Why I finally LOVE mothers day!

like serious love love, can we make it a bi-annual thing? 

1.  Jason let me sleep in.  Okay so I woke up at 8 a.m. to yells and fighting but I didn't get out of my room cause he told me they were doing breakfast in bed.

2.  my FIRST EVER BREAKFAST IN BED!  jason even made awesome sauce all by himself (buttermilk syrup).  and pancakes and had a flower in a vase.  on a cute tray.  with ice water, i feel so fancy.

3.  the loot.  i love all the stuff the kids made and all the handprints and plaster and homemade goodies.  its my favorite.  long long gone are any wishes for any other sort of present, these are much better. 

4.  i love facebook and instagram on mothers day.  so happy and loving and fun.  love all the pictures of families and mothers and daughters and sons.  i like happy things.  i love seeing peoples moms and hearing their stories. 

5.  low expectations.  finally learned.  took me about ten years (naw, i was starting to bring them down a few years ago).  now i've mastered it.  low expectations bring great mothers days.  not in a negative way, but just in non materialist this is what life is like mothers day.  like there is no stuch thing as perfect and i thought about spanking at least one and throwing a few out of a window...thats just normal. 

6.  Church.  hearing the primary children thing (even though i tried to screw it up by holding up wrong poster for kids song and having to start over...awkward, who cares i had no pride already :)  they have a new tradition where the men sing all together at the end too and its very moving as well. 

7.  more church.  we got cinnamon roles, chocolate, and got to go to relief society where we just cried and were touched and I was thinking, DANG i'm getting the short end of the stick being in primary until I remembered I speak much better 5 year old than I do woman-ese.  so i guess its good i'm with the sweaty children where mayhem exists and enjoy my one day of relief society where we eat chocolate and cinnamon roles and (i'm sure there were some bon bons somewhere!).

8.  more church stuff.  our bishop gave a great talk on motherhood and just boosted me right up of this amazing role of women and mantle we have been given.  i loved looking around and seeing all these neat ladies and families all trying to make the world a little better.

9.  texts and phone calls.  lots of cute texts from my sister in laws and friends.  all warm and fuzzy and it was like virtual high five we were giving each other like, 'heck ya, we haven't quit yet!  not on ourselves or our children!"

10.  the cutest thing happened today.  the missionaries came over to make their phone calls to their moms.  i was totally choking up.  the one new elder skyped on our ipad.  he is from florida and has only been on his mission a week and the third missionary to leave from his branch in 30 years.  and it was like the cutest thing ever to see all his family soooo excited to hear from him.  the other elder called and they both only talked for 45 minutes to the minute which is mission rules even though I wouldn't have cared how long they did.  i only heard a few minutes cause we were trying to give them privacy, but just thought about how this was the highlight of these mothers day, talking to their boys on their missions who are across the country serving the Lord. just thought of how when Luke goes on his mission (and all my girls too better ya hear me!), i'm gonna be so excited to talk to him too.  And we fed them improvised lunch (just sandwiches) and they gave us a message.  Their message was about in the Book of Mormon the story of the 2,000 warriors who were taught by their mothers the gospel.  They knew it because their mothers did not doubt and they followed with exactness.  The Lord protected them in battle for their faithfulness (and probably from their mothers prayers!!!). 

There are all kinds of mothers in the world.  And many homes that there is darkness and abuse.  Sometimes I wish I could go take kids from school home with me to mother them all.  Every child deserves love and affection and a healthy environment, physically and emotionally.  (or as sane as we can manage cause I'm sure mine will tell you I'm crazy!)  So as I reflected today of the many mothers who have come before me.  Mother Eve, Mary, Sariah, Emma Smith, Julie Beck, My mom, My grandmas, My mother in law....so many amazing women.   Just think we are all banded together in our cause.  To nurture and love the next generation and while I'm very aware of my short comings (which Luke was listing for me tonite!),  I know I am doing a pretty dang good job.  So high five and pat on the back to each of us.  Still not perfect, still trying, but not giving up. 

p.s. on breakfast in bed.  it was a bit lonely.  and jason hadn't fed the kids so when they came to deliver mine they were so hungry they were crying and he had to rip Ivy away.  So then I was upstairs figuring out how am I going to eat pancakes on my bed and not spill, and they were eating downstairs and I could hear the chaos...and I was like in silence...hmmm.....maybe this needs to be thought out more?  sooo next year maybe we will all eat in my bed together?  that sounds messy...have to think on it more.  364 days to go. 

oh yes, and for dinner...didn't think two craps about it till about 5 pm. so we had breakfast for dinner.  it was delicious and luke and darby made most of the eggs.

oh wait.   #11.  AC!  the one day I could talk Jason into turning on the AC (something you don't use when you are pinching pennies).  it was 100 degrees today and bless that AC! 

I have dedicated my life to this thing called motherhood, so I sure better enjoy the one day a year we celebrate it!  Virtual high five to all of you too! 

and thank you to Lucas Riley, Darby Samantha, Baylie Mae, Paisley Jo, and Ivy Louise for making me a mother 5 times over.  Best decisions Jason and I made was to bring you each to our family.