Happy 65th Birthday Aunt Pat!

Aunt Pat (momma's sister) turned 65 today....and mom had her a surprise party tonight.  It was so cool....she was super surprised...showed up "to come see Lane, Bo, and Kate" in her flannel shirt!  It was a good night for her to have friends and family all in one place:)

sisters

My dear friend, Christi Cranford did this masterpiece for us....and if you only could have a bite.....it was as delicious as it is beautiful!! It was chocolate and strawberry and this picture doesn't do justice to the details.  Thank you Christi!  (I think I'll go have another piece of the leftover now that I think of it!)

so sweet

mom had pictures of Aunt Pat from birth all around the house and had a great DVD of her old pictures playing

When I think back about all of my memories of Aunt Pat, there are so many things that come to mind....

My childhood memories include spending the night with her (often with Tory and

Amber, "cousins" on Uncle Dolph's side)...we loved the box of toys she kept under "our bed" where we slept when we were there (this is the bed that is now my "Lane's").  I remember the cream eyelet bedspread on that bed.  I also remember loving to use her "waterpick" in the bathroom (I had never and still have never seen anyone else with one of those)....it just squirted water in your mouth ....I think to act like a toothpick!  What I didn't love about her house was the way she "whipped" my food together.  She would stir the corn and peas into the potatoes before she gave me my plate....I did NOT like it, but was too afraid to tell her.  I also remember that yellow step ladder in the kitchen. She was also my softball coach in dixie youth for several years.....she made my super soft self maybe a little tougher through her honesty and competitive attitude!   Moving on to my teenage years, softball still stands out....she came to most of my games, and between her yelling (at me anyone else she thought needed some instruction) and Chad's "umpiring", my family was certainly not "sitting quietly on the backrow"!! Aunt Pat, momma, and I went shopping most Saturdays....usually one Saturday she'd buy something (usually at Marshalls and TJ Maxx), then the next Saturday, we'd take most of it back...then the next week, she'd buy, the next week take back!  Her meeting Rob is a story she loves to tell...let's just say he was a junior in high school, somewhat shy, very reserved,....and she's NOT, so she embarassed the mess out of him and the two of them will not forget that day!  Then, I got married.....and we needed a place to live as newlyweds as we waited on our house to be finished.  So....we lived upstairs at Aunt Pat and Uncle Dolph's house.  Such sweet memories of our first weeks there.  I am grateful for having her in my life and that now, I can share her with my children.  She never had kids of her own, but there were plenty of us to go around and she was always willing to spend time with us and I am grateful to have had such a good relationship with her.  She is also my mom's best friend and I am thankful for that as well.