She loves surprises, and lucky for her my dad is good at them! Last year for her birthday he flew us all in and had us waiting at a restaurant when she walked in. All 5 of her kids from 3 different states there to surprise her. The next night, they both spoke at a fireside and her 3 daughters got to hear her talk. It was amazing and something I'll never forget.
She does wonderful things with her daughters... like trips to NYC and frequent visits to the 3 separate states we live in. When we were graduating, we all got to take a trip with my mom, just the two of us. We went to Canada and upstate New York, and last year she took Tanner to Scotland.
She was the most amazing wedding planner anyone could ask for. I was living in Utah and getting married in California, so she did almost everything. I just had to pick what I wanted. I was so spoiled. John is terrified we will have daughters with high expectations because of it.
She is always trying to keep her daughters close to each other. When Summer had Alex, I was so sad that I couldn't make the trip to Ohio to see her, so my mom gave me a flight and said it was worth it to her to help her daughters maintain close relationships. We are constantly flying cross country to be together for special occasions, all thanks to my mom and dad.
She is so much fun to spend time with. Whenever she visits, or I go home, or we travel, we stay up way too late talking about all kinds of things. I love that now that I'm older, we are able to have a realtionship that is more like friends. We were not friends when I was growing up. : ) She is a good mom who was always my "mom". Looking back I realize how lucky I am that she was that way.
Her and my dad are endlessly supportive of everything I do. Being far away can be hard when you go through tough things, but my mom is always just one flight away. Last January, I had to to have surgery, and she flew out on a few days notice to come take care of me so John could go back to work. When we went through In Vitro, she offered countless times to come out and help me. She is one of the busiest people I know, but she will drop anything for her family.
Her and my dad are the best vacation planners. For as long as I can remember, we have taken awesome family trips annually. Christmas of 2006 we spent in Whistler, Canada. It was so much fun. They make it a priority to get all of us together whenever possible.
I love that my mom has such good taste! This also came in handy when she did so much for my wedding! Shopping with her is like shopping with any girlfriend. She has a far better wardrobe than I do. We even have bought some matching things, which is ok, since we live in separate states.
She is so talented. She came out and helped make my baby bedding. She scrapbooks like no one else I have ever seen, and John WISHES I could cook and bake like she does! We never eat better than we do when we go home to California.What I love most about my mother, is that faith and family come first. Julie Beck gave a talk about what women of the church should do best. She said "we must stand strong and immovable in faith, strong and immovable in family, and strong and immovable in relief." My mom is the perfect example. She has always had faith, and her testimony has always been a rock to me, she puts her family first, and has served in her callings far beyond what is asked of her. No one I know lives up to these standards like she does. I'm always impressed.
I love you mom. I can't wait to see you in just a few days! I hope that as I become a mother, I can learn to follow in your footsteps.
Happy Birthday, we love you!
5 comments:
I enjoyed your post Shell-bell. Ditto to everything you said!!! I've seriously got to get my act together with picture taking though! I'm good at it at home with my kids but I'm missing pics from all these family events.
Michele - you left me in tears = I read Tiff's and then moved on to yours and it was quite the emotional journey. Thanks for the kind words and pictures of all our fun trips together. I am lucky that I have daughters that will let their old mom join in on the fun with them. Your Dad and I were reading the exact same line (from differnt computers) and were laughing about how you and weren't friends when you were growing up. I feel privileged to be amongst your good friends now. I'm so excited for you that you get to begin the wonderful journey of motherhood any day now. It has it's ups and downs but all and all there is nothing better! Love you!
Nice post, sister...and lots of cute pictures : ) so many good memories!
Summer said it right. Ditto Shel, Ditto. I could hear mom crying from the friggin house
what a sweet tribute- your mom is a neat lady. so excited for you... your baby is almost here! Rose's water broke this morning and her baby should be here any moment (I had noticed you commented about strollers:). good luck! can't wait to get an update!
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