Spaghetti

30

Joe has officially bid farewell to his 20s. Poor guy. He marked the fateful event with a bowling party, like he used to have when he was young. In the olden days. He also got to go out to lunch and open some presents.

Let it be known that this guy is the most wonderful man in the world. I'm absolutely in love with him. There is no better husband and father, and really, there's simply no better person. May the next 30 years be even better than the first!

Little green men

Being the O'Dougherty family...er...Dougherty family, we had to bring out our inner Irish this St. Patrick's Day. We all wore green, of course. We ate a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal, complete with green side dishes served on green plates. And we borrowed the tradition of our good friends the Phillips family, who used to put little green footprints -- you know, leprechaun footprints -- around their house for the kids to follow.

At the end of the trail was a pack of green gum for Olivia. She loved the whole event, but she's a little too smart for her own good. Watch the video below for her reaction.

Like candy falling from the sky

It was a flash of inspiration that turned Col. Gail Halvorsen into one of the most famous pilots ever.

He says it was the Holy Spirit who whispered to him that he could do more to help some poor German kids be themselves in the face of possible starvation.

When the Russians prohibited over-the-road deliveries of food and supplies to Berlin after World War II, the United States and its allies organized a massive airlift, in which they flew supplies into Berlin to keep 2 million people from starving.

Halvorsen, who now lives in Provo, was one of the airlift pilots, and one day in 1948, after meeting some of the children who watched the deliveries, he came up with a plan to bring them a little something extra: chocolate.

Fast forward to 2009, last week. Halvorsen spoke to a group of kids at the Hill Aerospace Museum and told them the story of how he became known as the Candy Bomber.

It was his plan to drop candy -- equipped with parachutes -- out of his plane to the masses of children watching planes land every day. Parachutes were necessary, he said, because he didn't want to hit kids with candy flying at 110 mph.

Word spread about the pilot dropping candy from his plane and a humanitarian effort was born. By January 1949, more than 250,000 pieces of parachuting candy had been dropped.

At the museum, Olivia got a small "taste" of what it was like for those German kids 60 years ago as Halvorsen and some helpers re-enacted a candy drop.

And she managed to strike a pose as a future candy bomber.

Need a photographer?

My beautiful friend Melissa has a new photography business, and she does a fabulous job. She is smart, kind and talented, and I am so proud of her. Check out her work at melissasuephotography.blogspot.com. Below is a picture she snapped while visiting me at the hospital when Allison was born.

Just for fun

Showing off

Allison can point to her eyes, ears, mouth, nose and head on command. You'll see a little of that below, but she isn't very keen on performing for the camera. She'd much rather be behind it so she can see the "baby." Don't be alarmed when she digs at her eyeball. It's just the way she rolls.

Go fetch

Allison walks everywhere. Not much crawling anymore. The movie below is a week old, so she is even faster now.

More from Allison's birthday

We went swimming to celebrate the new 1-year-old. She loves the water, just like her big sister. My little sister Jackie is the other person in the photos. She's the one going off the diving board.

Happy birthday, little sis

I always laugh so hard at this picture of myself at age 7 with my younger sister, age 5. Can anyone tell who was the favored child? Look at me, all primped and polished. Then there's Laura, slipshod and slovenly at best.

Who knew she would grow up to be so beautiful? Now she's the put-together one. But not for long. Now, 20 years later, she is getting ready to have her first baby. A few sleepless nights ought to put her back in her place.

Happy 25th birthday this week to a sister I love with all my heart.