And... very happy birthday to my stepmom Verla who celebrated her birthday on June 2. We weren't able to wish her a happy birthday in person (meaning via Skype) due to poor internet connection, but we were able to chat with her a few days after her birthday to hear about her day. My stepmom is a fun lady. She and my dad are good for each other, he thinks he keeps her on her toes, but really she's already a few steps ahead of him. I like that we can scheme together about tricks to pull on my dad:) She's a very caring person who always cares about how we're doing. She also has the nearly impossible task of trying to keep my dad from eating all the chocolate and ice cream he wants. I think inherited this 'need' for chocolate and ice cream as well. She loves the outdoors, going on walks in the forrest and making tasty food for me to eat whenever I'm around. She makes some AMAZING banana bread that I'm just nuts about. On her birthday we tried to call her on Skype (no luck), and enjoyed some tasty cookies that a friend had given to us as a gift. We love and miss her lots!!! Happy birthday Verla! PS: Apologies for the outdated pic, I having a bit of problems locating the pics taken from the last time we were back in the States, outdated or not- it's still an adorable pic