Happy Birthday Weezie!!

A short 31 years ago....a girl came into my life. She was so cute and funny! I named her Amber Renae.

Her parents were just babies themselves, but we had a great time. I can remember laying her on the dash of the pickup while we were at the drive in movie so she could see the movie.

She is the oldest of our three and has always been a very strange child. She didn't like the things the other kids liked.

Amber always liked to do things on her own terms. She would wait until it was HER idea before she would do something that had already been suggested. This is a trait she continues to have today.

Amber was almost two when her brother came to join our family. She loved him. Sometimes a little too much! I remember going in the bedroom to find the bassinet tipped on it's side and her trying to "hold" him. Or hearing him gasping and going to find her "sharing" her bottle of pop with him. (Yes, I gave my children pop when they were little). Start 'em young I say! :-)

With three little ones 3 and under, we were very busy and Amber spent a lot of time with her dad outside while I wrangled the two little ones in the house. She still loves to work with her dad and he is the only one who can talk to her about important things without making her mad it seems. When she was older she worked with him on various jobs. One story I like from her "construction days" is when she was cleaning up a building they were finishing up and some drywallers would not wipe their feet before coming into the building and she had just cleaned the floors. So she told them they had to wipe their feet. They got a big attitude and asked her who she thought she was and that they didn't have to do what she said. She just politely told them they could either do it or take it up with the boss. Her words were something to the effect of, "he's right over there. His name is Blaine, but I call him Daddy." They changed their minds about complaining after that. :-)

We were fortunate to raise our kids in the country. When they were younger, they went to a little two-room country school with a total of six kids. Three of which were ours. It was a great place to raise kids!

Don't you miss the days of big bangs and huge glasses??? LOL!! Amber was always a great student and the "nerd" of the family. She loved learning! It was during all the fashion disasters of the 80's that her name evolved to Weezie. You see, she used to dress much like Dweezle Zappa did in the 80's. (sorry to all you younger set who have no clue who that is) So her dad started calling her "Dweez" and then she started getting pneumonnia almost every winter and wheezing for breath all the time so, we called her "Dweez the wheezer" and, over time, it ended up "Weezie". Strange, I know, but it fits her!

When Amber was 21, she decided to go on a mission. She served in the Texas San Antonio Mission and loved it! We were very proud of her valiant service! We were a bit worried about her since she has always had trouble speaking in public! But she did great. We still tease her that she has yet to learn the mother tongue. Ever since she learned to talk, she has made up her own words for things or gotten them totally wrong. Some of our favorite "Amberisms" are:

Going to "Little World" instead of Little America; playing "hersby" rather than Frisbee; wondering where "unca Dooey" was instead of where Uncle Gary was; and one of them that took a long time to decipher..."when is Lee going to be in Jeeps"....long ago, in Primary, one of the classes was called "Blazers"....I guess a Blazer does resemble a Jeep....but the connection was a hard one to make! Weezie has made her own rule for the rest of us now. If we KNOW what it is she is talking about....we CANNOT correct her! and yes, she still makes up words or uses the wrong one a lot of the time!

Another funny about Weezie is her fear of creepy crawlies. She has always been deathly afraid of spiders in any form. When she was about 10, she had hurt her ankle ice skating and had it in an air cast. She was sitting on the couch putting on her boots to go outside when she noticed a daddy long legs crawling on her leg! Oh my gosh!! She jumped up, promptly fell back down when she put weight on her bad ankle, and was screaming the whole time! It was all I could do not to tell her the spider was still on her, just to see it all again. But I didn't! :-) But don't you think it would have been funny??

Her irrational fear has not subsided at all over the years either. Just a year or so ago, I was riding with her in her car. Going down Baseline at about Crismon when we see a tarantula crossing the road in front of us! Oh my! She lets go of the steering wheel, covers her eyes and starts screaming and freaking out as we straddled it with the car! I saw my life flash before my eyes and grabbed the wheel! Again, the temptation was almost overbearing to tell her that the spider had latched onto her car and was now crawling its way inside. But the desire to get to where we were going in one piece was stronger and I didn't want to walk!

I really want to get a remote control tarantula though to torment her with! I know....I'm an evil mom! But she still loves me!

Amber got home from her mission just in time to celebrate the weddings of her brother and sister. It was a very busy year for us! So far she hasn't found her own prince charming, but I know he's out there somewhere! While she 'waits for Mr. Right' she works as a supervisor for a group home for developmentally delayed adults. It doesn't pay much, but she will definately reap the rewards later! It takes a very special person to do that kind of work.

So there you have our "Weezie" in a nutshell. She is smart, funny, a great cook, very tender hearted and a blast to be around!

We love you, Weezie!! Happy Birthday!!