager and secretary of the Great Falls Shriner's Club. Community service has been a big part of Walter's life and when he visits with young people he encourages them to give back to their communities. Walter is a 33rd Degree Mason, the most advanced level for that fraternal organization."

"Walter has practiced healthy habits all his life, and those have contributed greatly to his longevity. He has eaten only two meals a day for the past 30 years and says he is most grateful for his good health over the years. These healthy habits have helped Walter live life to the fullest. He enjoys visiting with the many folks that come from all over to hear the insights of the oldest living man in the world."

"I am proud to join today with folks from around Montana and across the world in wishing Walter a very happy birthday. He is a great ambassador for our state and I thank him for all his community involvement and service over the years. He truly represents the best of Big Sky Country."

Walter being presented with one of the Freemason's highest honors, the Freemason's Gavel

Walter talking about his life and today's day and age. The world needs more Walters. Happy 114th Walter :) 

*all photos credit Associated Press and/or Getty Images