The Greatest Woman

So there is this lady. She's a little bit older than me... okay... she is kind of a lot older than me, (no mom, you aren't old... just older than me!). I kind of already gave it away... but this woman is my mother. And she is my biggest hero.

Before she was my mother, she was a daughter (She is the oldest of 7... I think that is how she stayed patient enough to not kill us four kids) and a sister.

I got pretty lucky being able to be BLOOD related to these awesome women.
My Mamma and Grandma are pretty rad

I honestly don't know how I got so lucky to call these women family

My aunt Shannon, Mama, Uncle Seth, and his Wife Betsy

When my aunt was diagnosed with Leukemia we got the opportunity
to go and stay with her for a couple weeks in Idaho Falls. Like I said,
my mom is a pretty awesome sister.

Being able to watch my mother interact with her siblings and how she would do anything to help them has shown me what kind of sister that I need to be. Watching the awesome relationship that she has with her mom (who is my freaking awesome Grandma) makes me hopeful my mom will always be one of my closest and best friends. (Who am I kidding, heck yes we always will be!). My mom adores her nieces and nephews and is selfless in helping all of those she calls family.

This child that she is holding is Logan. He came camping with us once and lets just say that he screamed. The Whole. Entire. Time. I swear that my mother has this magic touch with babies and she can just knock em out. (Not really knock him out, she just got him to sleep when the rest of us couldn't).

Well, after those years of being only a daughter and sister and next thing you knew she was a mother. To four of the most crazy, psychotic, awesome, somewhat obnoxious children ever... See picture below for evidence.

Mom, I don't know how you managed to raise us and not kill us. I'm sorry for all the H*** we gave you! I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... ;)

Let's just say that I won that competition ^^^^^^^ People thought that my costume for Wacky-Tacky day was AWESOME... (You think we're competitive much?)

So imagine this... I am 12... I like my mom by that point (I think I went through a year where I didn't really like her very much... sorry mom. haha), and It's my turn to go to girls camp. I was excited. My mom had been at girls camp they year before and she was the 3rd year certification leader that year that I got to go.

Here's the thing about my mom. She goes all out. ALL OUT. (You can see the wacky-tacky pictures above for evidence). The year that my mom was the 3rd year certification leader their year's color was blue. For the day that you wear the color of your certification color, my mother painted herself blue. Yes, you heard that right. SHE PAINTED HERSELF BLUE! So yeah, she goes all out.

The next year at girls camp my mother was called as the Girls Camp Director and it was THE COOLEST thing of my life. It was SO much fun to be able to go to girls camp with my mom and see all of the hard work that goes behind the scenes to make that one week of camp work. My mother is amazing.

I love that woman. I love her so much. She works hard. At everything.

I know that it was hard for her to have to work while we were growing up. But she did it. I know it was hard to watch us deal with the consequences of our actions- but you did it because you knew it would be better for us.  I know it was hard to balance all of our sports schedules.. but she did it and she attended every game.

This woman is my hero. Some of my fondest memories are just crawling into my mom's bed and being able to talk to her about anything (before all of my brothers showed up and ruined the party... and then there would be a fight about who got to lay closest to mom). I loved doing EVERYTHING with my mom. Whether it was going to work with her, going to the zoo, hanging out at the beach, driving me to school, waiting for her to pick me up from practice (my mother's only flaw is that she is late to almost everything... ).

Something you got to know about my mother is that she is HILARIOUS! I miss being able to laugh and her jokes and wit. I miss that. 

She is willing to do anything for us children. I know she loves us. She shows it by the way that she teaches us. She shows it when she makes dinner. She shows it when she calls just to say that she is thinking about me. She shows it by sending me care packages. She shows it by making us do chores. She shows it by holding FHE. She shows it by laughing at our jokes. She shows it by knowing when we need a hug. She shows it by giving us the last piece of pizza even though she wants it. She shows her love by supporting me in everything that I do. When I told her that I wanted to play collegiate soccer, she believed I could do it. She shows her love by telling me I can be anything that I want to be.

She shows her love for us in every action. 

Let's just say there are frequent FaceTime calls just so I can talk to my mom

All of those other things are great, but the greatest thing about this woman is her testimony in the Gospel. Ever since I was little I have distinct memories of my mom bearing her testimony in church. Or my mom giving service. She taught what it means to love the Savior. She taught me what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy. She has taught me to use the Atonement. She taught me to love my neighbor and have integrity. She has taught me that life is hard, but with having the Lord on your side, anything is possible. 

Mom, your example to me means more than you know. 

I don't think my mom knew what she was getting into when she said, "Let's memorize The Living Christ". Several car rides and months later we finally did it. Watching your perseverance as you recited line after line, and hearing your testimony of Jesus Christ come through the words made me admire and love you even more.

The only bad thing about coming back to school after Christmas break
was having to say goodbye to this woman.

So here's to the greatest woman I know. Here's to the strongest woman I know. Here's to my hero.

I love you mom. 

Mommy, 

I love you more!