Happy Birthday Jenny

Today is my big sister Jenny’s 37th birthday. In her honor, I am listing 37 things about her and our lives growing up together (some are well known, others are not).

1. She is a very good listener
2. She drove me everywhere when I was a preteen and she had her license (one of the perks of having an older sister)
3. She never hesitated to set me straight (don’t feel bad for me, I usually needed it)
4. She is a realist
5. Her favorite song at the age of twelve was “Hard Habit to Break” by Chicago (as per her Rose Prom questionnaire)
6. She was an incredible travel companion on our crazy cross country Greyhound bus trip to Idaho when she was sixteen and I was thirteen
7. She has stuck up for me on more than one occasion (i.e. Denver bus terminal snack bar)
8. She is the best big sister in the world
9. She allowed me to go to all the Stake Dances with her despite my undeniable beehive geekiness
10. She is a great soccer player and played on a select team for many years
11. She won the majority of the trophies in my childhood home (much to my chagrin)
12. She hated for my mom to dress us alike and freaked out at the age of eight when my mom bought us matching boots (I was crushed)
13. She is a “tell it like it is” kind of gal
14. We used to make tin can phones to communicate late at night when we were supposed to be asleep
15. She is a patient and loving mother of three beautiful kids
16. She gave me such a bad eyebrow job on the night before her wedding that I laughed until I peed my pants
17. She worked her way thru college (10+ years)
18. She is a laundry specialist (due to her many years of working at a dry cleaners)
19. She is a great artist
20. She plays a mean recorder (Eye of the Tiger is her most famous tune)
21. She used to iron my hair flat in high school (not with a fancy flat iron like you see these days, with a real clothes iron on the ironing board)
22. She has always supported me in my decisions
23. She was a great double date partner
24. She was kind enough to let me come and stay with her over Spring Break her freshman year in college
25. She has always had a strong testimony of the church
26. She was an expert flag twirler and officer of her squad in high school
27. She always included me at Young Womens, despite being older and cooler than I was
28. She was great about sharing all her clothes with me (even thought she usually had better ones than I did)
29. She taught me everything I know about makeup
30. She was a great Escadrille pal
31. She is a true blond
32. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education
33. She loves Mexican food
34. She is a true Texan (no matter where she lives)
35. She is a sweet wife
36. She was always a good babysitter to us kids when we were growing up (as the oldest sibling, she got this job more often than I am sure she wanted it)
37. She is a great friend

Happy Birthday Jenny, I love and miss you! I wish we didn’t live so far apart.


As for our live in Holland today, we haven’t done much. We slept in, had a late breakfast at the buffet and the kids went swimming. Tonight we have been invited to go over to a member of the wards house for pizza and then go to a Middle School play. The kids are bored, but I am enjoying some down time.