17 year's ago on Mother's Day we were in the hospital with a 4 day old Taylor wondering if he would make it through the night.  And now 17 year's later, here he is with us still!  Our Mother's day has a history of being cursed with hospitalizations but this year Taylor moved up the schedule a bit so we could all be home together today.  He is slowly getting back to his usual self and returned to school on Wednesday.  I brought Costa Vida to school for his lunch on his birthday and he still passionately likes horchata and all things Mexican.  On Saturday night we had his annual BBQ where we roasted hot dogs, ate cake and visited with friends.  Summer has finally poked its head around the corner so we enjoyed a beautiful warm evening with flowers and trees blooming and kids running everywhere.

On Monday Spencer had his end of the year guitar recital.  He did awesome and sang for the first time in public, ever.  You can tell that he enjoys guitar much more than piano but I am too stubborn to let him quit piano yet!

Spencer started a cross-fit class this week, three times a week for an hour.  The first day after we just laughed as he was unable to lift his arms, or even to sit without groaning.  But he likes the class a lot and comes home happy and very tired.  He is planning to do it throughout the summer and I think it will be a good thing for him.  I have to remind myself of that as I drive him there and back and wait for him three times a week!


Life with Taylor has taught me that sometimes you just have to drop everything and let it go.  I am grateful that I have a family and friends who pick up the slack when I just have to say I can't do it.  Robyn was sad I couldn't come into her class Monday to teach them how to make tortillas but two friends instead came and taught them the Mexican hat dance.  I wasn't able to take around invitations last weekend for Taylor's party so I just emailed people and my daughters ran a few invitations around.  While taking Spencer to a class I totally spaced unlocking the church for scouts.  So Allison braved a huge thunderstorm (I literally mean huge as it split a tree a block over where lightning struck) to go unlock the church.  The list is endless really and I am glad for the safety net that always seems to be around me and my family.  If its really important it gets done, if not it won't.

The kids have been dying to try out the RV so they all agreed to spend Thursday night getting the yard cleaned up.  Spencer ended up working on endless math assignments instead but my girls pulled weeds like maniacs.  It always amazes me that they can actually dramatically decrease my work load now when they pitch in.  The yard wasn't close to being weed free but it looked like a yard and not a weed fest when they were done.  Friday afternoon the girls packed up the trailer and we were off to the canyon on our maiden voyage.

The RV was super comfortable and everyone was able to sleep with plenty of room.  I froze at night because I forgot we had the ability to turn on a heater and just pinned Jeremy into a corner all night long being in full heat sucker mode.  Kids ran around, ate constantly, Spencer strummed his guitar with a camp song he had been practicing for us, girls did a "show" with wood sticks as violins and Taylor was mesmerized by the fire.  It was just a great over night get away.  And we learned when we realized that we forgot syrup for our pancakes that pieces of Jeremy's candy bar stash melt great onto pancakes!  We camped right next to a prime rock climbing place and I was amazed at watching people go up and down what looked like a sheer rock face.


Now it wouldn't be a true Mother's Day around here if everyone was bursting with good health.  Jeremy enjoyed a beautiful day golfing this week with work and has been stretching his back into place ever since while fighting off major allergies.  Despite all this he got up early this morning to make everyone an amazing breakfast before heading to church to teach his class and to help with a primary class.  Kids all had little treasures they made me that they were very excited about.  Robyn's card said I was awesome, even when I was mad.  But I got quite choked up with her present.  She had a list of questions to answer about me and for one she said, "My mom is so smart that she even knows...that we will be together forever".  I couldn't have asked for a better answer and made me feel that somehow I can't be messing up completely in the mom department.  I have had several friends who met my mom say to me that now they understand why I am the way I am.  And I just reply, yep if there is anything I do right, its because I learned it from my mom.  All the mistakes are all me.  So a shout out to all the moms out there and all my pseudo-moms who have helped raise, teach and inspire me.  Being a mom doesn't come with a manual, but instead it comes with examples that surround me all the time.  Happy Mother's Day!