Happy Mother's Day!

I had a really nice Mother's Day. It is nice now that Sydnee is older and understands it more. She was really excited to give me a book she made at school. It had things from the beginning of the school year to show her progress. It was really fun to look at with her. She also picked out this rose balloon for me and some petunias. Justin got me some patio furniture and a fire pit. I am excited to get some use out of it (if the wind would ever stop blowing and the weather would warm up.) I can't complain about today's weather though; it was really nice and Justin set up my other present...a play set for the girls. He was going to put it up yesterday, but the weather was not cooperative. I helped a little and Jared Nicholls helped too, but it is still not done yet. It started out like this...

About 5 hours (of work) later it looks like this...

I think it's progressed really well considering that we had to deal with Justee trying to run off with tools and screws and Dozer stealing the tape measure every time Justin set it down. Hopefully we can finish it tomorrow. It may seem like more of a present for the girls, but believe me, I am just as happy about it as they are.

With it being Mother's Day and all, I wanted to talk about how great I think my mom is...My mom is the hardest working woman I have ever known. She is so strong and has never been a big complainer. She has taught me more than I'll ever know. I realize new things all the time that I learned from her. When I think back to my childhood I don't remember her losing her patience with me very often (she had many reasons to too.) Here are some fun memories...When us kids would sleep on the tramp and my dad would be eating ice cream, she would sneak some out to us through the garage door. (I don't know if she really had to sneak, but that is what it felt like.) She used to help me and my friends build blanket tents over the kitchen table...she played tons of games with me and read to me all the time. I remember waking her up because she would fall asleep in the middle of stories ;) I know that there are a ton more great things about my mom, but I could never list them all...I just want her to know that I love her and appreciate the example she set and is still setting for me and my children. I Love you mom!

**After I posted this the first time, I read my sister Vicki's blog and she had some great pics of my mom and grandmothers. I thought I would add a link to her blog for fun. :)

My YW lesson today was on preparing to go to the temple. After the lesson I had the girls make flower pens for their moms. I saw an idea for a glass block online and got Abbey Chase (a friend from our ward who has a vinyl business) to put these words...I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday... and a temple pic on a block for me. I added the paper to the back and the bow. It worked great for a centerpiece for my lesson and I think it is great to give the girls. (I might have to come up with 2 different ones, so they can each have their own.) It should look really pretty in Justee's room. It is hard to see in the pic because it was dark but the flash just made a big glare off the glass, so I took it without.