Matthew walking his bike around.

Untitled from Kelli Melin and Vimeo.

In honor of Cara's Mom

Today is the 2 year anniversary of the death of my friend Cara's Mother. She has a wonderful post Here about the things she loved about and learned from her Mother. I wanted to post 5 things that I love about my own Mother in her honor. (thanks for the idea, Cara!)

1. She loves her children (my brothers and I) so much that it's unfathomable to me. I guess having my own kids now, I do understand. She would do anything for us and our babies. I feel the same about my babies now, too.

2. She taught me the importance of doing what is right. She has instilled in me the importance of doing the right thing. I am so grateful for that lesson. Each time I return the extra change or make sure that everything I have is paid for, the sales people look at me like I am crazy for passing up the opportunity at a freebie! Mom always pops into my head. I don't think I could take the guilt if I didn't make things right, though.

3. My Mother taught me the value of hard work. Now, I didn't appreciate this as I was learning it, but now that I have it, I am truly grateful. My Mom taught me how to roll up my sleeves and get the job done, whether it's cleaning up a mess, putting in an honest days work, or doing daily chores- and boy do I have a lot of chores these days!!

4. My Mom taught me the importance of being true to myself. She has always set the example of being herself in every situation. She maintains the things that are important to her no matter what the situation is. She has taught me to be proud of who I am and not embarrassed or timid at my differences.

5. My Mother taught me that Jesus and Heavenly Father love me and will always be there for me when I need them, all I need to do is ask. She also gave me the building blocks for the testimony I have today. My Mother set a good example when fulfilling her callings, taking us to church and making church and God a priority. All things I am now trying to do for my kiddies.

I am so grateful for you Mom and that there are Mothers in this world. Heavenly Father sure knew what he was doing! Thanks for all that you have done for me, I love you more than I typically tell you.

My Mother isn't perfect, but she has taught me so much in the last 30 years. I am sure that there are many more things to learn. I'm all ears, Mom...

Summer gets tubes in her ears

Summer in her "same day surgery" room. We watched Dora and the Backyardigans while we waited for our turn. We got to the hospital at 5 am, so we had lots of time to watch. She really wanted to eat breakfast but was pretty understanding that she had to see the Dr. first.
This is her wagon ride down stairs to the pre-op holding area. She was not quite sure about where she was heading.
While waiting the the pre-op holding area, she warmed up quite a bit. When they pulled her wagon off to the OR she didn't even notice that I wasn't with her. Later at home she told me that she smelled the strawberries on the table. (the gas)
Showing Daddy her bracelet.
Matthew thinks that the hospital is great fun!

When Nature calls...

This is my absolute favorite picture from our trip. I forgot to do a post for it. It's at our ranch and the deer in the background walked right up and looked at T Jay for a few moments and then ran off! If you double click to enlarge it, you can see it really well.

It's all about T Jay!

This is TJay's absolute favorite pastime. What is it you say? Spraying the hose. Yep, hours of entertainment right in the yard. of course he's always soaked when he's done. I love the hair do!
Watering the grass
The aftermath.


TJay-ism #1 We went on a boat ride in MT and afterwards he said that "Jesus puts on special sandals and then can walk right across the water." We had a good laugh and then we tried to explain how miracles work.
TJay-ism #2 I was driving to Angie's in MT and as I rounded the corner I hit the curb pretty good and said, "oops!" TJay said, "That's OK Mom, the police won't know. They're far away." Again, I laughed and then explained that It was just an accident.

T Jay-ism #3 T Jay was sitting behind me playing with my hair. He says, "Mom, you have light and dark hair? Did you paint the dark on?" I then told him that they paint the light on the dark and he says, "oh, is that how Jesus does it?" :)