I wanna tell you about my best friend...

Jen came down to visit this weekend, trading in her fuzzy jackets and warm boots for t-shirts and flip flops. It was so fantastic to see her! She's a freshman at BYU right now and loving college. We talk on the phone 5-8 times a day but thats not as good as seeing each other. So, with Dad's permission, she took a road trip to visit us in Sunny So Cal.
On Saturday morning, I was throwing a baby shower and Tyler had to work so she babysat Scotty for the 2 hours we were both gone. She's been his only babysitter his entire life (I can count on 1 hand the people I would trust Scotty with) and did a great job. They enjoyed reading stories together, eating breakfast (Cowboy Coffee Cake I made for the shower), soaking in the view in our beautiful back yard, he took the bottle I'd pumped (even Tyler has a hard time getting him to take a bottle), and then he fell asleep on her shoulder. So precious!!!

She had some math homework to do so once I got home, she worked on that for a while...until Scotty came to charm her away from it :-).

We went to the Harbor and watched the sailboats go by, people watched, ate up the view, and laughed at names of boats. Scotty started fussing in his stroller so I picked him up and he fell asleep in my arms.

We went out to dinner that night with Tyler at one of our favorite restaurants, El Torito Grill. When we got home, Jen gave him a bath and did our nightly tradition of the baby massage.

On Sunday, I spoke in church so Jen watched Scotty...unfortunately he cried through my talk so Jen missed it :-( But I gave her a personal reading afterwards :-)
After Church, we took this beautiful picture of the two of them.
Sunday night, Scotty woke up at 1:30, crying, with a 101.5 degree fever. He cried until about 4:30 when he fell asleep. Monday morning, he woke up again, fussy, hot, and clearly sick.
My sweet, angel sister cleaned up my home while I held and sang to my suffering son. She unloaded & loaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the couch (Tyler had gone to sleep out there so I could bring Scotty in the bed), put all the children's books back in the bookshelf, made my bed as well as hers, and put away odds & ends that were sitting around. As I was singing to Scotty to help him calm down, I got to the primary song, "Families Can Be Together Forever." I got to the words, "...they are so good to me..." and started crying. My sweet sister is so good to me. Being around her makes me want to be a better person. She is so sweet and thoughtful and always puts others first. I am so blessed to have her not only as my sister but as my best friend.
Once she finished cleaning up things, she started harmonizing with me as I sang and that was when Scotty stopped crying. Jen has a beautiful voice and it is so fun to sing with her.
Then we went into the bedroom and she started playing the keyboard. This literally put Scotty to sleep. My poor son had been crying for 1 1/2 hours and was rocked to sleep listening to the lullaby of his Aunt playing the piano.
What a blessing for a tired mother. What a blessing for a sick son.
Jen, I love you so much. I am so lucky to have you in my life and am so glad that we are such fantastic friends. I once read this, "I loved you too much to be your friend so God let me be your sister."
I wouldn't trade you or our memories for anything. You're amazing. I hope I can be more like you.
Love you,
Erika
xxoo
want to see more pictures?