All About Mom

We've got a crazy week coming up:

May 8th: Adam graduates with his MBA (hooray!)

May 9th: Race for the Cure

May 10th: Mother's Day

May 11th: My Mom's Birthday


Since there is so much going on, I wanted to make sure I got a little in about my mom to celebrate her as my MOM and the great person she was through her life.

Of course there are so many things all of us can say about our mom's. We learn so much from our mom's and I think I have learned and come to appreciate her more since I've been a mom and that continues as my kids grow. I have a large handful of memories from things my mom did as I grew up, including: making my baptism dress, homemade Halloween costumes every year, her always packing us to travel to our cabin every weekend in the summer, planning and entertaining groups of people on river trips, for parties, and anything all while making it look like a breeze and never complaining. She worked full time while I grew up but still attended all of my school events, tennis matches, art shows, whatever came up. And of course there are all the things she did to cover for me, like when our dog Walter chewed up my new $300 retainer less than a week after I got. When we had to bring it up to my dad she so easily made it sound like Walter's fault when really it was me who left it out :). There is of course a list that can go on and on.

Some birthday memories I have of her is she always went all out for birthdays. One year while I was at school she totally repainted/wallpapered and arranged my room so it was a surprise when I got home (I don't know how she did it). She always sent balloons to school, even when I was in high school and a little embarrassed about it. One year on her birthday, she picked me up from school and took me out to lunch. I remember we saw a 3 leg golden retriever in front of the Arby's we went to- I'm sure all you RS girls know what I'm talking about.

On top of all the special events there is all the cheesy stuff we would do like watch Steel Magnolias and Princess Diaries. When my mom was sick we did marathons of Jon & Kate Plus 8 and What Not to Wear on the days she was too sick to get out of bed. We spent a lot of time together when I was a kid and as an adult. She came up to Mother's Weekend at BYU-Idaho the first year I was married and we both rode scooters around town to lunch and we had a ball. My mom was really conservative but would not let you know it because she always liked to be a little different or doing the new cool thing.

As I get older, as I think most of us would agree, you look at your mom and don't know how they did it all and still seemed sane. I hope I can make it as a mom. My mom was strong willed (to say the least as any of you who knew her know) and opinionated but that is so much of what made her her and how she got so much accomplished and done in her life and for her family and others. I was taught much of service, sacrifice, and giving from my mom. My testimony of the gospel grew leaps and bounds as she encouraged me to go to seminary when I was younger and again while she fought and endured through cancer. Even at the very end, she was still my mom teaching me much even when she couldn't speak. I just wanted to say that I love her and miss her terribly but she'll always be my mom. Happy Birthday & Happy Mother's Day to the best mom I could have ever asked for.