Manzy Clan: It's All Golden

The biggest earrings I have EVER worn.

Have you ever felt like you've hit the jackpot? Like somehow you have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Well, I haven't ever done either of those things, but when it comes to our family, we really struck it big. The more time goes by, the more we can see that we have truly been blessed with a family of gold. :-)
A couple of weeks ago, my family got together to surprise our little sister Tara with a birthday party on her "golden" birthday. She turned 20, on the 20th of February. So, enlisting the help of her boy friend Jason, we all got together at Fat Cat's and waited for her to arrive. We all wore, yellow, gold, or black. Jen and I also went out and bought a bunch of really loud, big, gold jewelry for Tara and ourselves to wear. I wore these huge gold hoop earrings. And if you know me you know I hardly ever wear much jewelry at all, so I left like my ears were going to fall off. But I survived an hour before I have to rip them off. We all had a good time. Tim even painted his face gold for the party too. We bowled, ate good food, had some cake, and sang happy birthday.

Nate, Jesse, Dad, Jenn, Cooper, and Andrea having fun at Fat Cats

Life around our house has been moving right along, getting ready for spring. Jesse has started Lacrosse practice and he will have his first game in a couple of weeks. This year his team will have a varsity and a JV team, so hopefully he will get a little more playing time too. Some days he comes home totally whipped and sore from all of the "conditioning", and states firmly that he does not want to play, then the next day he is asking when he can leave to go to practice again. Sooner or later I think he'll decide what he really wants. Until then we hope he sticks it out with lacrosse.

Nate stays busy with nursing school. Good news for Nate! He passes his LPN exam and is now a certified LPN! Wahoo! Way to go Nate. After this semester he only has one more semester to go until he will take his big exam and become a RN! He has worked so hard and I am so proud of him for that!

Bronson and Kel at the bowling alley

   I keep myself busy with work, taking care of Jesse and Nate, and spending as much time with my little nephews and nieces as possible. I love when Cooper comes to my house, and his faces lights up when I tell him we can go outside and play with the doggies! I love when my other nephew Blake comes over and wants to play our table hockey game and make cookies, and I love when my sweet niece Mia asks me when we can play tennis again, or do Turbo Jam! Like I said, our family is golden!
   Another highlight I had these last couple of weeks was when my two best friends for 25 years surprised me in my classroom. Jenny Lynn, and Amy came by to say hi to me. Lynn was in town for a week, so after we talked a bit in my class, we got together with our other good friend Cami for a night. We ordered pizza (Nicoitalia of course), caught up on each others lives, shared the good, helped with the hard times, and laughed a lot! I just wish all of the other girls could have been there. Just like our family we are blessed with golden friendships as well!
   We are so grateful for each person who blesses our lives. We love each and everyone of you! Thank you so much for all of your support, love, and kindness to us!