Happy Birthday Lance!

Today is my little brother Lance's birthday. He turned the big 30 today!

I have some great memories from our childhood and most of them involve funny things like acting out movies, especially play fighting like on the movie The Karate Kid... having concerts singing to our favorite music (I think I was 9 or 10 yrs old) with a flashlight as the microphone (it had a magnetic side and we could put in on the vacuum as a stand), tennis rackets as guitars and we rocked! I guess this was the 1st version of Rock Band.. why didn't we patent that? Sounds like we were totally geeks and we probably were but we had so much fun. Especially when mom and dad were out on their date night and we could turn the music up as loud as we wanted. Some popular tunes were "We Built this City" by Starship and "Wake Me up before you GO-GO" by Wham. Gotta love the 80's!

We also had a pool when we lived in Tennessee. There was a slide, diving board and of course the roof off the screened in porch right next to the pool. My mom hated it when we jumped off of the roof! I remember one time Travis and I stole Lance's swim trucks and I don't remember how but they ended up in the deep end of the pool. That really wasn't nice and we got in big trouble!

Lance has been a great little brother. He always knows how to make me laugh! He is someone that you enjoy being around because when you are with him, he makes you feel better about yourself. Wish you were out here to spend it with you. Enjoy your day little brother! Love you!

I will post pictures next week.. I still have to pack for my girls weekend in Vegas!!

Welcome home.....

Some of you know I have a brother who has been in and out of prison for the past 10 yrs (and if you didn't- now you know!) and this most recent visit was 2 1/2 or 3 yrs..I can't remember but it has been a long time! Well, good news is he got released on parole this past week! I was only able to see him for about 20 min on Tuesday but it was sooooo good to see him. He gives the best hugs!

Lance has struggled with drug addiction over the past 10 yrs and is something he will be dealing with his entire life. When he is not on drugs he is such a fun loving person that always knows how to make you laugh and is so fun to be around. During this most recent sentence, he completed a drug rehab program. We have seen some real improvement in his attitude and in his confidence that he can stay clean. I know he still worries that he will make mistakes again or disappoint my parents but I know he has that inner strength to overcome anything - if HE chooses too! He is so talented and has the ability to accomplish so many great things... I know I, along with my family pray daily that he will be strong enough to make the right decisions and start a new life for himself.

My mom just shared this experience with me and I thought I would include it in this post.

"I wanted to share with you some comments Lance's friend Nick shared with us the other night. He told us how Lance shared the gospel with him in Prison and the great example he has been to him. How Lance helped him recognize there is a God who loves him and watches over him, that God is someone he can turn to, that he is of worth and his life does have meaning and direction. He also told us there are several guys in Prison that Lance has shared his religion with that didn't understand or believe in a God. Nick finished by telling us the values that we taught Lance at a young age is who Lance is and how he has helped a lot of guys find a relationship with their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was so touching and really what we needed to hear."

Lance has always had a deep testimony of his Heavenly Father and has never been shy to share his feelings with others.

It has been long time since Lance has been on a vacation with us and I am excited that we will be going on our first family vacation in several years to Jackson Hole in February.

Here is a cute picture of Lance and my mom.

Lance we are glad you are home!