Happy Mother’s Day 2011

This morning started out great. Autumn & I got up and got ready and went to church. About 10 minutes into sacrament meeting, Dad & Andrew surprised us and came and sat on the bench for a second, handed me a WalMart sack, and left. I looked inside and it was an orchid corsage that Dad gets me & Mom every year. He had it yesterday but forgot to give it to me. That was such a sweet and fun surprise for Dad & Andrew to come hand deliver it to me.

My class must have wanted to give me a special Mother’s Day treat b/c they were really good today. It was great. After church, Autumn & I came home and changed clothes and headed over to Mom & Dad’s.

Poor Dad & his owie stitches. Mom made him lay down on the couch and put an ice pack on it.

Lexie & I were obsessed w/ this game on the iPad called Find It Pro. We would get so happy and literally cheer out loud when we would finally pass a level. We spent most of the afternoon playing that and it we had a great time. It was a nice and relaxing way to spend Mother’s Day.

The kids must have sensed it was Mother’s Day (we told them, but they don’t “get it” at that age), and were so good and played in the back room together for a long time. They finally emerged and wanted to go out to the garden to help Papa cut beet greens.

They both realized they were wearing yellow shirts and wanted me to get a picture of them together.

Here are the fruits (or veggies) of their labor. BA HA HA! I am so thankful that Dad plants a garden so the kids can experience the fun of picking vegetables and creating memories with him.

After picking vegetables, the kids wanted to play on their scooters. They raced down the driveway and poor Andrew fell and scraped up his leg but was a champ and got right back up and kept going b/c he couldn’t let Autumn beat him.

For dinner, we had Ollie North chicken (which was so flavorful and juicy), grilled corn on the cob, creamed potatoes & peas, and squash and onions which were fresh out of the garden. It was a meal fit for Mother’s Day queens. I had offered to make dinner at my house for Mom earlier in the week but she said, “No, you’re a mother, too.” She is so good to us and spoils us. Lexie & I made sure to jump in and help b/c she’s the best mother ever!

After we ate and cleaned up all the dishes, we started playing the Find It game and got Dad involved in it this time, too. Nick took this picture of us w/out me knowing and it was funny to find it amongst my pictures when I downloaded them on my computer. We were finally able to beat all the levels. WOOT WOOT!

The kids LOVE being outside and Papa’s the only one nice enough to go out in the heat and humidity w/ them. They were having him blow bubbles so they could chase the bubbles around and pop them. Their laughs are so contagious when they play this game.

It was time for Lexie & Andrew to pack up and leave so they could go pick Jon up at the airport. I had them put on their garden shoes so we could run out to the steps in the backyard and get our traditional picture.

Kissing Cousins

It was WONDERFUL to spend the day w/ Lexie & Mom. I am blessed beyond measure to have them and other wonderful women in my life. I got to see Liz at church and she gave me a big hug and wished me a Happy Mother’s Day and I got to wish her one right back. Mothers have such power and influence in the world and are very literally able to change the future for better or worse by how they raise their children. I am surrounded by such excellent examples of motherhood from my own mother to Rufio to my aunts and cousins and friends.

We left Mom & Dad’s around 7:00, which is early for us, so Mom could have some peace and quiet on Mother’s Day (that’s all she wanted when we asked her what we could give her). Autumn needed a bath after being outside and running around, so I put her in the tub and she had brought a root beer can from Mom & Dad’s w/ her and was drinking it in the tub. I couldn’t help but laugh and call her the Queen of Sheba. We watched Army Wives together and then went to sleep.

Being a mother is one of the very best things that has ever happened to me. Autumn fills my life with so much joy and happiness. I went back and looked at my blog posts from the last 4 years on Mother’s Day. My first Mother’s Day in 2007 was horrible and it wasn’t fun to go back and relive that, but they have all gotten better since then. It’s fun that Lexie is pregnant b/c I just sat next to her on the couch and put my hand on her belly and got to feel the baby kick a couple times. Motherhood really is a miracle and I’m honored to be a mother.