Happy Birthday, Shauna!
I think that everyone was nervous that I would forget your birthday (believe me, I was a little nervous myself). I have had pop ups reminding me all week.
We have been married for nearly 19 years, and I must say that I love you more each day we are together. You have been supportive of me dragging you off to Nebraska, and all sorts of other crazy ups and downs we have experienced together. I am glad that I have had you to experience it with. You definitely are strong where I am not, and help me to be a better person.
You are smart, and funny, and beautiful, and creative, and I feel lucky and blessed that you agreed to be my wife. I hope, more than any other gift you get, that you realize how loved you are.
Thank you for everything. Have a great day.
I love you,
Nathan
26 comments:
Yea, im the first comment! Even if it is only 10 on Weds. here! But I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you today and that you have a great birthday. You are great Shauna and I love having you for a sister in law. You truely are the real deal!
Love, Erika
Oh and by the way, sweet doo from the 90's! Work it!
#5 1/2
Happy Birthday, Shauna! How many people can say they look even younger after 19 years? We want to thank you, too, for being such a good wife to Nathan and such a good mom to our sweet grandchildren, and such a good daughter-in-law/friend to us. We love you, Shauna, and we are glad that you are a member of our eternal family. You are truly a blessing to us. Have a wonderful day and a great year.
Happy Birthday Shauna! It's pretty scary to look at that first picture and remember the couch and your dress! I think the hair is cute! I remember when we thought that was cute anyway! Have a great day -- I hope you do something special just for you!
Love
steph
Shauna,
When Nathan brought you home, we were sure he had brought a real live princess. With your long blonde hair, beautiful smile, tall slim frame. We thought he was rather lucky that he got to have a "Barbie" to play with every day. :) And Mom is right you have only gotten prettier. I hope you have a great day! And I am very glad that you are a part of this family.
love ya,
Rachel
Shauna,
Happy Birthday! I'm so glad you are in our family, as far as I'm concerned you've always been in the family. I never knew Nathan without Shauna! You probably remember more about St. Johns then I do! All I know is that you belong with us! Thank you for helping me paint my bathroom, by the way it looks awesome (one of your many talents) it would still be white I fear if you weren't there to help me! You're the BEST Shauna! And I hope you have a wonderful day.
Love you lots!
-Mary
Shauna
Happy Birthday! That is one awesome hair doo. That is impressive work. You are a really fun person and I look up to you. I think you are so talented and seriously you only get prettier with age.
#7
Thanks, everybody, for the b-day wishes. A really good book to read is the "Five Languages of Love". The reason I'm telling you this is because one of my main love languages is words of affirmation.
If you thought that pic was scary, you should've seen some of the other ones he was going to post! I usually don't do this, but yes - I did threaten Nathan with the silent treatment. I mean, come on...who wants to remember junior high?! He couldn't find some cute baby pictures with my curly hair or ones when I was skinny?!
I got some new pots & pans because I (& various others) got burned, literally, from my other ones, so they're outta here. (One more reminder what happens when a woman gets scorned...) And yes, I know how to cook, and it was on medium-low & they were Wolfgang Puck, so you'd think he'd know how to make pans. Plus we've been married so long it's time to give myself a new wedding shower. Isn't that a good idea? I'm just now figuring out what I want in life. Sad, but true...
Tonight we are having salmon, wild rice, and asparagus, which everyone hates, but I told them they could eat fish once a year & not die.
Rebecca - thanks so much for the book! I can't wait to read it. That was a nice surprise. You can never go wrong giving books to me.
Love, Shauna (I'm 38; I don't keep track anymore - my kids just tell me how old I am.)
Shauna,
Happy Birthday,
I have to admit, I was at first jelous that Nathan loved you more than me, but you immediatly put me at ease by making me your friend. I remeber when you came to the house for the first time and you asked for a wash cloth to wash your face. I had no idea where to find one. I went franticly looking everywhere, and finally found one. I think I even french braided your hair. Remeber when we used to trady babysitting, because we were both too cheap to call a babysitter, and when we had family home evenings with Joel and Steph. The best one was when we sat in the kitchen to gossip about the boys and it was very hot so Stephanie opened the fridge and freezer so we could cool off. And one of my favorite memories is when we went to Women's conference. I had such a great time with you, especially getting to know you better. Happy birthday, Nathan is a lucky man
Love, Rebecca
I would complain about Salmon too, do you like it or what? What your having for dinner, I choke down if I'm trying to loose weight. Enjoy
Tom & Susan - Thank you so much for the money. I bought a nice adjustable dumbbell weight set. That will help me with my physical therapy exercises for my back. I am trying everything possible before I turn 40 to try to avoid surgery. I am going to the chiropractor, doing PT, exercising, and getting massages specifically for scoliosis. (OK, I've only gotten 1 massage, but I've added that to my list of resources.) Everything seems to be helping some, but I still have many limits. Such is my life...
You guys are great & I appreciate all your love & support. Love, Shauna #1 DIL
Well, my 'do is part '80s & part fan blowing on me like Marilyn Monroe, so I don't think it was quite as bad in real life as in the picture. (That's what I'm telling myself anyway.)
Rebecca - yes, I love that food. Or, rather, my body loves it. My mouth would rather have sugar, but it makes by body feel like crud. But I obviously haven't learned anything because I still eat it. My eating hasn't been too great lately, but I have been making some big changes in my life so maybe that's part of it. This is probably too personal and nobody cares, but I'll tell you anyway - I'm going off all my meds. Yes, scary for all of us, but I feel that's what I need to do. Pray for us! Shauna
Happy Birthday!
Nathan said some beautiful things about you and I agree with them! You are so talented and your words have meant so much to me lately! Thank you for caring about us and our little family, you are deserving of a wonderful birthday and I hope that is how it turned out for you!
Jenn
I love to eat salmon, but you do have to prepare it right. All of my kids but Reygan like it too. I tell my kids we will try to have fish once a week. They even ask for it sometimes.
Shauna-good luck with the meds. Just try to take it easy, stress wise, for the next monthat least. (easier said than done) One of the hardest parts for me going off the meds was Jer. He got so spoiled with "easy going Erika" he didn't know how to handle "mood swing Erika" anymore. It has taken much coaching and so far we are still married :) But just communicate with each other and remeber even though you are the one going off it is still a joint effort for everyone in the family.
And I think you need more massages, for medical purposes, like maybe once a week. Can you do that???? That would stink to have to get massages.
Did you ever read your YOU books. I am almost fisind with "on a diet" and I have really enjoyed it and gotten a lot from it. My weight is steadily going down and I still eat cookies and chocolate.
I hope your birthday was great.
Erika
Ok. I have to know what exactly you are doing to lose weight and still eat cookies and chocolate! Who needs meds when you can eat chocolate? Right?
Ya Erika, What is it that you are doing. Eating fish at least once a week. What else? I should read that book but I'm trying to read 2 other ones right now and not having much of a chance.
Rachel
Erika - I don't know if you get "Good Housekeeping", but this month they featured 5 women who lost weight & 2 used "Weigh Down." Is that what you are mostly doing & "You"? Even Nathan is reading "You" & he doesn't read.
Speaking of Nathan, he was a little surprised I was going off meds because of my pleasing personality lately. :) He said he had noticed positive changes. (Must be all those endorphins from exercise.) Right now I'm taking every other day & then I'll consult my OB who I dearly love what to do next. That will save us $40/mo.
And yes, I would love to get a massage every week but it's $90 for 1-1/2 hours, which I know is cheap for a massage, but still pricey for our (lack of) budget. Plus it HURTS! (a good hurt, but still hurt nonetheless) A normal massage is $25/ half-hour here. It's called "Rain Drop" massage.
I just ordered a bunch of self-help & cookbooks for my b-day present to myself. Enough about my money & health woes. Have a good weekend.
Shauna
Shauna, sorry I'm just commenting now. I've been in Denver and didn't have a computer. I hope you had a great day. Any woman who lets her kids and husband and brother-in-law play with high explosives in her yard is a great sister. We can't wait for our next visit...Happy Birthday - Daniel
Jeremy and I are sitting here 47 stories above Chicago being entertained by the movie "Big Fat Liar" and laughing about what a bunch of wierdo's you all are...
It's funny how the obligitory H.B.D. Blog has quickly digressed into - Fish, Meds, and Diet...
Joel
I agree, but we can be fat or we can be weirdos, just as long as we're not fat weirdos.
One word. . . Metabolism. Boost metabloism and listen to when you are full. You will eat less calories naturally. Also as far as eating goes, don't think of weight loss, think of it as getting healthy. Eat foods to make you healthy, not necessarily to get skinny. When you eat better not only does your weight improove, but so does your mood and energy levels. So if you eat smart, have treats in moderation (Choclate & cookies-without the trans fat of course) its not a sin unless that is all you have, AKA the whole bag of nutter butters. Just eat smart. Sorry about the schpeal (sp?), but you asked.
As far as boosting metabolism goes, regain muscle mass and keep active (walk, do some cardio, and play) You don't need to over do it, just find a routine that works for you and you can just make it part of you lifestyle. In the You book it says if you do too much you will fatigue your body and be doing more harm than good. And you also get burnt out and are always working out in sperts and not being consistant. But thats my concept taken from both books.
Shauna-have you tried the cookbook I told you about? The salmon recipe in there is great. And as far as meds go it sounds like you are doing it right. You have to taper off or you will have a hard road ahead of you. Cold turkey is not a good idea, even the day after Thanksgiving (my corney joke of the day). Ha Ha.
Erika
Shauna, I too am sorry for the belated birthday wish. While Daniel was in Denver something was wrong with the computer and we couldn't pull up the blog. Sounds like you had a very nice birthday. I'm glad we've made the trip to Nebraska a few times. It has been fun being around you and your family. I was very impressed with your spontaneous sewing spree the last time we were there. The little girls still remember their skirts and keep asking when they get to wear them again. I hope you enjoyed your day. I also hope all goes well health wise. We'll see you this summer. Looking forward to the bomb pops.(That's what they're called, right?) I hope you kept the list you made about our fireworks likes and dislikes.
Love, Connie
Erika - We've tried the waffles/pancakes, but we thought they were too thick. They prefer my whole wheat recipe, but I liked them. I'm trying lots of new recipes lately. We had an Enrichment on freezer meals which was great. ("Once a Month Cooking" & "Frozen Assets" books)
I'm doing some weights but mostly arms & back.
Connie - Now all my kids are talking about fireworks! Did Josh teach your boys to light firecrackers in a water bottle? I hope not...And I think we kept a list if we can find it around. Funny story...I cleaned out my big freezer yesterday & found a Bomb Pop at the bottom! (that's my reward, I guess...) We're getting excited for the 4th also. I'm even thinking of food for a crowd. I have food on my mind...
Joel & Steph - are you still thinking about coming? We'd love to have you & your boys would love the high explosives, I'm sure. Good times, good times...!!
Shauna
Shauna, we were calendaring with the Elders after lunch today and since the Nathan Biggs family is the "March Family," your picture was right there for them to see. They looked and looked at it and finally asked where the mom of the family was. When I pointed to you they were amazed! They thought you were one of the kids and that the mom, for some unexplained reason, wasn't in the picture. I thought you would like to know that someone unrelated and unbiased thinks you look young too!
That's pretty funny. I really don't see myself that way at all. I think I'm an old, crippled ugly duckling. I call myself Quasimoda.
I felt inspired yesterday to go online (which I rarely do) to search for some things to help my health. I actually found yoga & pilates DVDs specifically for scoliosis and some books that look really good. Plus it gave me some hope that I might see some improvement in my curves (up to 70-80° now). I won't ever be healed (I'm not holding out hope for the resurrection, either - I think God wants me to be this way), but maybe I can get some sense of normalcy & feel slightly functional. It's no wonder I'm nuts since so much is connected to the spine & mine is a backwards "S" spiral staircase. My nerves & muscles can't function right even if they wanted to.
Oh, Shauna, I do so hope that you will be able to find something that will give you some relief. We will pray for it to happen.
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