…Each time I drop my phone, which is like 8 times a day, I laugh and think about all the cellphones you destroyed. You had a special skill in breaking those things.

…At Olivia’s second bday party it was hard to avoid the elephant in the room. Instead of feeling the void, it was easier to embrace the angel in the room. Olivia sat in the same seat at mom’s as you did together, when she helped you blow out your 31 candles last year.

…Recently we may or may not have left Lilo outside our house while we were on our way to the airport. Reminded me of the it happened so much I couldn’t begin to guess a number of how many times you left Hula outside. Sometimes your were still home and forgot you let her out to potty (unleashed), sometimes you were pulling away and the owner of the house you were at was chasing your car waving their hands yelling, “wait! you left Hula!!” Sometimes it was even in the snow and 10 min after you had left, I’d hear scratching at my door. “Ohhhh Ali forgot to put Hula in her car. Again. SIGH.” You unintentionally did it everywhere but mom’s. You most definitely did it on purpose there because you didn’t feel like taking care of her for a few days.

…You and I have this (slightly disgusting) habit of leaving half used tissues laying everywhere. As I just blew my nose once and left the tissue with 3/4 of it still usable sitting on my desk, I smiled and thought, “wow that’s so gross of me.” But why should I waste the rest of the tissue when I will need it again within the hr, or maybe tomorrow? There were even still half used tissues waiting on your nightstand for you to come home from the hospital.

…I bought a pair of teal skinny jeans. I needed to call you to get your opinion. I couldn’t decide if you would think I’m too old for them or I needed to be more hip so I just assumed you would tell me to get them. Remember those furry lined clogs I used to wear in the winter? Whenever you would see me out in them you’d say, “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO STOP WEARING YOUR HOUSE SHOES IN PUBLIC??” You even tried to hide them once at my house.

…I was talking about Sam’s Club the other day with friends and all I could think about was the many hilarious trips we took together. We’d go after church and fill ourselves up on samples. And God help us, if there ever was a live infomercial salesman, we had to stand and watch. And how often did we HAVE to buy it. By that I mean, you’d convince me I had to buy it so you could use it at my house. One trip we came home with 6 new knives, 2 veggie choppers and two mini juicers. Ben and Adam told us we weren’t allowed to go alone any more. Oops!

…Over the weekend I was cutting the grass in a slight hurry. Remember when we used to push the mower so fast we were almost jogging? We considered it a workout and if my neighbors were lucky, one of us would just keep going yard to yard. And isn’t it so cute how Nori follows along with her mower now? She is so proud to be helping.

…Every time I go to the zoo I think about the times we went there together. This pic below was from when Nichole was in town to see you. We made plans to go to the zoo with all of our kids and on the way there you got sick. We had already been there waiting so you insisted on still coming. I’m very thankful you did. I have some cute videos of you and Nori as well as precious pics like this one. She wanted to sit on your lap the whole time but it was hot and too much. So she just had to hold your hand. That was well over a year ago now, I can’t even believe it.