Mother's Day 2012

What a wonderful Mother's Day I had.  Many of you know that our son, Tannon is serving a 2-year mission for our church in Spain (Did I mention he gets home the end of August? WOO HOO!). What you may not know is that we only get to talk to him twice per year: once on Mother's Day and again on Christmas.  We do get weekly emails but the 'in person' stuff is limited. It's hard but it really helps the missionaries stay focused and give everything they have to the work. As you can imagine, we moms live for those 2 days.  We even got to skype! Easton and Daysha came up for the day from Cedar City so they got to be here to talk to Tannon too.  Kori and Easton were face timing at the same time and so we held the phone up to the computer so Kori could talk to Tannon and he could meet the new twins. I had all of my family 'here' with me in one or another for a little while on Mother's Day.  It was heavenly.  I included a photo of Tannon from a baptims last week. He is on the far right.

My four kiddos (in 5/2010...a few months before Tannon left on his mission):

Everyone took good care of me.  My mom and dad had us all over for a cook out. Dan-the-Man even made the food our family was assigned (Yeah, Dan!). My sisters and their families were there, as well as my grandmother.  She is 93!

On Saturday, Dan-the-Man and Dawson took me to a late lunch and to the new movie, The Avengers. So much fun! I think the Hulk beating up Loki was my favorite part. What does that say about me? I'm not sure I want to know.
 
Monday morning I got a call from an in-tears Kori. Daci had cut off all of her hair. If that isn't a big reminder of the joyful and not-so-joyful parts of motherhood, I don't know what is. You can read about that fiasco here.  Even with days like Kori had on Monday, days with tears and frustration, there is NOTHING quite like being a mother.  I know one day she will look back on that day and laugh...but it might be a while.

As I reminisce about my years raising all of my children, I find joy so many things: not just the perfect days, but even the days that were not so perfect.  Being a wife and a mother are the two most important things I have ever or will ever do. I am so grateful to be a woman and able to fill these two roles. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I am so grateful that my two married kids have chosen such wonderful spouses. I love Rick and Daysha just like my own kids!

Rick and Kori, 10/2011 (Kori was 7 months pregnant with the twins)

Daysha and Easton

I cannot end this post without saying how awesome it is to be a grandma too! I LOVE these three little munchkins.

Daci

Livvi and Street

Last, but certainly not least, I can't forget to say how much I love my hubby. Thank you, Dan-O for making me the happiest woman, wife and mother alive!

 I'll be back with more artwork and the unveiling of my June Play Group classes in a day or two. Stay tuned...

Proud Mommy

Do you ever wonder what your kids will be like when they are grown up? Do you wonder if they will be wonderful spouses? Because we as moms (and dads) raise them from day one, not only do we see their strengths, but we also get a glimpse at their weaknesses. As my two oldest children have gotten married, I have hoped that they would be wonderful to their spouses and stay in love forever.  Both Kori and Easton have chosen wonderful spouses and I have hoped and prayed they would be just as wonderful in return.

Today, I found myself in tears as I read my son and daughter-in-law's blog. Daysha created a post just about Easton and I found my heart swelling with pride (Yes, I know pride is bad. It's okay when it comes to our kids though, right? Maybe not, but that's what I keep telling myself.).  Check out Daysha's post here: http://journeyofnoend.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-guy.html

Thank you, Easton for being such a sweet hubby to Daysha. Thank you, Daysha for taking such wonderful care of our boy. I love you both!

Studio J Layout and Motherhood

Today I am sharing the 2nd of 10 two-page layouts I made this week with Studio J to create an album about my family. I thought this one was perfect to share on Mother's Day. This layout ended up being a hybrid layout. The photo you see here is BEFORE I added some tactile flowers and sparkles to the layout. It celebrates my daughter, Kori and her motherhood. If you click on the photo, you can see it larger and in more detail. If you missed my last post, the one that showed the first layout in the series of 10 I will be sharing over the next week or so, please refer back.

Here is what the journaling on this layout says, "Kori has been beautiful since the day she was born, inside and out. While that is true, I don't think she has ever been more beautiful to me than since she became a mother. Watching her with her little daughter, Daci, seeing the love in her eyes, watching her mature as she fills the role of wife and mother, and seeing how much she loves doing it makes her glow. As her mother, there is nothing more that I could ever want for Kori than for her to be married to the man of her dreams for eternity, to experience motherhood, and to love both of those things more than anything else. That's what it's all about. And that's just beautiful."

I am so blessed to have such wonderful mothers in my life. My own mother, Nedra is truly an angel on earth. I couldn't have been given a better mother. She is kind and sweet, through and through. She always put her family first. My grandmother, Winona is someone I am very much like. We both love pretty dishes, cooking, entertaining, playing games, and are super-competitive. She is 92 and still going strong. My daughter, Kori is such a good little mommy. I am so proud of her and Rick and the way they are raising our granddaughter, Daci. It is so rewarding to watch my daughter teach her little girl right from wrong and love her like I loved my little munchkins.

These two photos are priceless to me. They are 5 generations: Daci, with her mother, Kori, with her mother, me, with my mother, Nedra with her mother, Winona.

This Mother's Day was so special because there are 2 times a year we missionary moms actually get to talk to our missionary sons: Mother's Day and Christmas. I got to spend a whole hour on the phone with my Tannon this morning. It was heaven on earth. I couldn't have gotten a better Mother's Day gift! I love you, T-Man.

Thank you to my family for spoiling me even though they couldn't all be here with me. The flowers that arrived yesterday were so beautiful. Kori wrote a beautiful post on her blog today too.

Thank you to my hubby, Dan-the-Man who has journeyed through parenthood with me. Thank you to my 4 beautiful children who have made motherhood such a pleasure.

Happy Mother's Day to all of my readers. I hope your day is wonderful.

We're back...with a SWOOSH!

If your youngest child were playing in the Utah Summer Games, if he did a great job, if his team made it all the way to the game that would have put them into bronze medal contention, if they lost that game on a last second buzzer beater shot by two, wouldn't you be happy? Nope! Not me. All I could think of the whole time was that Dawson, my baby (known still to me as "Dawsie") is growing up. He is going into 9th grade (that sounds much better to me that his 'freshman year'). He is beginning to look like a teenager. He is beginning to act like a teenager (heaven forbid). He played basketball like a teenager. Gone are the days of watching him play and when he travelled or fouled I thought, "How cute!" I have to admit that he is past the years of childhood and into the years of becoming a young man. Darn. I know, get over it. Celebrate where he is right now. I'm trying. But letting my baby grow up is pretty hard. I'm working on it.

We just got back from Cedar City last night (hence the lack of posts the past few days). The team Dawson played with in this tournament is also all 9th graders, but they played up in the sophomore division in the Summer Games. They held their own. They fought hard. I was proud of them. Dawson was especially happy with this little series of photos I took of him shooting the front end of 2 shots at the foul line (although if I ever design a gym, I will add MUCH better lighting for moms taking photos!). He said, "Look at that form!" Yep, he's definitely a teenage boy. I am slowly learning to accept it. But, I'm still calling him Dawsie! It's a mother's right. So there.

By the way, it's good to be home.

Motherhood is...

Motherhood is joyous and challenging, frustrating and rewarding, fulfilling and excruciating, exhausting and exhilarating. I think you could use just about every adjective in the book and still not come anywhere close to describing what motherhood really is. The only way to know is to experience it yourself. Watching my daughter become a mother a few weeks ago was definitely one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. Now she can know the same amazing love for a child that I have tried to describe to her, and all of the many other feelings that come with motherhood. We can share those feelings and laugh and cry together. Thank you for making me a grandma, Kori and Rick. You did good!

Perspective...

Why don't we have perspective when we need it? Like for instance, when my children were babies, instead of just sitting there and soaking in their sweetness 24/7, I was always trying to get the house clean, the dinner made, or whatever. Well, now that my munchkins are all grown and my oldest has one of her own, I get it! Now! Not 25 years ago when I was starting out and really needed to 'get it.' Isn't that just how it is? I sat for hours today just holding my new little granddaughter, Daci; just breathing in her sweet scent, just feeling overwhelmed with the miracle of life, just enjoying watching her breathe while she slept, and just thanking my Heavenly Father for my blessings. Not once did I think about cleaning or cooking or any of the other thousand things I need to get done. It was heaven. Speaking of heaven, one day when I meet my Maker I am going to ask Him one little question: Could we change up the whole perspective thing and give that to us when we really need it, instead of much, much later? I wonder what He'll say.