I went to Vegas to get rich.

Moms have a million dreams and expectations for their children, many of which said children refuse to demonstrate, but sometimes,,,some very special times...a mom sees her dreams come true and her heart has to stop and be grateful.

So I headed on over to Las Vegas to meet a sweet little lady named Lucy Jane Stoker.  Is she ever stunning. She takes a person's breath away when she's lying there sleeping, and then she opens her big blue eyes and it's over.  Do I sound like a smitten grandma?

Anyway, so Lucy is very skilled at being 3 weeks old. She lifts her wee little head and nurses like a champ.  We're pretty sure she is making eye contact, at least some of the time. Okay, she does look at us cross-eyed a bit, but it comes with the newborn territory. She sleeps a lot in the day to save her strength for the party with Mom and Dad at night.

 And speaking of parties, she's definitely the life therein.  Other partiers start to poop out, but our awake little miss makes sure the party goes into the night.  That would be okay except Dad has to be up and out of the house for his Dental School party at 6:30 am.  Not sure how long everyone can keep up with this wild and crazy schedule. But she's definitely fun to be with.  Aaron said, "If you do nothing all day with Lucy, it's a great day." I was the designated rocker one night and Aaron kept looking at us wistfully, "She's so cute. I just can't leave her." Her mama feels the same way.  More than once awesome Clarissa asked for Lucy back, "I need some snuggles." And so it appears that life for Lucy Jane is going to be pretty sweet. And that's why I am so happy. My child has created a beautiful family and they all love and cherish each other.

My little boy has grown into a Dad. One evening while we were walking to the internet (the secret to their newlywed success-no wifi. They have to use the clubhouse or spend quality time communicating with each other) he said, "You know, I enjoyed being single, but that wasn't the point. This is the point.  There's no place I'd rather be than home with my wife and baby." Aww. <3 <3 <3 <3. It's so cute when he studies with Lucy. He just puts her in the crook of his arm, and they read about Dental materials and Pathogens. Sometimes it gets a bit boring for Miss Pretty Pretty, but she just dozes off.

Aaron said, "Babies are a cinch."

Clarissa is a dedicated, capable and loving mom. People ask her how she's doing. She says, "Great.  I've been waiting for this my whole life." What a perfect thing to say. I told her she was just the kind of girl I was looking for for Aaron. I'm glad he finally found her:)

Speaking of joy and blessings, I was looking through a cookbook that Clarissa's mother had put together.  She had gathered recipes and marriage advice from family and friends.  Not only had Nathan's wife, Ariane, contributed many delicious recipes, she also contributed these comments:

Her positive encouragement on the happy state of marriage brought tears to my eyes. I can't describe how it feels for a mom to know that their children are making their spouses happy. Similarly, I was visiting in Omaha with the Ericksons and Joseph and Hyrum were playing with the magnet letters at the library.  Next thing I knew, this was on the whiteboard.

  Thank you, children for loving the families that you've created. We are very blessed indeed for this eternal increase of joy and love.

So you can see that my week was already fantastic, but it got a little fantasticker when Clarissa and I went to visit a friend I've had for 30 years, Linda Schlauder. Seeing friends after many years is an interesting experience.  One wonders if they've changed, if the relationship has changed, if it's been too long since you were together and then you see them and hug them and of course Linda  looks as beautiful as ever (it's her jam) and nothing's changed.  Well, that's not exactly true, I think life has changed us for the better and felt even more love. She has always been kind and gentle and graceful and welcoming and talented. Life has shown her heartache but she has remained close to God and He has made her brighter, warmer, more inspiring and more beautiful (If that's even possible.) I feel very rich as I reflect on the blessing of our friendship and the blessing of being able to be together again.

And then I went home to my husband and 2 remaining children and I realized, having 9 children was a very good idea. As Ed Jackson posted on my Facebook page, "You are very wealthy." The wealthiest.