Amazing Moms

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would post a little something about the amazing moms in my life.

First, my mom
She is the best mom a girl could ask for! She is not only my mother, but also one of my best friends (Eric is the other, of course). She has always been a wonderful example to me of what a woman should be. She is kind and loving and generous. She can do anything! Seriously! If I had half her talent for crafts, I would be amazing. She can sew and make blankets like mad. I don't even know how many blankets she has made for my boys, but it has to be around 20 (and that is only 2 of her 5 grandchildren). She has always been there for me, no matter what I needed. She always made our house a fun place where we could bring our friends. I would venture that not a week of my high school life went by without having friends over. She always fought hard to get us the things we needed. When I was starting kindergarten, an older girl that lived on my street told me so many scary stories of one of the kindergarten teachers that I was absolutely terrified that I was going to get her. And I did, though I never knew that I did. My wonderful mom made sure that her scared and paranoid daughter didn't get that teacher. You see, I was quite a little worrier and I'm sure my mom knew there was no way I was going to happily go to kindergarten with that scary lady as my teacher (I'm sure she was actually a great teacher). Mom always sacrificed her time for us. She would wake up early to drive me to water polo practice and pick me up after school. She helped with countless school and YW projects and was always willing to drop everything to help me. She watched my cute little Kyler almost every day while I was finishing school. She is a fabulous grandma! One of my favorite memories of my mom is just being able to sit at the bench in our dining room and talk to her while she made dinner or did dishes or whatever. It was nice to have her all to myself and say whatever I wanted.

My mother-in-law, Sallie
Sallie is a wonderful example of enduring to the end. She has had to overcome so many obstacles in her life and has never given up. I am constantly impressed by her positive attitude. I am happy to have her as my mother-in-law! When we lived in Utah, she kindly had us over for dinner every week. The food was always great and it was so nice to be able to spend time with her often. She is a wonderful grandma and Kyler loves playing with her and all the fun toys she has in her basement. She did a fabulous job raising her two sons. I have definitely benefited from the great mom she is. Thanks to her, my husband is a wonderful cook, hard worker, great pianist, and respectful man.

Grandma Thomsen
Grandma makes lots of delicious food! Her homemade breads and jams are fantastic! She is an excellent pianist. She taught all of her grandchildren piano lessons. That must have taken quite a lot of patience because many of us (including myself) were not very good, or at least we didn't apply ourselves enough to become good. How frustrating! She is so kind and loving. I have always loved going to Grandma Thomsen's house to just hang out and visit. My favorite memory of Grandma is sitting on the floor in front of her so that she would play with my hair. I did this quite often and she was always a good sport about it.

Grandma Draper
I was fortunate enough to grow up with both sets of grandparents very close by (in my ward) and got to have many sleepovers at their houses. That is what my favorite memory of Grandma Draper is. We would sleep over and she would stay up late with us laughing and making up funny stories. I think Grandma Draper will always be a kid at heart. She is quite a patient person. This is something I have learned since my Grandpa Draper started with Alzheimer's disease. She has taken such good care of him. I'm impressed that she has been able to keep him home with her. I can't imagine how hard that would be.

Grandma Bette
Grandma Bette is Eric's grandmother, but it feels like she has been my grandma my whole life! It is always fun to get together with her. She is so sweet and kind and could have a conversation with anyone about anything. She is very generous. She is always trying to buy dinner for us anytime we go out (no matter how many people are there). She loves to get presents for our boys for no reason at all, just because she thought it was cute and they would like it. I am lucky have married into such a wonderful family!

Grandma Mary
Grandma Mary is another one of Eric's grandmothers. She lives in Cedar City so we didn't get to see her quite as often as the other Grandmas. She would come up for Christmas and other random events and we would go down for Easter. Now that we live in Vegas, we get to see her more! She is kind enough to let us stop at her house (whether it is for an hour or to stay the night) when we are driving to and from Salt Lake. And she always has food for us. It has been fun to be able to spend more time with her! She is another excellent pianist. If Eric wasn't adopted, I'd say he inherited that gene from her, but I don't think it works that way.

I'm grateful to have so many wonderful examples in my life! I love you all!