Happy Mother's Day

Well, this is a little belated. I suppose if I was a good daughter, this would have been posted Sunday night. If I was exceptional, maybe even Saturday evening. But hey, I love her so much I wanted to make sure it was perfect--and it needed to brew a little bit. :)

My mom is great. Here are some of the major reasons why my mom is the best ever!

1. She loves her eight children and does so much just to raise and love us!

2. She is such a great example and encourages us to reach major

goals and strive for anything we want in life!

(p.s. That is my Grandma, too)

3. My mom cooks really good, homemade meals and feeds us. That is a huge task for a family of ten, and she does it willingly many nights a week!

4. She shows us how much she loves Dad, which is really important. Together they make the ultimate parent team. There is tons of love in our home!

5. She teaches us about life. She taught me a love for photography.

6. She serves. Everyone. Her kids, her husband, visiting teaching ladies.

7. She is a social woman. She texts a billion times more than I do, and she is 40. She is on facebook. She talks on the telephone. You name it.

8. She loves Lady Gaga. During the winter blizzard of 2010, she blasted her music and danced to her every single day.

9. She lets us skip school and picks us up early if we have awesome grades. This May, we skipped a day and headed to Great Wolf Lodge!

10. She loves church music and church books and church conference things. She helps her kids develop their own testimonies by sending us to EFY, going to girls' camp, and hauling us to church most Sundays.

She makes us laugh. She does anything for her family. When she gets tired, she is hilarious and annoying at the same time. She listens to eight kids fight all the time. She is mostly laid back. She is the cook at girls' camp and everybody loves her. She lets me wreck her kitchen and bake almost anything I want. She taught my a love for cameras and let me buy one of my own after playing with hers for many years. She encourages me in school, and believes in her children. She informs us, and doesn't hide anything from us. She is preparing us to be wonderful and loving parents one day. She expects us to uphold our standards and our convictions. She takes so much time and effort each day to be the wonderful stay-at-home mom that she is. She drives at way early in the morning to take me to seminary. I could go on and on, but I think everyone understands that my mom is so incredible and loving.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!