Honoring Mom

The next few weeks are going to be very busy for us. Easter is coming up this weekend. Amberly will be baptized the next weekend. And the following weekend is Mother's Day. Did you remember?

I was visiting with a friend last night. She mentioned that her mother had been coming often to help her out. I expressed my own jealousy of several of my friends whose mothers live nearby and can come often to help with the children or just hang out.

To be honest, I've only called my mother crying twice (that I can remember--she may be able to remember other instances).

The first time I was in college. All but one of my roommates had moved out at various times during the summer. My lone roommate and I were left to clean the apartment by ourselves on the night before check-out. Of course we procrastinated and by two o'clock in the morning it was obvious that we were not going to finish in time. To make matters much worse, my boyfriend and I were fighting (seriously, my only "dramatic" relationship--good thing it didn't last much longer). I called my mom sobbing in the wee early morning hours when only college students and owls are awake. My mom lived three hours away, but she and my teen aged sister showed up at my door at dawn. They helped my roommate and I scrub down a really embarrassingly dirty apartment (hey, it was summer, we were too busy playing to clean). With their desperately needed aid we were able to check out on time.

The second time I called my mom in tears was just a few years ago. I had just found out I was pregnant with Molly (I hadn't told anyone but Utah Dad yet). I was sick, exhausted, run-down and trying to prepare for a Relief Society activity. People were bugging me and I had reached my breaking point (which is much much shorter while I'm pregnant). I hid in the laundry room (no one looks in there--they might feel compelled to fold something) and called my mom. To my delight and surprise, she came and rescued me. All she had to do was come. That was enough.

My mom really is amazing. I admire her so much. She had seven children before she was 29 years old. She went back to school and graduated with her degree in Elementary Education (with only one tragic B to mar her perfect GPA) when she was 31 years old. She has taught thousands of first graders how to read since then and more recently has been teaching third graders their multiplication tables. She is such a fabulous teacher that we often joke about sending Amberly to live with her during third grade so that Amberly can be in Grandma's classroom.

My mom always knows the perfect thing (usually a book, she is a teacher after all) to get my children for their birthdays. She just gave Amberly a friendship bracelet making book and kit for her birthday. Amberly is thrilled and has been creating bracelets for her friends with fervor ever since. My children love their "magic blankets" that grandma made when they were babies. She sewed her special "grandma magic" into each of the beautiful quilts that grace their beds. She loves every one of her twenty one and counting grandchildren and tries so hard to be fair.

My mom really is my hero.

Mother's Day is coming up and it's time to consider a gift for my special mom. I've given one to her for on a previous Mother's Day but I am considering creating a photo book from Shutterfly for her again this year.

Making a photo book from Shutterfly is simple and the results can be very stunning. I created one for my mom from the pictures that my sister and I took at a family reunion one summer. I made another one for my mother-in-law that included photographs of her with my children. The photo books are beautiful reminders of the love and fun our families share.

Shutterfly also has a wide selection of photo gifts -- from calendars to aprons -- that would be perfect for mom. I could give her a notebook with pictures of my children or even a puzzle of a picture of our family (I'd need to get one taken first).

I could even just go to Shutterfly to make her an individual and beautiful Mother's Day Card to give with another gift I might discover before now and Mother's Day. Essentially, Shutterfly has my back this Mother's Day. And I know whatever I decide to get for my mom, she's going to love it. Oh, and they're having a fabulous sale also!!!



Perhaps I'll drop some hints to Utah Dad. Using Shutterfly is so easy, he could probably make a photo book for me. Maybe.


This post is obviously sponsored by Shutterfly but is the honest truth--my mom really is fantastic.