Mother's Day 2017

Growing up I remember making little cards and little small things in school to bring my mom.  She loved them of course, but I distinctly remember as a teenager thinking, wow I used to give her cheesy lame things.

But then I became a mother.

Those little cards, those little things that tell how tall your child thinks you are, what things you like to do, those are precious, those are my favorite presents.

This year, Alex filled out a questionnaire, my favorite was when she answered "What does your mom like to wear?" with - 'any outfit that will go with her cute shoes'.  She knows me well.

This year Mother's Day was a first in that I shared the day with Ryder for his 7th birthday.  First, let me say I cannot believe he is 7 years old, time truly goes too fast.  I will talk more about his birthday and share birthday pictures tomorrow.

For today, I want to focus on the three that made me a mother and how truly grateful I am to have the opportunity to be their mom. It is definitely not always easy, like when they fight over ridiculous things like waffles.  Sometimes I get way too caught up in my own things, but I love being their mom and I love that they forgive me and love me back.

My kids even put up with my request to recreate some old Mother's Day pictures again.
And the dinner, oh the dinner was heavenly that Eric made for me, and I didn't have to do a thing! 
It was a wonderful Mother's Day and I truly am so grateful to be a mom. 

Praying Like a Child

We are in the final stretch, less than a week now until Christmas.  The presents are all bought, or mostly, the stockings are hung ready to be filled, ingredients for cookies are waiting for little hands to help make them....

It truly is a magical, wonderful time of year.  Today my parents fly in and we will begin a fun and very busy week of chorus concerts, BYU's bowl game, and of course our Christmas Eve traditions.

Yesterday my family gathered for morning prayer before Eric had to leave for his early morning church meetings, we asked Ryder to say the prayer.

Ryder says his own nighttime prayers every day, he also takes his occasional turn at meal time prayers, but the morning prayer- well this must have felt like something new to him.

"I don't know what to say." he stated.

"Of course you do." we reassured him, not totally unfamiliar with this routine, as this is what he would once say before his bedtime prayers.

He began, "Dear Heavenly Father", then with a slight pause, "See I told you I didn't know what to say."

After we finished laughing, Eric prompted him on things he could first thank Heavenly Father for and then ask him for.  His prayer was short and simple and I couldn't help but picture Heavenly Father having a little laugh himself about Ryder's prayer.

Later that day in Sunday school we were discussing our intent in our actions and why we do things,  if we do things sincerely or for the praise of man, or without even really thinking at all.

"Are your prayers deliberate 100% of the time?" the teacher asked, "How about 75%, or 50% or even 25%?"

It made me stop and reflect, how often are my prayers sincere?

Do I rush through the meal prayers, knowing everyone is hungry and ready to eat?  Do I say the same things in my bedtime prayers not really stopping to reflect but just saying the same things I do most nights?

Do I know what to say?

It was a bit of a wakeup call, one I am sure I will need again and again as I try and navigate my way through life.  It is my goal to stop and really think and ponder before I begin to pray, what do I really need to pray for, what am I thankful for that day.

If you aren't a praying type, do you have a time that you mediate or contemplate life?  It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle of life and get into our routines and go through life on auto pilot.

It is those times when I stop and reflect, when I truly feel and know that I need my Maker's help that I feel most at home, most at peace, most like things will be okay if I just continue to take it One Day At a Time.

Feeling Like a Rockstar

Want to feel like a rockstar?  I sure did yesterday.

Yesterday, I woke up extra early (darn adjusting times after a vacation), I went right to the laundry room and began the 5,000 loads of laundry... okay maybe about 4, but still 4 big loads!

I got said laundry done before 10:00 A.M. - at 9:59 to be exact.

I even got the kids to actually put away their own clothes, impressed yet?

Then I went on to clean out the entire refrigerator.  When it is nearly empty after being gone, you have to take advantage right?

Pulled out every shelf, washed them down and put everything back in all neat and organized (not to mention the whole garbage bag of stuff I threw out).

Then I updated a bunch of needed stuff for my photography business and got a bunch of soccer team manger stuff done all before lunch time.

Then shopping, lunch, actually getting all the groceries put away before dinner time... the day just went on and on- with me being a total rockstar.

But don't worry today I will probably sit around reading or playing games on my iPad, as being a rockstar is exhausting.

Just keeping it real.

Have you had a rockstar day?

What I Want My Kids to Remember About Me

When I get together with my siblings, which isn't nearly enough, it is fun to reminisce what our childhood was like, the funny stories, the things our parents did.  It makes me wonder what my kids will remember about me someday.

Here is what I hope they remember.

I want them to remember the fancy birthday cakes I always made them.  Even if we weren't having a birthday party with friends, which we rarely did, I would still always make a big fancy cake just for them.

I want them to remember that even though I hated making lunches, in fact I just dislike lunch in general, and might just have done a happy dance on the days they bought a school lunch, that I was always willing to make lunch for them and would even make kind of fun and unique lunches.

I want them to remember all of the soccer games, award assemblies, practices and events that I was at.  Even when the events drug on and on forever, I was there.

I want them to remember that I always tried to speak kindly to those around me, including in stores and wherever we went.  It always pays to be kind I would tell them.

I want them to remember that while Dad was often the more 'fun one'- that I was quite silly too and even a little ridiculous a times, making up songs about farting and gross things with the best of them.

I want them to remember that I had talents and passions of my own, like photography and writing, and while I didn't hold an official "career" while they were growing up, I still had passions and talents that I took time to pursue.

I want them to remember that I was there at home with them, that I made this choice in my life and it was what I knew I always wanted.  I wanted to be there at school pick-up, there to help them with homework, there for them when they just needed a friend.

I want them to remember how much I love their father and how I always try to support him.  I might not get the house quite as clean as he would want, but we loved each other and forgave each other for our shortcomings.

I want them to remember my testimony and my faith and that I knew and know that there really is a purpose to this life, and that I always tried my best to steer them to what I know will lead to ultimate happiness, and that I truly love our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Most importantly I want them to remember how much I love them.  How I truly would give anything for them.  Even in all my imperfections, and in their imperfections that I never stopped loving them, never stopped being there for them,

This is what I want my kids to remember.

My Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  It began by sleeping in until 8:30, this might not sound late to the teenagers of the world, but for a mom, this is late.  Alex and Ryder greeted me with a poster they had made and then drug Eric out of bed to go make a breakfast of cinnamon rolls.


It was yummy!

I then opened the presents, a new tri-pod, a waffle iron, chocolates, some colored pencils for the grown-up coloring books I had recently purchased, and all of the homemade and school-made gifts, including a little necklace from Alex.

Alex and I spent the morning coloring, Eric even joined us coloring a picture on his iPad.  Then it was time for church, where there were wonderful talks devoted to motherhood.

After church I told my kids my one wish was to recreate a picture from a Mother's day several years ago, thankfully they complied, it was Mother's Day after all.

Ryder is actually wearing the same tie--Lucas still has that tie- I should have made him change 

Dinner was amazing, bacon wrapped pork, wild Alaskan smoked Salmon, bacon wrapped asparagus, pasta, rolls and two pies, all of which I did not do a thing for.

We ended the day with a Family Home Evening lesson about the Plan of Happiness and that we know that families can be together forever.

The day wasn't perfect, Eric had to do a lot of corralling to get the boys to actually help at times, but Alex was a rock star and made parts of the dinner all by herself.  It was truly a wonderful Mother's Day and I am so happy to be a Mother.

Finding Joy in Motherhood

I always knew I wanted to be a mom.  I had a lot of dreams of being a writer or maybe a journalist, eventually switching to psychology, but ultimately I wanted to be a mom.

Along the way this dream of mine did come true, and with it a whole lot of surprises at how hard and crazy it could be!  Even some days that made me question why I always wanted to do this.

I believe there is a time in every mom's life that we just want to give up, but we can't.

How do we find hope, find that peace and joy that we once envisioned on those really hard days?

We need to find our thing, whether it be a quote, a scripture, a tribe or group of moms to talk with- something that can help us refocus and catch the vision of why we wanted to be moms.

I am not saying that a group or a quote will make it suddenly easy, but we need something.

 I am lucky enough to be part of a group of women who help run Power of Moms.  This last weekend we gathered in a beautiful home in Park City for a board meeting.  A meeting where not only did we discuss the little details of things to make the site run its best, but we talked about our vision, why we were doing this and what we wanted.

This group of women, they don't do it for the money or the fame or prestige, they do it because they too are mothers and remember and understand what it is like to be up all night with a crying baby, or broken hearted from a teenager who just doesn't seem to listen.  They want to empower, give tools and just be there to help you be able to really enjoy your role as a mother.

Power of Moms Board- not all were able to make it

It was an amazing weekend.  We did have fun too, a hike in the mountains- which just about killed this sea-level SoCal girl, talking and laughing in the hot tub, reverse charades; but what amazed me most was the random conversations and questions about motherhood that would come up.  Even things like many of us admitting that we don't always like playing with our kids; this from a group of women are truly invested in motherhood.

Playing revers charades- and not my baby- that baby got so much love that weekend from all the moms

So yes, it is okay-- it is okay if some days it just feels really hard, if some days it just doesn't seem fun--what matters is that we try and we keep going, we find a little thing to improve upon each day to make ourselves even better.

Motherhood is meant to be a wonderful thing.

They Say It's Your Birthday-A Birthday Celebration

I was talking with my sister-in-law, Eric's sister, one day and she said something that shocked me; she asked if I realized that I have lived with Eric now longer than she had.  Eric and I have been married for almost 15 years now, but before we were married he went off to college, went on a two-year church mission, and then more school, so he moved out of the house when she was only 14.

It floored me as time really does go so quickly.   When time goes quickly you also celebrate a lot of birthdays, including one more for Eric just yesterday.

His parents came into town last week to celebrate with us.  Their visit began a little shaky, what with Ryder throwing up the day before, but thankfully there were no more really exciting 'events' while they were here.

My mother-in-law sewed some secret projects with the kids, we played games and we ate out a lot.

Decorative towels the kids sewed

I decided I would make Eric a three-layer round cake... but then I got a little lazy and didn't trim the top layer quite flat enough.  When I decided I wanted to fix it and tried to pull the top layer off, it took a big chunk of the second layer out.  I quickly put it back down and decided I would just frost it and call it good.   Unfortunately that missing chunk led to a little crack, and then a big crack.   I told Eric I made him a California cake, it was quite the seismic event!

Crazy candles for the crazy cake

We went to dinner at the Dickey's BBQ- when we discovered the place he really wanted to go was closed on Mondays.

It was still yummy though and the kids filled up on yummy meat and ice-cream, just in time so we could go home and eat cake.  (Birthdays are dangerous I have decided!)



It was a great weekend and I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with the love of my life.

Groundhogs Day: A day to live over and over again.

In honor of Groundhog Day today- I am going to repeat a post I wrote a couple of years ago.  As well if you have seen the movie Groundhog Day, you know Bill Murray lives the day over and over... so today calls for a repeat.  Especially because this day 15 years ago, is a day I would not mind repeating.

*****

ThirteenFifteen years ago, on Groundhog day Eric proposed.

I knew it was coming, we already had the room in the Temple reserved and my mom was flying to Utah to take me wedding dress shopping, Eric just hadn't officially asked me.  I threatened warned him that I had better have a ring on my finger before my mom made it out there.

It was a Friday night, we already had plans for a big group date.  Eric had previously ordered my ring (unknown to me at the time) and it ended up being ready that day.  He was so excited to finally officially ask me but knew I would suspect something if he changed the plans we already had.

We went on our big group date playing lazer tag.  I won receiving the highest score overall.  The group then went to a restaurant and ordered gelato.   It was yummy and by the time we made it back to Eric's apartment I was worn out, ready to call it a night.

He said, no you can't be tired yet we have to go do something else and somehow talked me into one more outing.

We went with his roommate Brad and his girlfriend and crashed a dance at the Institute Building at UVSC (now UVSU).  We danced, had fun and then he asked me to go take a tour of the building with him.  We walked around, I began to wonder what he was up to.  Finally he said, let's go outside. I protested as it was February in Utah. (During the "tour" he was looking for someplace more private but there were people everywhere)  As we walked outside and I complained about the cold he told me to imagine we were on a warm beach and the sun was shining, then he got down on one knee told me he loved me and he wanted to spend eternity with me.  I of course said yes.

Our Wedding Day

It was a great Groundhog day and while I don't need to relive it to get it right, as I got it right the first time, it would be fun to be able to replay that moment.

Is there a moment you wish you could relive? 

Why I will Travel for Thanksgiving but Not Christmas

I won't travel for Christmas, I don't really want to, but Thanksgiving, that is another story.

Growing up we never traveled for Thanksgiving, maybe the fact that there were 8 of us made for a kind of big Thanksgiving dinner as it was.  My grandpa would make the drive down to spend with us, but our other grandparents lived across the country; so it was usually our family and sometimes the missionaries from our church.

When Eric and I were first married we would rotate Thanksgiving and Christmas between each our of parents, so we were never home.

We finally had our first Thanksgiving at our new home we had built after I had graduated and was working and Eric was finishing up school.   It was a new experience being the host, we learned the art of brining a turkey and have been doing it ever since.

Once we started having kids things changed.  Christmas morning now meant piles of presents under the tree and beginning our own traditions.  I wanted to be home on Christmas.  With our many moves we were rarely close to family and so it often was just us, but I was okay with that.  These early years of parenting with the kid still young, their beliefs in Santa still strong are magical and something to be cherished.

 I was honestly kind of grateful we didn't have a lot of family around and didn't have to spend the day going from one home to another; it was just us and I was okay with that.

Now Thanksgiving, that is another story.  I think it would be kind of sad and feel like just another meal if it was just my family.  The other day Alex asked if we have ever had Thanksgiving at our house, and I realized in her almost all her lifetime we have not hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, but have always gone to another family member's house and I kind of love it.

But come Christmas morning we will be here at our home; grandparents are welcome, but other than that I am honestly really good with being just us; enjoying the moments, the traditions, letting our kids really enjoy their toys (before they are too old to want lots of toys Christmas morning).

Do you travel for the holidays are do you prefer it being just your family? 

You Have To Do it Once

We all have those things, those things we want to do at least once in our lives, sometimes people will add them to their bucket list; but these things I am talking about today are more based upon where you live.

Live in a mountain region, well you have to go skiing at least once in your life.   Live in Chicago, you have to go to a Cubs game, live in New York- a visit to Times Square is a must.  Certain just iconic things you have to do.

I grew up south of Chicago and sadly never made it to a Cubs game; made it to several Sox games- but never the Cubs.  I also never went to a Bulls game even in their glory days back in my teenage years (much to my husband's dismay).

I think often when we live in a place, we take a lot of those iconic- must do things for granted and don't do them; only when we have family in town do we play tourist in our own town.

Now that I live in southern California, there is a whole new list of must dos, but once again I find myself taking these things for granted.

When I have friends who still live in the Midwest talk about how excited they are for their first trip to California, to Disney to see the ocean... I once too was excited about those things but have too quickly come to take them for granted, think of them as almost an everyday kind of thing.

But yesterday, thanks to my sister and nieces I got to experience another part of the SoCal living, a must have so to speak.

I got to attend a recording of a show.   Not just any show either but the 2000th episode of the Ellen Show.

We arrived extra early, parked our cars and walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  We returned to the waiting area, literally a section in the parking garage filled with a bunch of benches, and waited until it was time, time to hurry into line to get our card numbers for our seats.

We were fast, obtaining numbers 9-14.

My nieces and my sister and me

Then the anticipation and excitement built as we waited.  We all sat there doing the calculations in our head, could we be at the filming of the 2000th episode?  We didn't know for sure, you don't know until they tell you.

They came out and asked if we wanted to know who the guests were going to be and told us that yes we were at the 2000th episodes, screams and cheers erupted, I started shaking in excitement and anticipation.

Then it was more waiting time, as we watched clips from previous shows and filled out surveys.  Then finally it was time to head across the street... where there was more waiting, just this time inside the gift shop in WB Studio #3.

Finally it was time to head in.  It was surreal being in the studio, it is actually a lot smaller than it seems on TV.  The door that the always open where they reveal big gifts for people, actually a lot closer to the main stage then it seems.

Then the dancing begins, for about 30 minutes before the show the cameras are rolling as the audience is dancing, by the end I was worried I was going to be a shiny mess for the cameras.

Then the show began.  It was awesome and odd watching it at the same time, even when Ellen danced right by us in the isle it almost all felt surreal.  Seeing the super start guests right there on the stage, it still half felt like I was just watching a show and that they couldn't really be right there could they?

Ever commercial break there was more dancing.  They would signal when we should applaud, but really we all knew when we should anyway and it was exciting.

And since it was the 2000th episode there had to be gifts of course in Ellen's style, new Apple Watches for the entire audience, a book commemorating her 200th episode and $150 in Shutterfly credit, just in time for ordering Christmas cards!

It really was a fun experience, and tiring and exhausting at the same time- I doubled my move goal, thanks to all that dancing.

Now I can cross one more of those you have to do it at least once things off my list.

Is there something on your list you really want to do?

Now That My Kids Are in School

Everyone keeps asking me what I do with all my time now that all of my kids are in school.  Yes for three glorious hours a day- five days a week, I am totally kid free.  So what do I do?

1. I eat whatever junk and snacks I want all morning long.

2. I watch HGTV, while pretending to fold laundry and eating chocolate.  Yes, it sometimes occasionally means I have to rewash clothes when I get chocolate on them.

3. I play games on my iPad, lots and lots of games.

4. I run through the stores skipping and laughing as I am shopping all by myself!

5. When shopping lots of things magically jump into my cart.  When you have time to browse, well it's dangerous.

6. I crank up the music as loud as I can and dance.

Okay so those all might have been completely false slightly exaggerated, okay maybe only some of them are true.

To be honest, even being almost a month into the school year, the mornings just fly by and I feel like I don't have any time to just sit around and enjoy the quiet.  Not to mention that I have volunteered to spend some of that free time at the school, with the children I am supposed to be getting a break from.

Crazy right?

Actually, it's not. I love being a mom.  I love being involved in my kids lives and being able to see a bit more inside of their worlds at the school.  I even kind of miss them when they are gone...

though I do like the extra chocolate I can eat.

My three crazy kids-- who would have thought I would miss them.

What stage of life are you in? Are your kids all gone at school, still home, just have fur babies?

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Linking With Shell's PYHO 

Family Night: A Dare

Once a week we have a family night.  We begin with a song and a prayer, followed by a spiritual lesson given by one of our family members.  How spiritual that lesson turns out to be definitely varies greatly from week to week depending upon the cooperation of the kids; but despite the downs, we keep trying each week.

When Ryder is in charge of music he always runs to grab a pencil to use for his conducting wand.  Our songs rotate between a few favorites, like Scripture Power, I am a Child of God, Called to Serve and of course Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (jumping including).

After the lesson, there is someone in charge of games.  The games... well they often don't work out so well.  When someone chooses a more 'competitive' game, there always seems to be someone that ends up in tears.  Or when someone chooses a game that takes a bit longer, to play there is inevitably whining about, 'let's just hurry and get to treats'!

Our treats- if you follow me Instagram, almost always consist of ice-cream, which we always have a good supply.

This last week, Alex was in charge of games.  "Hmmm" she contemplated when it was time to pick a game.

"I know," Lucas interrupted, "tickle Daddy!" as they ran over to torture poor ticklish Eric.  (Tickle Daddy sometimes becomes our only game when we are really ready for treats).

But this week Alex had a different idea, Truth or Dare.  Ryder ended up hopping around the kitchen, Lucas spun in circles and admitted that yes one certain girl in his class drives him crazy and he really does not like her, and the game continued with just funny and simple little dares and truths.

Until Alex said she wanted a hard dare.

Her father was up to the challenge.  We all went into the kitchen, where he began making a concoction, a brew we will call it.  And well, you just have to watch to see what happened next.


Do you have a family night?

The Day I was a Fun Mom

I think of myself as a good mom.  I definitely have my bad days, my off days, but overall I feel like I do a pretty good job.  But somewhere along the path of motherhood, I seem to have lost some of my sense of fun, some of my sense of adventure.

But yesterday, yesterday I was the fun mom.

The day began ordinarily, actually that is a bit of a lie, it was actually cloudy and even raining a bit, a way too rare thing for California.  As I watched the drops gently fall,(it was kind of an odd rain) I wondered if my kids would still have swim lessons, they did.

After swim lessons we had been invited to a friends house for a pool day.  We went home, I dug my bathing suit out of the bottom drawer, where it hasn't seen the light of day since last summer, and we were off to the pool.

We were the first ones to arrive, but others soon joined us.

The kids were having fun swimming, sliding down the slide, jumping off the waterfall, while the moms had our chairs in a row visiting and chatting.  It was actually pretty perfect.

The clouds still hadn't cleared but the rain had stopped, so I was perfectly content sitting there visiting with my friends.

"Mom come swim." Lucas said from the pool.
"No, I think I'm just going to sit and visit." I replied.
"Then why did we have to wait for you for like 40 minutes to get your bathing suite on?"

He exaggerated, it was only like twenty.

None of the other moms were swimming.  I really didn't want to swim.  Swimming has never really been my thing.  From the time I was little and my friend had to jump in and save me after I jumped off the diving board only being able to sort of swim, to the thought of the crazy frizzy hair I get when I swim.

But there it was, this little nag, this little bit of guilt as he asked me a couple of more times to come swim.

Later one other mom, the host, got in... so I did it.  I slowly took off my cover up, hoping my winter paleness wouldn't blind anyone and slowly got into the water, it felt cold!

I was in, I wasn't swimming, but I was in.

Soon another mom joined us; she showed us all up by going down the slide with her kids.

That was it, my competitive nature kicked in, I was going to be the fun mom too.

Soon I was sliding, jumping and swimming to the edge to do it all over, again and again.

All of the moms ended up in the pool.

As the afternoon wound down, the moms sat in the hot tub warming up, chatting again.   I sat there with a smile and frizzy hair, while the kids got a few more jumps in.

It really was a perfect day and all it took was jumping in.
*************** Linking with Shell's PYHO

The Time I Missed a Birthday

So life is busy. In fact between holidays, family in town and a birthday... yes I said birthday.  Wait you didn't know about this birthday?  Oh it might be because last week I blogged all of two times and totally dropped the ball and did not blog on Alex's birthday or wish her a happy birthday (just in blogging land in real life I did! Not that bad of a mother!)

Yeah, epic fail.

But now a few days later, I can share the pictures from her birthday with you, so maybe it was like I planned it this way all along.

I cannot believe my girl is 8!  Time really does fly so quickly.

We began the day with Alex opening her presents.



  She couldn't even wait until after breakfast.  She oohed and ahed and laughed and smiled in true Alex fashion as she opened her presents.
 Eric's parents had happened to FaceTime right when we were about to open presents, so they got to watch the whole thing.

Breakfast was cinnamon rolls and egg nog, as per her request.  Eric only ate two rolls as he was still full from the 15 plates of food he had at Thanksgiving dinner.  (no that is not a typo).

Since Thanksgiving was officially over, we decided to set up our Christmas decorations.

It is a process, having three separate Christmas trees will make it such, but so worth it in the end.  I love my Christmas decor.

A photo posted by emmymom (@emmymom) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:47pm PST

That evening we went out to dinner at Farrell's.  They do a great job making a big deal about your birthday and loudly singing and drawing attention to you.

Then we finished off the night with an 8 cake.

Alex wanted a pink velvet cake with chocolate frosting shaped like an 8.

That is what she got.

She had a wonderful birthday and I truly couldn't be more proud of the amazing and wonderful girl she is.

P.S Speaking of missing-- I also missed 10 Things to Smile About this Month for November-- so it will go live tomorrow!  So if you wrote a post for November link up tomorrow. (My goal for the new year is to get my brain back)