Mother's...

And on that note... Happy Mother's Day! Ha! I felt bad this weekend for putting up a rant about my child just before Mother's Day. But the reality is that sometimes motherhood is hard. It can be really frustrating and stressful at times... but it is also very rewarding and something that I cherish and love so much.

I think that Mother's Day can be hard for lots of people for lots of different reasons. It kind of makes me wonder why we celebrate Mother's/Father's Day at all. I think that every woman at one time or another has a really difficult Mother's Day. Whether it's because you don't have kids and you really want to be a mother, or because your mother is gone and you miss her. Maybe you have lost a child, and miss them on Mother's Day. Or maybe you have small kids and it's a real challenge sometimes to be a mom and feel good about your mothering (umm... hello! Raising my hand here!), maybe you don't have the type of relationship with your mom or kids that you wish you did and that makes it a hard day.

I think another way it can be hard is that I see lots of women who expect their husbands to jump to the moon and back on Mother's Day or else they claim it was a bad Mother's Day. They want breakfast in bed, no responsibility for the day with their kids or house work, they want the dishes done... floors mopped... noses and bums wiped by dad all day long so that they can relax! Not to mention they want chocolates, flowers, or some other gift to symbolize to them that they are loved and appreciated as a mother dangit! And if things fall short... it wasn't a very good day.

So the conclusion that I came to yesterday as another Mother's Day came and went is that I believe that families are important. I think that if you have a Mother or children that you love and care about you should be doing this all year long and not just on Mother's Day. I think that life is short, nobody is in the perfect situation and enjoy what you have at this very moment because things can change so fast. I think that Mother's Day is important because families are important, and mother's are a big part of the family.

I had very low expectations for Mother's Day yesterday. Mostly because my husband was in the middle of his work week and I knew that I would only see him for about 15 minutes yesterday (and that is pretty much how it was!). So I was very pleasantly surprised that he came home from work at 6:30 AM and made me a nice breakfast to wake up to. I got to spend the day with just me and my boy... trying to keep ourselves entertained until we went to church, and then we went and visited the mom's/grandma's in our lives. I was planning on leftovers for dinner because I didn't want to make myself dinner, but my mom invited us over and I had a wonderful dinner made by my dad. It was a great day. One of the best parts of the day was that I got to sit and enjoy lots of little kicks from this baby I am currently nurturing inside of my body, as well as cuddle a sweet boy who would come sit on my lap. I am very, very blessed. I've had some rough Mother's Days in the past and so I tried to really soak in my motherhood yesterday and all it entails.

My greatest wish in life is to be a mother and I am so blessed to be able to do that.

Anyway, I'm rambling on about this... but I wanted to do a little tribute to the mom's in my life. They are so important to me.

First... my mom.

High school graduation picture I think. It has been so nice to be back in Utah and to be able to spend more time with my mom and family again. My mom works really hard for her family. A lot of the things I do as a mom I learned from her. I clean with vinegar water a lot of the time. I learned to sew and cook because of her. I make to do lists a mile long because of her... I learned that raising kids is hard work and she has sacrificed a lot for us. I love my siblings and am grateful that my parents wanted to have a big family and brought all of them into the world, they are some of my best friends. I was able to spend the weekend with my mom. One thing that she likes to do is  have birthday dinners for us kids on our birthdays. Saturday was my little sister Carly's birthday, but my mom was recovering from a surgery and worried that she wouldn't be up to making Carly's favorite foods for her birthday. So I tried to step in and help out, and made my mom's fried chicken and homemade gravy (which was my grandma's recipe) as Carly requested. I was nervous... I've never been successful at making homemade gravy EVER before. But it turned out great! My mom felt well enough to come and help me with the gravy part and it was nice to stand at her stove, in her kitchen, wearing her apron, with my mom... making gravy. It sounds so simple, but it is memories like this that I will cherish. Thank you for all that you do mom! We love you!

Next is my husband's mom Linda...

I've never met this woman who raised my husband. She passed away after we had been on 3 dates from lung cancer. But over the last 11 1/2 years that I have been around her family I feel as though I have a good idea of who she was and is. She raised an amazing son... and amazing kids! Her 11 living kids are some of the best people I have ever met in my life and I am so glad to be part of their family. My husband's love of gardening comes from her. She would grow big gardens and plant beautiful flowers around her home. I can tell she was a selfless woman, partly because she had 12 children. How can you have 12 kids and not be selfless? I watch her kids, especially her daughters work hard to help each other. They go do fun things together, they make yummy food, they try hard to include everyone. They are very selfless and if someone needs help with something, they jump and don't ever look back or complain. They are great examples to me of the person that I hope to become and I think it's because this is how their mom raised them to be. They all miss her... I know they do. But they have carried on with their lives since she left in a beautiful way. I look forward to meeting this wonderful woman someday.

Next is my husband's step mom Karen...

I had never seen an old picture of Karen until last night, when I asked her to dig one out for me! I love her short, ratted bob! How stylish! Karen has been in our family for the past 9 years (I think) when she married Trent's dad. We moved away shortly after they got married and I didn't really get a chance to know her too well. That was until she did something for us that I never expected anyone to ever do. She let us move into her basement for 6 months while we tried to get settled back into Utah. She and my father in law wanted us to move in! She insisted on paying for all the food, and would take us out or treat us to whatever when my husband was out of work. She didn't complain about my wild little boy running all over her house and spoiled him rotten. She showed me that she cared about us and wanted to do whatever she could to help us get back on our feet and start our lives up here so that we could be close to family again. I am so so so grateful to Karen for this. She is a good grandma to all these little step grandkids she has. She puts on amazing Easter egg hunts each year and buys Christmas presents for the kids that out shine Santa's! She takes good care of Trent's dad which I think is so important. They make each other happy. I love Karen and am grateful to have her in our lives. She loves playing games so we try to make it out there whenever we can to have game nights with her. I've missed not living with her for the past year (believe it or not) and have learned a lot from her example.

Being a mother is hard work, and I'm grateful for the women in my life and husband's life who have sacrificed to help raise us teach us how to care for others.