Leopard Prints and Sushi

Happy Birthday, my friend. I can't sing it quite as well as you can, but I'll still try. Candy is so smart for setting this up because you are the first to give compliments but now it's our chance to tell you (and everyone else!!!) how fantastic we think you are and how much you mean to us.

My family has always thought the world of you. I remember seeing you on TV when I was little and thinking that you were the coolest, most famous person in the world. You're a trend-setter. When you say it's a trend, people believe you, which is sometimes kind-of funny too. I don't think I've seen you get turned down by media when we marched in with our Heritage Makers products and you told them it was the newest and greatest thing. I've always thought of you as a really strong person; someone who could accomplish anything they put their mind to, which has happened time and again in your life.

I remember before I moved down to Utah to stay with you and work at the office. My dad told me that just because I was moving to Utah and going to be surrounded by people a little more "worldly" than I was, he hoped I wouldn't change. Was he referring to you, Candy and Angi, or just Utah in general??? You and I had a good laugh when we were in Florida. I had come in off a run, and the only realistic option I had for footwear besides my running shoes were my sparkly flip-flops. I looked down at my feet and said, "Look at me, I've changed". Secretly my dad actually really likes your sense of fashion, which is kind-of funny for a farmer/rancher.

Some fun things:
1. Your attention span. I joke that there's a definite reason why the HM books are as short as they are.

2. Your efforts to get me into leopard print. When you showed me the furry, leopard print shoes you thought I should try on, I said, "Sharon, I may eventually wear fur, and I may wear animal print, but to do the fur and the animal print together is just too much for me." Well, you succeeded. And, you got Kristi into leopard print as well.

3. Walking through the airport a few steps behind you (not because I'm carrying your luggage, but because I can't keep up), and seeing all the people, men and women, checking you out. Even the ones MY age! Maybe it's the loaded down LV bag and purse they're looking at it, but I doubt it.

4. Our belly laughs on our fun trips together, my traveling buddy.

5. Your computer questions and questions and questions. Thank-you Candy for taking over!

6. Your two speeds - fast and stop.

7. Living together for nearly a year and realizing that we hadn't cooked a meal. Hummus, popcorn, and sushi don't count.

On a more serious note, you really mean a lot to me. I learn so much from you about patience, how to treat others like they are the most important person in the world, that anything is possible, and so much more. I enjoy every minute we are able to spend together, and I look forward to many, many more.

Love ya,

Lisa Nelson

P.S. With all this talk of fashion, I decided to post pictures of you in the morning eating breakfast by the pool in Arizona, and you working alongside all of us to package hundreds of our storybooking kits to ship all over the US. I wish I had the picture of you in your high heels standing on top of a 7 foot high pile of boxes, but this one will have to do.