Happy Birthday, Anne!

Happy Birthday, Anne! I hope you have a great time in Vegas and a safe trip to Hawaii next week. Love you bunches and miss you so much. See you soon!

This is my best friend, Anne. Although we live on opposite ends of the nation and many miles separate us we are truly soul mate best friends. Last year she surprised me showing up at Erika and Jack's reception in Idaho after 16 years of not seeing each other. It was an amazing reunion -- probably the biggest surprise I've ever received! As we talked (after the shock of seeing her after so long) it was like no time had passed and then we'd laugh and say, "Can you believe we're in our 40's now?!" It was hilarious. I stayed with her and her oldest daughter, Stephanie, the last night before we flew out of Salt Lake City and we talked and laughed until 4 AM just catching up on all the years. The three years we spent together in Hawaii in the late 80's were the best of my life. She was Erika and Ethan's other mother and taught me so much about young motherhood. We served in the Young Women's presidency together, were visiting teaching companions, beach bums together (with all our kids), shopping buddies (yes, with all the kids with us, too!), and just the very best friends imaginable. We were inseparable as were all our kids. One of my favorite memories was one day we decided to go to the big Ala Moana Mall in Waikiki and get our hair done - and we had 5 small kids between us (ages 3 months to 5 years old). We took turns getting our hair done while the other had a baby in the front carrier, two in the double stroller, and the other two on either side of the stroller. Anne's daughter, Jennifer, had no fear as a toddler and made a dash for the escalator and I can only imagine how I looked dashing after her with all the before mentioned kids hanging on! Our hair looked good when we got finished, though, and we laughed all the way home on the other side of the island. So many days we'd just load up Anne's van with all our kids and half the neighborhood kids and spend all day into the evening on the beach - those were the days...She taught me so much about life and family and friendship and most of all fun. You are amazing, Anne, and I miss you so much. I look so forward to seeing you over the summer! Happy Birthday! I love you bunches!