Happy Mother's Day!!

Just a few fabulous (but true!) stories about my mom:

1. She grew up on the beach and it's still her favorite destination. She spent lots of time in Hawaii last year teaching the grandkids to boogie board.

2. She was the first person at her high school to pierce her ears (in her bathroom with an ice cube, a needle, and a potato).  The first one hurt so badly that she didn't get around the piercing the other ear for a week.

3. She met my dad when she was selling hats at the California State Fair in Sacramento (my dad was selling wigs).

4. She graduated from UCSB with a degree in Anthropology.

5.  As a mother of 2 very young children, she got fed up with her dog, Charlie Brown, when they were living in New Jersey. She took him to a nice neighborhood and tried to abandon him, but he caught up at every stop sign, so she finally let him back in the car and drove home.

6. She insisted that I put my hair in curlers every Saturday night so I would have nice hair for church, even if I was sleeping over at a friend's house. I looked like I was channeling Shirley Temple for about 8 years.

7. She is probably the reigning cookie champion of the East Bay, and entirely self-taught. Her cookies are legendary. 

8. She has a lot of pluck, and found many interesting ways to earn supplemental money while we were growing up, including: paper routes, helium balloon delivery, catering, wedding decorating, floral design, window displays, graphic design, and calligraphy.

9. She has fabulous handwriting.

10. She once surprised me by flying me up to Reno so I could practice with my partner when I was the Sugar Plum Fairy.

11. She has a great vocabulary. A few times she attempted to implement "word of the day" in our house, usually because we hadn't understood something she had said the day before. Words I specifically remember are "uncouth" and "apathetic."

12. In college, I came home for Valentine's Day weekend and she made me practice roasting a turkey, because "you don't want your first turkey to be for an expectant audience at Thanksgiving." This has since been named the "practice turkey." She also wrapped it in foil and made me fly it back to UT and feed it to my roommates.

13. When Michael was in the NICU in Houston, she would stay with him at nights so I could go home and sleep.

14. Her legs are never unshaven (forgive me for writing it mom, but I find it very admirable).

15. My children love her more than they love me and typically call me gramma for a day or so after she leaves. 

16. She is super-gramma and even plays with all my friends' kids at the park (including sliding down the slide as part of a train).

17. She cannot go on any sort of an amusement ride, even kiddie rides. She went on the pirate ship ride with Michael 2 years ago at Marine World and ended up so sick she had to drive home. 

18. When I was young, her sister, Cher, somehow convinced her to go on The Demon at Great America (it's still unbelievable). We watched  them go on the ride and could hear her voice distinctly, even over the roar of the roller-coaster, "I hate you Cher. I hate your Cher. I am never going to forgive you." 

19. She is one of the hardest workers I know.

20. She rarely shows up at my house without 3 donuts with chocolate sprinkles.

21. We had a fabulous and unparalleled roadtrip from CA to Boston when I finished BYU, and somehow survived 3 flat tires, a rather heinous packing snafu involving underwear, and some frightening food at a Dairy Queen in Nebraska.

22. She is a voracious reader, especially on vacation. She would start a book then tear off 50 page hunks for me as she finished them so we could read the same book at the same time. Books like that she calls "twinkies."

23. She is a loyal friend.

24. She brought Milanos in her purse for me to eat on my wedding day while I was changing into my dress in the temple.

25. She is very generous and a great gift-giver. Unfortunately, she is too good of a gift stasher, so we would often get additional Christmas gifts in February when she found them under her bed  or in the closet.

Happy Mother's Day, mom!