My Mother

I know it's not Mother's Day, and her birthday is in late September, but I did a few things the other day that totally made me think of my mom. Okay, I think of her everyday, but this made me think about her skills, and all the incredible things she does. Since I hadn't updated my blog in a long time, and the last few blogs were rather boring, judging by the responses that I got (or didn't get for that matter), I thought this would be blog worthy and PERHAPS not so boring.

Now, I'm pretty proud of the fact that my mom is my mom....it's a righteous pride, if there is such a thing. But anytime someone asks if I'm Briant and Clyda's daughter I'm proud to say, "YES!" My parents are AMAZING in every sense of the word. I'm just going to touch on a few of the things that my mom can do.

My mom is an INCREDIBLE gardener, and grows rediculously beautiful gardens every summer. People are constantly calling or stopping by to ask her advice on how to do this or that in their yard and vegetable gardens and if she doesn't already know the answer, which she usually does, she will find it and let them know. The constant calling and stopping by gets annoying to us kids sometimes because she has such an amazing heart and the kindest spirit that she would do anything for anyone, putting all of her wants and sometimes needs (like food during the day for sustaining life and energy) aside just to help them. When we were kids, the garden was the learning center for working hard and managing money. Each of us planted our own section of garden, we weeded it, and when it was harvest time we harvested for her whatever vegetable she needed and she would pay us by the pound, plus our work. She and my dad would then sit down with us and help us divide our money: Tithing first, savings second, and spending money third.

That leads to another thing that I love about my mom. She is so kind, and sweet, and FUN! When I was a kid I never realized how much she gave up to be a mother of 7 BUSY BUSY kids and the wife of a teacher, coach, Bishop, and a father of 7 BUSY kids. She gave up so many things for us and spent her time teaching us and helping us learn essentials for being successful people. She taught us the Gospel by example and helped us learn simple but important principles that I'm sure were hard for her to get through to us sometimes. She never gave up...even on Tyson! (I'm kind of kidding, Tyson) I should say, even on me!

My mom is FIT! I don't know very many moms of 8 kids that look as incredible as she does. Much to my own dismay, she looks like she could be my sister instead of my mom, but she is healthy! I'm grateful for that because she will be around for a LONG time. One day we were hiking Big Hill together and she told me that she wants to hike Big Hill on her 80th birthday. I can't put it past her...I'm sure she'll do it!!

The last thing I wanted to brag about my mom on is her incredible home-making skills. My mom can make bread with her eyes closed, she can stir a pot on the stove with her foot while she's washing dishes at the sink. She can keep laundry going and vacuum the house, dust the furniture, and wash the windows all in one morning. She sewed all of our school clothes when I was a little girl and spend countless hours making doll clothes for my Cabbage-Patch doll, Janet Colleen, all while I was hovering over her and begging her to paint my finger nails at the same time! My mom can change the oil on all of our vehicles and still be CLEAN when she's done! She can work all day and look just as beautiful as she did when she got out of the shower that morning. Okay maybe some of those things are an exaggeration (I've never seen her stir a pot on the stove with one foot while she washed the dishes) but what I'm trying to say is that my mom is amazing!!

I was making home-made pizza the other day--dough and everything--when I had a thought "my mom could do this with her eyes closed and she could do all this WAY before she got married" and here I am, just getting if figured out. But, the pizza turned out wonderfully, as did the Peach Delight I made, and our dinner guests were huge fans so I dubbed it a complete success! Maybe, someday, I can be just like my mom!! Thanks, Mom! I love you!