Happy Birthday Jackson!

It is my little brother-in-law's birthday today, and I just had to talk a little about him. This kid is amazing. Well I guess he isn't a kid anymore, but he is so talented. I remember when I first heard him singing. He was always really shy and didn't talk much, but I remember I came to surprise Cameron one day after work, and Jackson was singing in the garage, and I just sat there and listened. I seriously was so amazed. He has an amazing voice, and is so good at the piano. I wish I could play like him. He recently played Henry Higgins in his high school musical, My Fair Lady. I did not see him perform, but I have heard nothing but great things about it, and hope I get to watch the recording soon. He was then asked by a motivational speaker who heard him playing the piano in the band room or something prior to him speaking to the whole school, to play the song in front of the school. Well, the school was amazed and he had a standing ovation. I have really only known Jackson for a year and a half, but that is enough to realize what a great and talented person he is. I cannot explain how happy it makes me that I finally have a little brother to look up to:) I loved how he would come to me to talk about girls and different advice and such. I didn't have that growing up since I was the baby. I was always asking others for advice, not giving it. I loved how I could help him out with little things like driving him to school dances, and even fixing his hair for dances. We would all go to Walmart, which is the coolest thing to do in Show Low late at night. I cherish those little memories. I love you Jackson and I'm so happy I'm part of your family now and you are part of mine. You are awesome.

This was a picture I took for him before one of his school dances.
I helped him with his hair, and dropped him off at the dance. Haha. Smooth Jacks!

Happy Birthday Laci!

It is my first sister-in-law's birthday today. She married my brother Christian Gentry 8 years ago and really was the first sister-in-law I had. I remember when I first met her and she went outside and played catch with me. She instantly was cool to me. Haha. We have never lived close to each other so we never got to spend a lot of time together but the times we do have together are always so much fun.
Laci you make me laugh, make me hyper, and make me happy! You know how to always have a good time and are so enjoyable to be around. You truly have inspired me and are such an amazing, beautiful individual.  Also, the fact that you run miles every day and are a tri-athlete. YOU AMAZE ME!! I hope I can be like you one day and complete a triathalon. I want to find that motivation and will be calling you in need of advise and tips I'm sure:) Laci, thank you for being you, and thank you for marrying my brother. He can be a handful sometimes;) I am so thankful to have you in my family. I love you! Happy Birthday!!
The only pictures I have are quite outdated... But they will have to work:)

Family reunion 2008 at Pigeon Point.

Boston Summer of 2009.

July 3rd, 2009 in Boston. We got a little sunburned that day. Haha.

Waiting for the most amazing firework show I've ever seen in my life. July 4, 2009 in Boston.

Happy Birthday Emery!

My beautiful niece Emery Scout Gentry turned 1 today, and even though she is too young to even know or care about this, I am going to write about her. Last November 21st I was lucky enough to be in Mesa the night Emery was born. I got to hold her the night she was born and it was truly a miracle and a blessing. This was the night it really hit me how much of a miracle babies are. I now have 13 nieces and nephews, and 2 more are on the way, but I witnessed so much of Emery growing in Kasey's tummy:) With all my other sisters and sisters in laws, I just didn't see them during the first 9 months of their growth. With Kasey, I would see her at least once a month since they were so close, and then I actually got to be there the night she was born. Unfortunately, I left to live in California a month and a half later and didn't get to see her grow up her first year of her life... I saw her in July during our family reunion, but that was a short few days. No, I do not know Emery as much as I wish I did, but I know that she has developed VERY quickly and is going to be a very successful and amazing individual no matter what. She has great parents, David and Kasey Gentry, and she is just adorable! And now, she is going to be a big sister:) I love you Emery, and wish I could spoil you more! I cannot wait to be with you during Christmas!
I only have one picture of Emery that I took, which is the first one which was taken the day after she was born. The rest I stole from Kasey's page:)

The day after little Emery was born.

I have this picture on my wall at work. I love her!

And little Emery now. She is getting so grown up. This was taken by Lang Photography
and was the most recent picture I had of her. And I can't get over how cute
her skinny jeans and little vans are. Happy birthday Emery!

Happy Birthday Maren!

So I decided that I want to do a blog entry for all my family’s birthdays. I wanted to start this in October but considering that half of my family’s birthdays are in that month, and life was crazy enough, I decided to wait to start in November. I sure hope I will remember them all, and be able to blog on the day of their birthday. 
November 5. Today is my sister Maren Gentry Kirwan’s Birthday. Maren is the sister that is closest to my age. She has always been an example to me, and I have always longed to sing like her. She studied vocal music at the University of Utah and I always love to hear her sing. Many of you have heard her sing before and you will understand why I wish I had a voice like her. It’s gorgeous! Just like herJ

I don’t know what it is, but EVERYTIME Maren and I get together, we get so hyper like we are 10 year old girls at a sleep-over. We make dumb jokes, and laugh at every little thing, and I love it! I always feel like I can talk to her about anything, and she is never quick to judge and is very understanding. I love visiting Maren because she always makes the best food. That is something that she loves to do, is cook. I love visiting her for other reasons too of courseJ But her cooking is amazing! Maren now has 3 kids who are absolutely adorable and are always quick to run and give LOTS of hugs. She and her brainiac husband, Brock have raised their kids wellJ Well I know I could go on and on about memories here and there, and things I love about her, but I just want to tell you Maren that I love you so much and miss you. I hope you have a great birthday!

walk is the same, arm swing is the same, and purses are the same:) Haha.

Happy Halloween!

So let's see... I am 21 now, and Cameron turns 20 in December, and yes, we went trick or treating. We wanted to stock up on candy so we don't have to buy it. Haha. Shows how cheap we are:) Well we only went to a few houses and got a lot of comments of how old we were to be trick or treating and plus I pulled a calf muscle running this weekend so I am not doing too well with walking, so we went to a few houses. We changed costume ideas several times, but just put these together last minute. I was a cowgirl, and Cameron was a lumberjack. I got some makeup and put a fake beard on him. It was fun. Here was the best picture we got..

We also dressed up on Friday for work. We both had potlucks and I went as a rockstar ( i did that last year and had a lot of the stuff still) Cameron was an "identity crisis" Unfortunately, we were late for work and didn't get a picture of his costume. He had several different outfits on, a comb-over and fohawk for his hair, and we pinned different men's names all over his clothes. Lots of fun!

Singing Time.

So as most of you know, I work for an insurance agency. My boss Dan was the chairman of Big-I Day here in Sacramento this year and there about 800-900 people in attendance this year. Since I am not an actual agent, and just a receptionist for the office I didn't know a lot of the questions people asked me at the convention. There were around 100 vendors at this event and you just walk around and learn more about their company and what they offer for the insurance world. Did I mention I got 2 HUGE bags full of free stuff! Pens, paper weights, giant letter openers (which I LOVE for the office!!)  footballs, beach balls, calculators, cell phone holders, magnets. Seriously the list goes on and on. Just a bunch of random junk that is fun for the office and I brought a lot of it home to hand out to nieces and nephews and Cameron:) At each vendor table you can put your business card in to win their prizes. People mostly had gift-cards but there were some i-pads and i-pods and tons of neat gadgets however you had to be present to win, and we didn't want to wait there for 2 more hours. Lunch was also served, they gave out a couple insurance awards, and they had a raffle for a lot of different prizes and gift cards and a political comic spoke to us which was very entertaining.

Well Dan asked me a little over a month ago if I would sing the National Anthem for Big-I Day. I was more than happy to. In this picture, you can see the person in the lower left hand corner holding my camera. I had her record it, however the button didn't get pushed down all the way so it was not recorded. Here is the only picture I have from the event... While I was at this event, Cameron was home sick. He has had the stomach flu for a couple days and I stayed home from work today with it as well... Not very fun:( Keep us in your prayers to get better and stay better...

My Workin' Man:)

Cameron's first day of work today. And me with him...