It used to be that all the birthdays in our CDF family were clustered in between April and July – with Josh the outlier at the beginning of February. But now Shannon joins the CDF ranks and she is starting a new cluster with Josh!

She is also joining the “24th” cluster – my birthday is on a 24th, my sister’s is on a 24th, my sister in law’s is on a 24th and Shannon’s is on the 24th! So, I’d say she fits right in!

It has been so fun to get to know Shannon even more this past year – and what an exciting year it was!

It is hard when you live so far, and I wish we lived closer so could do more things on a more “casual” basis. But for now, we take all we can get and love getting to know this amazing woman. So here are 10 things that I love about Shannon:

• I love that she will send random thoughtful texts, or texts just to check in! The other day, she sent a text just saying what they were up to on the weekend (visiting with friends and their friend’s parents ) and she said she wished that we lived closer so could do that on random weekends. I wish we could too (one day! ) But I love that she thought to send that text!

• She is thoughtful – this Christmas we got a super thoughtful gift (sorry Gabe, I’m going to assume that Shannon had a lot to do with it – but even if it was both your idea – it just shows what a good pair you guys are to come up with it!) Given we have a few time zones in our family now, they gave us 3 clocks so we could have the 3 timezones up in our kitchen. I love being able to glance up and see what time it is for everyone and think about what everyone might be doing.

• I love having discussions with her about all things “female”. She will sometimes send me a link, a quote, or a podcast, or share something that she learned in class about women’s issues, leadership, business, or motherhood etc. I love being able to discuss and share viewpoints.

• Her intelligence! I love how she shares her perspective and opinion, and is eager to learn and share what she learns. She is a committed, hard worker too!

• How easy going she is – when we were in Hawaii, she was ready to roll with anything! She was up for any activity, or no activity, any food, drink….anything really. She just enjoyed whatever we did!

• She is a trooper who is determined! While in Hawaii we went on a hike and it started to rain, and then her flip flops broke and it was pretty uncomfortable and painful walking for her in bare feet on this path – but she kept going!! With a smile on her face!

• Her appreciation of food – and her love of açai bowls, lol. I think we both would head back to Hawaii just for those! I know that she often is trying new recipes, or trying new things and I loved shopping in Trader Joe’s with her as she knew all the cool things to get!

• Her pop culture wisdom! She is pretty social media savvy, and she also knows who to follow and is in the know of stuff going on! She stays on top of things! While I had my nose buried in old fashioned guide books on Hawaii – she knew what to do based on what she saw online on social media – and it was way more up to date!

• I love her testimony and her insights and spirituality. Before Christmas we did “the 12 days” and each day studied an attribute of Christ. I loved her insights and thoughts and her willingness to participate and share.

• I love how she loves Gabe! I love how she makes him want to be a better man, and I love how she is willing to partner with him in all things and support him, and allow him to support her. They make an awesome team! We love face timing them and seeing their dynamics and their love for each other.

I know I have already done my 10 things – but an extra bonus one is I love how she is happy (or at least fakes it well, lol) to be part of our CDF clan – and shares that with us! We are so happy to have her as a daughter in law and look forward to many more birthdays to come and to keep getting to know her better!

Happy Birthday Shannon! May your day and year be filled with love, adventure, wisdom and joy!

We love you!!