To all the moms in my life,

Happy Mother's Day! I don't think I can do this without crying, but since I'm typing, I guess that is OK.

To my Mom, who is my biggest fan and always has been. You are my cheerleader, and because of you I know I can do anything I put my mind to. You taught me that life isn't fair and to deal with it. You taught me how to be well-behaved and how to raise well-behaved kids. We share a love of reading, of major league baseball, of crafting, of Seinfeld and of Law and Order. You taught me by example what a wonderful marriage looks like. I am so lucky to have you as my mom and feel blessed and proud to be your daughter. You are the person that I love to talk to everyday. You love your family and you always puts others first. You are a wonderful grandmother and I love watching you interact with Mylie and Blake. Simply put, I love you so much.

To Mary, who is a wonderful mother-in-law. Thanks for raising such an amazing son. He is a wonderful husband and father and I know it is because of your influence. Thank you for teaching him his gentle nature with children and animals. Thank you for teaching him a love of reading. Thank you for teaching him to work hard. He is a great provider for our family and is not afraid of dirty dishes or dirty laundry. Thank you fo all the love and kindness you show to me. Thank you for being a wonderful grandma to Mylie and Blake. We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

To Grandma, who I miss everyday. Thank you for your abundance of love that you had for everyone. For your love of the Savior and your amazing example of leading a Christlike life. Thank you for teaching all of us about service. Thank you for backyard barbeques with homeade root beer, for windy Memorial Days decorating graves with you and learning about our family history, for letters, emails and instant messages once I was out on my own. Thank you for sharing in my big moments, no matter what choices I have made in my life, I know that you supported me and loved me. Thank you for all the love and memories that will sustain me until I see you again.

To Courtney and Bailey, who will make awesome mothers someday. Thanks for being such fun, wonderful, loving aunts. Mylie loves you guys to pieces and doesn't think her day is complete until she calls you to chat. She misses you like mad when we don't see you (and I do too). Thank you for the kindness and love that you show to my kiddos. Love you guys!

To Holli, my amazing sister-in-law and friend. Thank you for being such a great aunt to my kids. You are also an amazing mom to Darcy, Max and Eliza. I admire so many things you do and love that I can call you for advice or ideas. I love spending time with you.

To Alicia, who takes amazing care of Mylie and Blake twice a week while I work. Leaving my babies is not an easy thing to do, but leaving them with you makes it OK. I know that it is your job, but I know that you love them too, which makes it so much easier. Thanks for snuggling my baby boy when I can't and for providing a safe atmosphere for Mylie to have the time of her life in!

Thanks to Mylie and Blake, for the opportunity to be your Momma. I don't always know what I am doing and there are things I wish I'd done differently. I know there are so many things I need to improve, but I also know that I love you with every bit of my heart. I remember quite a few Mother's Days when my heart ached to be a Mom, who knew I would have two beautiful kids to fill that ache? Cheesy, but my cup truly runneth over.

Hugs to my girlfriends and cousins, who are wonderful moms raising wonderful kids in a tough world. Someone shared this thought today in church and it really touched me and helped me to remember how important my role as a mother is. “When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.” (E.T. Sullivan)

Practice, practice, practice!

OK, so I am taking an online photography class and you will probably get bored seeing random pictures of me trying to practice what I learn. These are some of the blossoms on our Japanese cherry blossom tree. We planted this tree the first spring we lived here and it has the most beautiful color. But it is only this vibrant for a few days and every year I tell myself I am going to take a picture of it and every year I don't. But ah-ha! This year I did. These were taken around 9:30 tonight.


Mylie totally loves dandelions, so really, these are for her. Jeff absolutely despises them. In the spring they are so bad in our yard, he cringes and curses everytime we pull into the driveway. The other day Mylie told me, "Mom, Daddy hates, hates, hates these flowers, but I still think they are beautiful." So cute, what little kid doesn't remember blowing on these? You know that True Value commercial with the little girl blowing on the dandelion? I laugh so hard and think of Jeff everytime.

And oh my word, I am glad that no one was outside when I was taking this one. I was totally laying on the ground to get the picture. A lovely sight I am sure!

What not to wear

So this morning I get up, shower, do my hair and makeup, but since I didn't have to be at work until the afternoon I put on a t-shirt, a pair of sweats and my crocs. I took the kids to the sitter and then was going to come home and get dressed for work. So while at Alicia's she asks me what I am doing today and I tell her that I am headed to work this afternoon. Mylie, who I didn't even think was paying attention to our conversation, turns and looks at me and says, "Mom, that is not your work shirt, those are not your work pants and those are not your work shoes." LOL!

More pictures

Mylie has been working so hard to learn how to pump on the swing. Looks like she is getting it down!
Sometimes I think the silly shots during photo shots are the best, they capture true personalities. Here is one I snapped.
Papa trying to be patient while putting gloves on Mylie. Who knew it could be so difficult to get all five fingers in all five finger holes?
Born to be wild!
Papa Hammond and the kids.

I love these kids!

"Mom, is today the day we go back to Star, Idaho?"

Is what Mylie said this morning and she climbed into bed with me at Grandma's house. I told her that yes today we got to go home and see Daddy and see her new room. Her eyes welled up with tears as she snuggled closer to me . She said, "But Mom, I'll miss Bailey so much when she goes back to Utah and I will miss Grandma and Papa so much. I want to be with them forever and ever and ever. I miss all my Grandmas and Papas when I'm not with them." This little girl's heart is so sweet ... and all I can do is hug her and tell her that I miss them too.

But when we did get back to Star, Idaho, Mylie was OK with it. When she saw Daddy and he showed her her new bedroom, I could hear her squeals from the driveway. It was tough to get her to bed tonight, she was loving her new purple bedroom. "Thank you Daddy, thank you Daddy!" Pictures to follow, I'm too tired tonight!

Over the river and through the woods ...

Well we have had a great weekend so far. Thursday morning the kids and I left to come to Idaho Falls to stay and help with my mom after her surgery. But let me back up ... I seriously, honestly was completely ready to leave at 7. This is a feat. I am not a morning person and add two kids in and it makes it even tougher. But the car was packed the kid's jackets were on and I was just getting ready to buckle Blake in his car seat. My cell phone rings and it is my Dad asking if I have left yet. He tells me not to hurry because IT IS SNOWING and apparently the road between Burley and Raft River was terrible and there was a chance it would get closed. What the heck? MAY 1ST!!! So we waited a bit and I checked the online traffic report and it didn't look like the road was closing. So we leave about 7:35 and I hit all of the school and commuting traffic and it is 8:30 by the time we even get to the freeway. Ugh. By 8:45 Mylie is asking how much longer to Grandmas. Lucky for me, both kids slept most of the way, I got to listen to a CD that had no kids music on it. That is a rare event. (And the roads were fine, but there was snow all along the side of the road from Burley on ... spring, where are you?)

Our time here has been good though. I don't feel like I have done much to take care of my Mom, but I have really enjoyed just spending the time with her. Mylie is so cute, if we would leave the house for anything, before we could go she had to make sure that someone was there to take care of Grandma. She has had a great time, she loves being here with Grandma and Papa. She went with Papa to run errands on Saturday morning and went on a 4-wheeler ride today. Mylie, Papa and I also went to the cemetary today to take flowers to my Grandma Ritchie's grave as it was her birthday yesterday. Papa Hammond came over today for dinner and also on Friday, and on Saturday we went to see Papa Jack. Ben and Holli and the kids were here on Friday and Saturday, and there is nothing that Mylie loves more than playing with her cousins. The are so cute together! Holli's dad took pictures of all the kids together for us for a mother's day present for my Mom. It was great to have him take them, then Holli and I could position (and bribe) the kids. They turned out so cute and I will post pictures when I get back.

Bailey had also been here since Thursday night to help and we have had fun together (and Court, we MISS you!). I think Mylie almost made Bailey cry tonight because after our girl party, watching "Enchanted," Bailey was putting Mylie to bed and Mylie kept saying, "But Bailey, I'll miss you so much when you go back to Utah! I'll really, really miss you."

And one funny story ... this time about Max. The other night Ben and Holli and the kids were leaving and Bailey and Mylie were out telling them goodbye. Max says, "I love you," and Bailey says, "I love you too." Then Max (4) replies with, "I was talking to Mylie you idiot!" I about keeled over with laughter when Bailey came in and told me. Gotta love these kids.

We head back tomorrow afternoon as I have to be back to work on Tuesday. We miss Jeff and are excited to see him. He has been super busy with house projects this weekend ... somethings are just easier to do without kids around. But I love him forever because he got Mylie's room painted, carpet cleaned and everything moved in. Mylie can't wait to see it when we get home, and neither can I.