Birthday 5, 6, 7, and one I forgot :(

Edited to add ANOTHER ONE I FORGOT

First off, I forgot my BFF's (since 7th grade) daughter. Miss Kate had her birthday on April 5th. If they had a party her dad didn'[t invite me, so I blame it on him. (Her dad and I were friends in high school, too. That's how her parents met. Friends, not sweethearts until after high school) Kate is getting so grown up. She is on face book with me. We chat about silly random things. Happy Birthday Kate. You know I didn't really forget. I wrote on your wall ON the day of your birthday :)

April 13th is my Aunt Reva's birthday. She is married to the only living sibling on my dad's side. I love this woman. She smiles when we come by and always worries about feeding us enough.
This picture is of my dad's brother JL, Aunt Reva, their grandson and his kids in May 2005.

It is also my cousin's son's birthday. He is 10 already.
Go read about him here.

April 16th is my dad's birthday. He returned to Heaven in August 2006. I learned to love music, dancing, and my vegetables from my dad. He did not teach me to eat meat. He tried to disguise cow tongue once. I was not fooled.

He told me liver was steak. I totally told everyone that I didn't like steak. My BFF (daughter mentioned above) and I went to Sizzler on one of our nights on the town. She ordered steak and I mentioned how that didn't look like any steak I'd ever seen. I tasted her steak and low and behold it tasted better than any steak I'd ever tasted.
Turns out my dad had been telling me liver was steak. Yes I've tried liver, and NO I do not like it. Yucky.

My dad taught me to love camping. I love to shoot guns, hunt, drive, and enjoy the canyon. Dad and I had a rocky relationship from the time I was 17 until I was 35. It took a major medical problem for him to let me back in his life and for me to seek him out. Our last years were filled with forgiveness, acceptance, and love. Sometimes I still feel sad when I remember he is gone. I wonder what they celebrate in Heaven?

April 17th is my friend Staci's birthday. We met our junior year in high school in marketing class. We worked at the same place and even dated the same guy. Me for a few months. Her for Sadie Hawkins. Our mom's ran into each other at the grocery store and as they were talking about their kids they realized that we knew each other and that I had been talking about Staci to my mom and her about me to her mom. Our moms were friends in high school. Like mother like daughter.
We go to lunch about once a year. We had gotten out of the habit while I was in grad school. We met last month and she made me promise that I will be available for lunch with her every other month. Love to. She is an awesome teacher and we even had our third babies just 5 days apart. That isn't as significant as the fact that her third child, husband, and older sister all share the SAME birthday!

April 24th is my BFF's (yes, the one mentioned above) baby's birthday. Shhh. He is a big boy now. He will always be the youngest and is a cutie pie. He is his daddy's boy and loves the sports like his dad and older brother. I supposed little Joe will letter in Wrestling, just like his daddy and big brother.



That is it for April birthdays. May has a bunch, too. Not as many as April, but a bunch.

Happy Birthday everyone.
I love you all and love that you are in my life.