It Was Mom: A Mother's Day Tribute To Moms #itwasmom

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year. There's something really special about celebrating a day that is in honor of YOU and your mother(s), grandmothers, and all of your heritage--as well as all of the mothers worldwide who live or have ever lived. I don't know quite how to explain it, but I feel as if all mothers join in this special bond on this one day a year and are revered for all of the world-changing work they do. There's something so sweet and so powerful about the whole day that causes a continual lump in your throat. Tears are close to the surface and the whole day is somehow softer, and lighter, with a gentle air about it.



And so today (and tomorrow), I wish to express my deep gratitude for the mothers in my life. My young women leaders who mothered me in their own special way; grandmothers on both sides of the veil who have shaped me, nurtured me, comforted me when no one else was there, and been my very best friends; a mother-in-law who treats me as if I were her own daughter, loves me, and cares for me; and most especially, for my very own, one-of-a-kind, perfectly perfect, all-star mother who raised me, loved me when no one else did, championed everything I've ever attempted, inspired me to great heights, and in reality, laid down her very life for me time after time, in so many ways. I love you Mother. Forever and for always you will be the one revered as Mother Supreme in my eyes.



Love Always,



Jamie (Gigi)



And, if you have a minute, watch this short video.

To all of the mothers everywhere, this is the sweetest tribute of the year.

#itwasmom

April's Top 13

My sweet lovely April, where did you go so quickly? It seemed as if I turned around and you were gone. And I am only left with a bunch of picture-snippets to remember you by...

Here are the top 13 memories of the month (or at least the ones I haven't posted about yet ;)...

#13--Seeing Easton skyrocket as a reader. He has become a brilliant reader this year (not to mention mathematician and I love to hear him read the Book of Mormon each night!) Here is one of his favorite library books he checked out last week:

#12--My boys' fort.  I still can't believe how inventive they are and how many different designs they've created in a bunch of different locations. I still marvel that they are able to even MAKE one--I tried and tried and never could when I was little. I guess it's the difference between boys and girls:

#11--Easton's darling "story" he wrote in school:

 #10--Decorating Easton's teacher's door for teacher appreciation:

#9--Watching "Frozen" with my darling Beehives:

#8--Watching Maylie dance in her beautiful dress on Easter:

#7--Playing play-doh with Tate and Maylie one morning:

#6--My perfect belated birthday dinner at El Parral with my very best friends in the whole wide world:

#5--Hiding the children's Easter baskets and watching them find and explore them:

#4--Listening to Tate make up a whole story/play/skit about "Mr. Squash" as I prepared to make Portuguese Squash soup for dinner.  And then when I cut "him" open, we all laughed hysterically to find Mr. Squash's face:

#3--Creating an Ordinance Preparation Action Plan for each member of my family after re-listening to Bishop Gary E. Stevenson's conference talk. His words have given me anew family focus:

 #2--All of Maylie's new bows I've created...I've only made three so far, but I have over a hundred flowers so I'm so excited to keep adding new bows to her collection!

P.S. I attached the dress flowers too!

#1--This hilarious, sweet little airplane came flying into my room and landed on the floor right next to our bed where I had just laid down after tucking in the children.

 (No, we didn't let him stay home even though I really really wanted to, but yes I did write him back and soared the airplane back into his room. But in the darkness, he couldn't see my writing and didn't think I had written him back. :( Poor thing!!)

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Now it's May. Yay!!!!! I'm so ready for summer vacation--it couldn't come fast enough!!! I'm feeling quite trunky with school right now and wish my little boy was home for good.  But I have to keep reminding myself--only 18 more days!! (who's counting? ;)

We have so many summer plans and I'm just itching to get started. June seems an eternity away! Summer please hurry!!!!!

Dear Dirt: I'm done!

I think our yard is going to do me in. I'm almost to the point where I don't even care any more. Just bring in the grass and be done with it!!!

We brought in 8 loads of fill dirt last week and Patrick borrowed a tractor and spent every waking minute spreading it.  By Saturday he was nearly done but was concerned about the slight hills and humps in the backyard (and front yard too for that matter). From my window vantage point I thought it looked great. And then last night we went out and raked it and leveled it--and I realized he was right. After an hour out there I was beyond frustrated and so grateful for all of Patrick's hard work. And yet, even though we keep thinking our yard is getting closer and closer to being done, it just keeps getting harder and harder with more and more curve balls thrown at us left and right. (Like how the fill dirt is mostly clay and is now packed down in bumpy hills and utterly impossible to rake. And how we have waited for a month to get this fill dirt. And how the fence guy fell through and was supposed to be here yesterday but he pushed it back a week. And with the way our luck has been, it will be pushed back even longer than that.) Who knows if our sprinkler pipes are still in tact after a dump truck ran over a few of them and then Patrick had to drive a tractor all over them last week. Our drain pipe extensions are still just laying there and it's all just so depressing that I'm not sure what to do about it.

Last week I was so excited to go pick out trees and flowers and this week I could care less. I'm sick of the whole thing and wish I could just lay down a whole bunch of fake turf and call it good! Of course I'm not serious (not really at least), but I just had to complain and vent and record my feelings so someday when I look at our *hopefully* beautiful yard, I will remember all of the blood and sweat and tears that went into creating it.

I've decided it's not going to be perfect--ever--but we've done our best and broke the piggy bank in doing it.  And if we EVER move again, I am saving up enough money to hire someone to do the yard for me because I absolutely REFUSE to ever do it again!!!!

Now if we can just be spared too many sprinkler pipe repairs.....

Egg Dyeing Simplicity--A Lesson for all Traditions.

We did all of our egg festivities during the week before Easter since we knew we would be out of town for Easter weekend. So on the Tuesday before Easter we did our egg dyeing. It was simple and so perfect. I so love all of our small and simple traditions we have (and are) creating. I truly believe that traditions are kind of like a special glue that holds a family together.

As Katrina Kenison says, "In simplicity there is freedom--freedom to do less and to enjoy more."

In her book, Mitten Strings for God, she relates a story of a friend:

"Two weeks before Easter, I visit a friend whose children are the same age as mine. When I arrive, she is just cleaning up after an afternoon of coloring eggs with her son and daughter. There are Ukrainian masterpieces, painstakingly created with special tools, dyes, and wax. In addition, they have made stenciled eggs, brilliant glitter eggs, and marbleized eggs, all from kits ordered from a catalog. Some of the eggs feature paintings of flowers and bunnies. Others have been blown out, colored with vegetable dye, and arranged in a basket filled with real, growing grass, planted in March so that it would reach its peak for Easter weekend.

"While the children head outside to play, my friend sweeps glitter off the floor, scrubs the table, and washes tiny paintbrushes. The results of their labors are breathtaking, and I ooh and ahh over every egg. They are beautiful. But, she confesses with a sigh, she has done most of them herself. The Ukrainian kit proved too complicated for the kids, and the stencils were difficult to do. The children each made a couple of glitter eggs, but they ended up with glue all over their hands and soon lost interest. 'Next year,' my friend says, laughing, 'we're going back to the basic $2.99 kit from CVS!'

"What message do our own excesses send to our children? In our efforts to create special occasions for them, are we losing sight of what's really important? Are these elaborate productions crowding out the kinds of simple, heartfelt celebrations that truly enrich our lives and delight our children?"

And then at the end of the chapter, she gives us these last words of wisdom:

"Yesterday we colored our own Easter eggs. Taking my friend's experience to heart, I kept it simple. Five bowls of colored water.  There was magic enough in that."

And so it was for us as well.

Simple Magic.

A Post-Easter Post.

I'm behind. Like super super super de-duper behind. So we'll start with Easter and I'll try to gradually get caught up as the week progresses...

Easter was beyond busy but very memorable as well. We travelled down to Thanksgiving Point so I could do an engagement photoshoot on Friday evening (the tulip gardens were fabulous!).

Then Saturday morning we had the special privilege of being all together in the temple for the first time. (All 5 of Patrick's brothers and sisters and spouses and his parents). There were 13 of us--a slice of heaven indeed. It made me reflect on when my family was able to all be there together as well when my sister Natalie went through for the first time.  How blessed we have been to have this privilege on both sides of the family.

{And this picture is really special to me because it is in the exact same spot where we stood almost 8 years ago to the day for our engagement pictures. The purple blossoms were out and it brought back such wonderful memories. It almost made me want to go back to that time. Almost.}

In the afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt for the grandkids...

Next, we cooked and made preparations for Sadie's open house. And later that evening we did another photoshoot--bridals at the Mt. Timpanogas temple in Lehi.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and then attended Sadie's farewell talk. She did so fantastically well. As I sat listening to her speak, I couldn't help remembering the little girl she was when I first met her. I think she was only 10 and much shorter than me. As the 9 years have passed, she has gradually caught up to me and now far surpassed me in height. She is the sweetest thing and we will miss her bright, shining personality so much! Those Texans have no idea how lucky they are to be getting such a stalwart, wonderful missionary in their midst.

We love you Sadie!!