Planting Flowers for Kuni

Every year, the Saturday before Mother's Day, my sisters and my mom get together for a wonderful service project. This year it was my mother's turn to choose and so we all headed over to our dear friend, Kuni Jackson's home to plant flowers in her garden. Kuni Jackson is my mom's Japanese "sister" and dear friend of 25 years. Kuni has suffered severe health problems all throughout her life, having to endure through years and years of Dialysis due to early kidney failure. She stands about 4 ft 10 inches tall and weighs about 80 pounds. We are not sure how long we will have our sweet Kuni here with us, but we pray it will be long enough for her to see her flowers bloom.

Here is my sweet Kuni holding our little baby Charly in the hospital the day after she was born. *This picture is truly priceless*

Charlie's Angels







My Angel Nieces

Dahlquist Cousins

PS- We are going to Lake Powell this Wednesday for a week on a house boat with Jordan's family...We are taking Charly and I admit I'm a little apprehensive about it! (the 6+ hour drive there, the sleeping schedule, keeping an oversized lifejacket on an already oversized child, the sleeping schedule, the confined space shared between 20 other people, the sleeping schedule...you get the picture!) I welcome any tokens of reassurance or comforting thoughts to easen my anxiety!

Quirks!

I'm not sure if these would be considered "quirks" or "ridiculous confessions", but I've seen a couple of you post these, including my sister who has made some of the CUTEST "quirky" books for herself and some of her friends. (thanks for the pic, Babo!) I think we should all EMBRACE our quirkiness and realize that even when someone looks normal on the outside...they aren't fooling anyone! We are all a perfect concoction of quirky and normal (yes, some are little more off-balance than others, but hey, that's what makes us all so SPECIAL!) So, here are a few of Kristin's Quirks (hey, that's fun to say!):

1. Eating to me is for enjoyment purposes only. If I cannot enjoy my food, I refuse to eat it, or I will save it for later. (i.e.-Our play group Easter egg hunt party...some of you may have noticed I stowed away my plate of "preschool delights" and hid it in the stroller to eat for later. If the atmosphere is not conducive to eating, I feel it's a total waste of consumption! Who wants to wolf down a meal when you can't even enjoy it!

2. When I wake up, I have to make my bed immediately or I feel completely out of order! When the bed's made, I feel refreshed and ready to tackle my morning errands!

3. I never put a sandwich or a cookie up to my mouth. I break off bite sizes and pop them in one by one...it drives Jordan crazy.

4. I still love putting both of my legs behind my head. When I was little, my mom would come into my room to find me on the bed reading with my legs perfectly pretzled behind my head.

5. Ever since I was a little girl, I've been terrified of getting a double chin (I know!!...this is probably the quirkiest of all!), so you will often see me doing my "neck stretch and veiny ostrich exercise" (honestly, I don't know what else to call it!) It's pretty gross and my veins will pop out of my neck and you can touch them..ewww!

Yikes...Fortunately, I think most of you already know about all of Kristin's Quirks, and you still love me in spite!