"Mom Your The Best...But Only When You Do What I WANT You To Do"

Not a great picture of me but a great picture of the boys in St. George (aka land of the old crusties that have nothing better to do than be grouchy)
Bringing home Spencer to his three brother's...2004
Okay I think I found the worst pictures of me but the look on Elijah's face is priceless...his first Do'h 2001
Halloween 2001...Noah was Steve Erwin, Mom, big pregnant fat lady.


Isn't that the truth...sometimes I feel like my children only love me when I do what they want me to do and hate me the other 99.99 percent of the time. What they don't know is every night I pray for them; for their health, for their safety, for them to NOT fight over the Wii today, just one day is all I ask for. As I send them out the door to the great unknown world of elementary school, I wonder if they will understand what will be taught to them, if their friends will be nice to them or in Spencer's case, he will finally decide that urinating outside is NOT a cool thing nor an environmentally "green" way to water the neighbors plants.

They don't know that I loath doing laundry and hope everyday that the laundry fairies will become real out of my imagination and wash, fold, and put away our laundry (much to my disappointment, they never become real...but still hoping). They don't know that I hate cleaning the bathroom...okay, I don't mind cleaning bathrooms, but I hate wiping up urine five feet from the toilet, really, really is that hard to pee IN the toilet (at least I know it isn't Spencer's urine because he pees outside). They don't know these facts because I simply don't tell them.

Being a mother has a lot of monotony...beds, cleaning, folding, washing and every other boring cleaning term used, and trust me there are a lot, just to describe every day of every week of every year when you are a mother.

However I love it, I love that Spencer had to come climb into bed with me to fall asleep. I love that Elijah gives the best "bed-hugs" and must give me one every night or he will have bad dreams. I love that Noah gets a little upset when I don't read to him every night...I love to read to him because he loves it. I love that fact that we eat every night together as a family; whether it is chicken nuggets or bacon wrapped turkey stuffed with stuffing with cherry pie for desert. I love taking the boys to baseball games, the zoo, to the store, to a restaurant, to the movies or just driving in the car. I always love hearing the funny little funnies they say and laughing about it with Jim later that night. I love traveling with the boys and experiencing firsts together...First time to New York together, first time to Boston, first time to Disney World together...we have had a lot of firsts together.

I love my boys and I love being a mother. I love that it is looked upon in the Church as a divine calling. I love that it is sacred and I love that it is hard and most of the time I want to pull out my hair but I love it...I love it because I get to be a Mom with the best Dad ever. I love that they have a Dad who isn't afraid to go to law school at the age of 36. I love that they have a Dad that isn't afraid to play the Wii and look a little nerdy yelling at the t.v. I love that they have a Dad that isn't afraid to show his love for his boys and he isn't afraid to tell them that he loves them. But most of all I am glad that we are doing this whole blind parenting together.

I am grateful that I had such a wonderful Mother's Day. I think I have finally realized that maybe Mother's Day isn't about big gifts, a big breakfast or a big break from Motherly duties but to recognize the little things...hugs, kisses, and smiles. Thanks boys for all 3 today!