~ Little Sister's Birthday ~

~ sung to sleep by a symphony of snores ~

Last night I woke up at
3pm to my little one calling
for me. I went to him, held
him for a moment, told him

it was STILL bedtime, got him his sippy cup,

covered him up, and kissed him goodnight... again.

Once I got back to bed, I snuggled in - MY GOODNESS

it is really crispy cold the last few nights - and was all ready to go back to sleep

when I heard my Mr. let out a huge snore.

Followed by Daphnie (the cocker spaniel) snoring like well... if I didn't know she was a dog -

I'd think she was a man!

Then little Izzy chimed in at a high pitched breathing tone.

It was precious.

It was perfect.

It's.

 my life.

I layed there all snuggled warm and cozy with the cool crisp spring air nipping at my nose...

Smiling.

~ NieNie ~

Please tell me, why
haven't I discovered
the amazingly talented
Stephanie Nielson's

blog until now?

What was the reason?

I mean... who hasn't seen this?



I know, right?

I've seen it a million trillion!

I never acted on it or anything - obviously.

I just thought, Wow! What a cute idea this "NieNie" had

with the whole vintage typewriter thingy majigor.

She rocks.

Then...

Yesterday, I was watching my little new "30th Birthday theme song" video...

Whole Wide World by Mindy Glendhill

and I saw the gal in the video with all of the burns hugging her children

and I had remembered seeing her interview

on Oprah quite a while back.

I had seen her several other times on other gal's blogs when they had been to Blogging conventions

and such...

I remember feeling so heartbroken for her -

I would close my eyes for a split second,

say a little prayer for her and her day with her kids and family...

and I remember, about a  month ago or so, trying to figure out who she really was

when I was reading

Jeanne Oliver -

and I thought hmmm.... I wonder which blog is hers?...

Well - yesterday I did some googling and finally made the connection.

Stephanie Nielson the heroic wife, mother, beautiful woman who survived a terrible plane crash

along with her husband is...

the amazing, talented writer of the

NieNie Dialogues.

I spent a large part of my day yesterday

between making my sissy's birthday feast and chasing kids -

reading these said 

"Dialogues".

Let me just say... it was time WELL spent.

I cried, I laughed, I ooohed and aaahhhed over her amazing ideas, thoughts and parenting insights.

I am so thankful to have made the connection.

So, as I attempt to take on my 30th birthday year and start to work on my

"35 things to do before I'm 35" list...

at the top of my list will be the following:

1. Wake up each morning happy and thankful that I am alive.

2. Cherish every single second with my family I can get.

3. Love and Respect my husband till death do we part.

4. & dance. Always... dance.

 Reading NieNie reminded me of these things and I feel so silly that it has taken me this long to discover

who NieNie really is....

but I am oh SO thankful that I have and I believe...

the timing was and is - 

 in the hands of

My Maker.

Happy Tuesday y'all

and go read you some

NieNie! 

Here it is...

I knew this was my "theme song"
the second I heard it. It gave me
goosebumps, made my heart leap
for joy, literally made me want to

jump up and DO something.

I have claimed DO as my word. If you've been reading this blog - it's been my word for a while.

I love it.

This song suggestion was given to me by a dear Brave Girl friend. We took Soul Restoration together.

I'm so excited to have this song as my "theme song" for turning 30!

Dawn, you're a genius.

and maybe...

after you listen to this amazing song...

YOU will want it as your "theme song" too!

So yes, Dawn my dear, YOU are the winner of the $20 Starbucks card so please send me

your mailing address when you have a moment.

To all of you who gave me song suggestions...

here is a

BIG HUG!

As for my 35 things to do before I'm 35 list...

I didn't get to it.

Isn't that terrible?  Oh well, I'm not going to be too hard on myself - I've had a lot on my plate lately.

I will work on it tonight and get it on here soon! I have a lot of fun ideas and I can't wait to share.

So you all

have a fabulous Monday!

AND

to my baby sis...

Happy 25th Birthday!!

~ don't feel one day over 30, but I am... exactly one day ~

Any birthday is started
out right with an awesome
giggle session in front of
the mirror - laughing at

silly looking chocolate milk mustaches.



 Because chocolate milk mustaches...

 are delicious!

 Followed by kids taking naps and me watching a

funny flick...

 while eating my favorite sub...

 that was surprised to me and delivered promptly at lunch time...

 by my one true love.

 I then was surprised by my sister

with an awesome

zebra-striped birthday cake!

Chocolate on the bottom, Vanilla on the top and

Bavarian Cream through the middle...

To.

Die.

For.

Delicious!

 She also surprised me with an awesome little

devotional book of 199 verses for women,

a great colorful cookbook with delectable pictures,

and my ultimate favorite...

A salad-spinner!!!

Isn't it cute?

I love the green!

My birthday was marvelous.

Traditional Happy Birthday
phone call sung by my Grandma Sally,

at 8am.

Several awesome, colorful, meaningful cards,


a few beautiful

one-of-a-kind

art pieces

from my kiddos,

a late evening bike ride with my sister,

and look...

I saved you a piece of cake!

Thank you for all the Happy Birthday wishes and
don't forget about helping me find
my 30th Happy Birthday
theme song!

and win!

~ 30th Birthday Theme Song + A Giveaway = Happy Birthday Girl! ~

Happy Birthday to
ME! I'm 30!!!!!!!!
I can't hardly even
believe it!!! I have

decided that I want to recruit your help... 

and I'm recruiting you for all your amazing music ideas!

I am going to pick a Theme Song for this here my 30th Birthday!

It should be fun, inspirational, exciting, happy and high energy!

Do you have one?

A great 30th Birthday Theme Song for me?

Now, I have a very broad taste of music -
So be super creative and appropriate

for the whole "turning 30" of-it-all.

Please,

 I would love for you all to have a lot of fun with this!

 I'm going to pick a song from all of your amazing comments you leave me

(maybe leave me a Youtube Link to your song-choice for me)

and the person whose song that I pick with the best "Sami Jo 30th Birthday Theme Song"

for me -

will

WIN!!!

A $20 Starbucks Gift Card!

So think, think, think,

about what you believe would be a perfect 

"30th Birthday Theme Song",

leave me a comment,

and

I'll checking them all out,

and by this next Monday,

I will have picked the winner!!

So excited to see what you all think up for lil ole me!!!

Also, in the mean time...

I'm going to make up a list of

33 things to do before I turn 33!

Have you seen those?

Here is an example by Meg Duerksen

that she made for herself for her 35th Birthday

and she put it on her blog Whatever

Good idea, right?

So excited to discover this next decade and have you all with me along the way!

Wishing you a

bright and beautiful day full of

Balloon,

Cake & Ice Cream

Dreams,

Love you all!!

~ dropped from heaven ~

For my husband's birthday
I wanted to surprise him
with a sweet little pup. A
pup that would cuddle on

his lap in the evening,

follow him around through the garden, play with the boys,

and NOT chase the chickens.

We wanted a female, already spayed, potty trained, not really a pup - maybe a little older... maybe even a rescue from a shelter or something...

I really wanted a pup that would be nonshedding ... to go along with the above requests.

I scanned and scanned Craigslist, the Shelter websites and my mom did the same for us over in Eastern Idaho...

with no luck for about 5 days.

Finally, I put an ad on Craigslist - I explained our situation - I'm a stay at home mom with 2 boys, big backyard, chickens, garden and so on... I got a few replies the first day but then -

on the second,

I got a reply from a lady named Hilary who had a little poodle mix.

She said they were looking for new home for their little one as her and her husband were college students and they weren't able to spend much time with her and it was about to get harder

as they both needed to work this next year.

Her poodle was female, spayed, they had found her in an Arkansas shelter when they were in Arkansas volunteering. She had mites in her ears and the shelter she was in was a kill-shelter.  She tugged at their heart and they ended up adopting her.

  

I saw videos of her and them and they adored her, they played very sweetly with her,

and I knew since they were seeking me out - then they really loved her and wanted her to be in

a place where she would continue to be loved and cared for.

They came early this last Saturday morning so we could meet them and their little "Muppy the puppy".

They came in the house just to visit and we visited for quite a while - while "Muppy" waited in the car. It was cute because the kids wanted to show Hilary around to their bedrooms. She was wearing a very pretty yellow dress and Sweet Pea adored it and wouldn't stop touching it. Lol!

She was a sweet gal and her husband was very kind as well.

After we visited for a while, they went out to their car and brought in "Muppy".

She.

was.

a.

Doll!

I was SO thankful because William went to her immediately to pet her and I thought for sure that he was going to be pretty standoffish and scared of her.

 He loved her so much he was kissing her and after a while didn't want to give her up so Pauly could have a turn with the leash.

She was super well behaved and sweet.

She didn't jump up much and instantly went to playing with the kids.

It was precious and we all knew she was going to fit in just perfectly.

We decided to keep her and we are so glad we did.

She is precious and everything we could ever want.

She is SO cuddly, loves to play, she's spayed, she doesn't shed (she's a poodle mix with they think maltese but I'm wondering now if she has some Beddington Terrior in her since she looks exactly like a little lamb), she only barks at the door or random sounds in the night and even then it's usually just a little growl, she's super gentle with the kids, Daphnie and her get along perfectly.

She doesn't chase the chickens - she just teases them but we think that she'll come to realize they aren't really that exciting and just come to ignore them after a while.

It's obvious that Hilary and her husband were kind, gentle and caring with her. She sits and she lays down - they really put some good time into her and her little heart.

She is very well-behaved!

and

we adore her. 

 It's honestly as if, she was dropped from heaven just for us and our little family and farm in the city.

Ben wanted to rename her and so we flipped through our little baby book and decided on

Izzy.

 Sound familiar, Grey's Anatomy fans? tee hee...

She took to her new name quite quickly and we are glad for that. She already comes when we call.

She has settled in quite beautifully here and we are so thankful for the way everything worked out.

We couldn't ask for anything more from this little baby girl.

You will be seeing a lot more of little Izzy. She's here to stay.