My Natural Born Child...

Freaky but true - this is my only natural born child.  The others required many wonderful drugs.  But Mandy entered the world with an agenda.  Her birth certificate almost said - Elevator, between floors 3 and 4.  She came screaming out and has never stopped.  When God said good bye to her - he said, "My child, Heaven will be darker, quieter, and less crazy... darn we'll miss you" and then he tossed her down to me, and commented on how he didn't know if the world was ready for this kid yet....  It was fun to have Mandy because I already had a boy and girl, so I was excited to see what was in store next.  I was not then, nor ever have been disappointed- except her Senior year.... there's always one year you know... (:  In a world of overachieving siblings, she created her own nitch.  She creates music - and performs it so that every single time she plays - Heavenly Father does look down and see who is playing more beautiful than his angels can sing.  I wanted to start out with the nice stuff.  It kinda changes gears from here on out..... hold on.  Well I'm thinkin' that I'll just show you Mandy - from pictures stolen from her facebook page - just in case you think I'm making all of this up!

Just in case you might be thinking that we don't love and adore her - think again.  Mandy can walk into a room and light it up with her smile and her laugh.  She usually enters bearing gifts of an amazingly decorated cake or some piece of music you just need to hear.  She loves to bring joy into the day - even on her worst day, she makes everyone around her feel like the sun is shining on them.  When she's not doing homework (Senior at BYU), or working (at work), or Playing music (Wind Symphony), or even serving others (Primary secretary), she's still laughing, or making the world a better place - one crazy thing at a time.  You can't drive in a car with Mandy in the passengers seat without locking the windows.  She'll yell at cars, call out "Look there's Jaffar!", or hang something from the car out the window.  Sometimes she'll yell out something and then duck and you are sitting there while people look over at you like - what?  She's brutal about people walking slow in front of her - BYU girls that are tramps and dress like tramps, and people that sing off key.  She's totally in love with her hubby Ryan, and she drives him crazy every single day - the poor guy.  She's scared of spiders, thunderstorms, darkness, and testing days.  She can cook up a storm and feed an army on 72 cents, seriously folks.  She made us proud when she was the Main Soloist for The Utah Symphony, held the first chair and/or lead in the All State Jazz Band, Wind Symphony, and Super Band (Jazz).  She's an amazing performer - so why not get a Degree in Music Performance eh?  Mostly she loves her family.  She was born closest to Ryan her little brother in the calendar year - always sharing birthdays, cakes and attention.  She can call at just the right time - right when you think you can't go on another minute - and she assures you that you can.  We all love her so much - and we are amazed as we sit around and remember some of the crazy things she's pulled off and actually was not arrested.... So - Happy Birthday Beep - you make the sun in the morning look pale.  Thanks for touching all of our lives with your laughter.  22 is my favorite number - make it a great year!