Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's 54th birthday (she's going to kill me for posting her age for all the world to see...). I love her to death, but since her birthday falls on the 7th, I'm going to post 7 interesting facts about my mom, which also happen to be things I love about her:

1. She has endless energy - in fact, she has more energy than I do!!! Often when she comes to visit, she runs me ragged (last time it was my turn to run her ragged!) We were joking about her being the adult version of "hyperactive" the last time she was here. On the positive side, that usually translates into her spending lots of time sweeping my floors and doing my laundry while she visits. I can always count on her help for big projects... she has helped me paint bedrooms, lay sod, sew curtains for 5 matching windows, quilt quilts, and so on... she's a master at projects!

2. She has a beautiful alto singing voice - when we sing together, we harmonize really well and I love it! For many years, she was part of a singing group called, "The Dulcetones"... my favorite song (the only one I can remember well) is the one about the angel who can't sing well and is off key with the rest of the angel choir. Once my mom got to be the "off" angel and boy it's hard to sing off on purpose, when everyone around you sounds good!

3. She gives endless amounts of hugs... If you've read the book 'The Five Love Languages", my mom's Love Language is, without a doubt, Physical Touch. Good thing ALL my kids are also huggers... takes a little bit of the pressure off me!

4. She taught me a love for the great outdoors - we spent much of our childhood camping and hiking in the Tahoe area. She and my dad took us kids on a backpacking trip when we were pretty young (at least I know it was before the Girls Camp years). She also taught me how to Cross Country ski (I like it better than downhill skiing, yes, I'm weird, I know....) and she taught me how to ride a horse. When I was a teen, we got a horse and boarded him out in the country. She was always so attentive about grooming and cleaning. I just wanted to "ride and go home"... she used to kid me that I must be related to Princess Diana.... sounds good to me!

Christy, "mom", and Megan on top of Camelback mountain! ----->

5. She taught me to appreciate a good "Road Trip". When I was a kid, we road tripped all over the Northern Hemisphere.... from CA to Niagra Falls.... from CA to Alberta, Canada.... from CA to Mt. Rushmore.... interesting things I've seen on our Road Trips include: Devil's Tower in Wyoming (from the Close Encounters movie), Jewel Cave (the best cave I've ever seen in South Dakota), 500 miles of cornfields driving across Iowa and Nebraska, Lake Louise in Banff National Park (in Alberta, Canada), The Highway to the Sun (in Glacier National Park in Montana), and the Sacred Grove (in Palmyra, New York). On this particular trip, we drove right by Kirtland, OH so we stopped (this was a surprise and unplanned) and saw the Kirtland Temple. I didn't know that the "re-organized" church owned it... we were in the room where they have portraits of all the prophets from Joseph Smith to today, and I couldn't figure out why I didn't recognize any of them... now that was a true "dumb blonde" moment for me!

6. My mom taught me the finer art of "toilet papering a house". Sounds weird, but when I was a kid, she had this crazy friend who loved to go out and they would go together a lot and often bring us kids along. She even made my dad (a cop) drive the "get away car" so she'd have an easy out if we got caught by the police. At the time, tee peeing a house was the greatest sign of affection, but now I think about someone doing it to my house and... well, let's just say, I'm glad that "fad" has passed on.... some of my fondest memories as a teen were tee peeing houses!

7. She taught us how to get up early and work hard. When finances were tight and she needed a job, but wanted to stay home, she got a paper route. She would get up every morning at 4:00 to do this job. When my brother and I were old enough, we got enlisted in the cause, and we would trade off going out with her. We sat in the back seat and folded papers, then threw them up to the front seat, where she'd drive around the neighborhood and toss them onto the driveway. We often did this before heading off to early morning seminary which started at 6:30 a.m. EVERY day! My senior year of High School, I'd finally had enough of getting up at 4:00 a.m.... so I got a real job, working the drive up window at Wendy's! I think one of the biggest reason I picked Wendy's is because they didn't serve breakfast, so I'd never have to get up at the crack of dawn for work again!

Wow... I've written seven things already... I could go on, but I've got a long "to do" list to accomplish today! Mom, Thanks for Being You!

We LOVE You!!!