Happy Birthday Elaine!

It's birthday time again! Jeez Louise, it's been busy with these lately!! Elaine is my sister in law and it is her 26th birthday today. I can still tell you the number because she's still young enough that she isn't ashamed of it. I'm not sure at what point we need to start lying about our age, but I'm for sure it'll be me that has to start since I am the eldest. Of course Elaine and I do not have the same ridiculous obsession with aging that my brother Jon has, so maybe he'll be the one to start lying first. I'm gonna wager that he'll hit it real soon, and I bet he'll stay 29 for a looong time.

Anyway, I tend to digress, but then you all know that. I have known Elaine for eleven years now, and I am so grateful for her. She is the ying to Jon's yang, or vice versa, or whatever. Her calmness and common sense do us all some good! I do have to tell about a moment in history with Elaine though. She got permission to drive with Jack, Jon and I to Arizona when we moved here the first time about ten years ago. Jack and Jon were in the moving truck and Elaine and I followed in the car with my dog Cody, and my two cats. One of my cats sat on the back tray behind the seats and every other second he would meow really loud. We amused ourselves by throwing M&M's at him. Unfortunately we were headed for the desert and it was a bit hot, and I had melty chocolate stains all over my upholstery. It sucked a bit. At one point in California, she took over driving and as we were driving down the freeway on ramp she says, "I've never actually driven on the freeway before." That was the dang funniest thing she could have ever said at that moment! She did fine though, and we had a good drive. Not so good for the boys though since Jack isn't the best traveller. Honestly, he's the biggest pain in the rear, maniac I know, so they decided that the only way they could survive it was to smoke as many cigarettes as possible. Every time we stopped for food or gas they would open the doors and it looked like someone had just opened the door to a steam room. I'm surprised they didn't have lung cancer by the time we got there since they crammed years of smoking into a 24 hour drive. Aaah memories...

Elaine is truly one of the sweetest, most loving people I know and I am so happy that she is a part of our family. I also think my kids kind of like her better than me. Probably because she's not the one yelling at them to leave her alone while she's trying to blog, for crimeny sake! We love you and miss you Elaine! See you soon!