Happy Momma's Day

Dearest Mother~

Today is a day set aside to honor you. It is your day. Your day to eat breakfast in bed while enjoying some peace and quiet, even though you will get lonely and come join the wild ones at the kitchen table. Your day to put your feet up and relax, even though chances are you will either help with dinner or the dishes. It is your day to receive countless hugs and kisses, even though we could never give you enough to make up for all that you do. Your day to demand that all your children love each other and be nice, even though the reason we got into a fight was because someone was making too much noise and its Mother's Day so SHHHHH (as one child hits the other to make them be quiet)!! Your day for the world to revolve around you and each individual child as they brag about how hard they worked on that card and art project at school.

The older I get I wiser you have become. Meaning I now see that you and Dad really DO know a lot more about life than I ever gave you credit for back in high school. Your advice is given in a loving manner and with only good intentions, not in a controlling "I want to tell you how to live your life" way as previously thought. Your tears are my tears as your knee got scraped every time mine did, you failed that test every time I did, your heart broke every time mine did after a breakup. Your spit is the world's best cleaner getting anything and everything off of a dirty child's face. Your hugs make the whole brighter and your cooking never so good as when I had to starting cooking for myself.

In honor of Mother's Day I made each of my students write a Top 10 list of things their mother's do. Here is mine:

MY TOP 10 MEMORIES OF MOM

10. Staying up late editing all those papers. I can still hear you saying "What is "it"? What are you talking about? Which one sounds better...? You're paper needs to be reader friendly."
9. Watching Alicia face as you grabbed her arm and pulled her this way and pushed her that way to get the measurements for her toga. HAHA her face was priceless! You are a lets get down to business mom. By the way..thanks for those togas!!!
8. When my heart broke you rubbing my back for hours till I cried myself to sleep. I know those were long nights for you.
7. Walking around Disneyland and you had your map out, hat on your head, backpack and fannypack on, waterbottle in your hand, and you were cruising. "We need to get these Fastpasses then get those Fastpasses.Then be here for this show, come back and use the Fastpasses and then we will need to go here to watch this parade. On our way we can pick up a Fastpass for that ride...."
6. Your VOODOO medicine. I'll never admit that it actually works.
5. Your face when I was learning to drive and took that turn going 60 MPH.
4. Watching you load up the van after Girl's Camp. I don't know how you crammed it all in, but I do know that it took you holding everything inside with your foot while you tried to close the door. What an amazing balancing act!
3. Getting packages from you! Especially that ones full of cheesy sayings that are attached to the most random of things. They always put a smile on my face!
2.You and Dad getting off the ski lift and Dad following over (No worries Dad I've done it a thousand times.) and hearing him say "Why'd you push me Rhonda? Don't push me!"
1.The way you sign every card with "I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

Happy Momma's Day!

Love,
Your Favorite Child

C...Eh!...N...Eh!...D...Eh!

Yes this post is long overdue, but as the saying goes, better late than never. Spring Break is a much need hiatus from everyday life after a long winter (here in Utah winter starts in in Oct/Nov.) It is one of the perks of being a teacher. It almost makes up for being underpaid...ALMOST. This year I became a salmon and swam upstream. Everyone else I know headed south, I head north to Grandma's smiles, hugs, and yummy cooking not to mention the rest of my crazy and loving Canadian family. :o) I love you guys!

Like with many of the trips I take, I consider the road trip to my destination one of my favorite parts. There is just something to be said about windows down, scenery flying past, singing at the top of my lungs to my iPod, and eating junk food with Carla. We have way too much fun in the car together, poor Jake had to suffer through our debates and endless random conversations. On the way up we decided to take the scenic route which according to Jake would show us some of "the most beautiful country." Here is what we were suppose to see...



A bit of Heaven on Earth wouldn't you say? Well this is what we actually ended up seeing...



Thats right it snowed all the way from Rexburg until we were probably halfway through Montana. No worries though we got to enjoy the scenery on the way back. The next adventure was at the border. We were actually stopped and had to go in and show someone our passports and answer the same questions over and over again. I have a few theories about this. 1) Carla, Jake, and I look like sketchy people. 2) Mariah Carey's Hero was playing in the background when we pulled up to the border guard. 3) The question, "Do you have any guns or ammunition on you?" and Jake wanting to answer "I didn't know I needed them." Whatever the reason we made it through.



While in the First Nation of Hockey we played in the Canadian Rockies. They are just gorgeous. I live at the base of the mountains here in Utah and they still took my breath away. They are so jagged and steep. You can almost just see where plates collided and one shot up. Our adventures included enjoying the Banff hot springs, and shopping. Here are a few of the treasures we found.







You can't go to Canada in the winter and not go to a hockey game. We went to the Calgary Hitman. They are the minor league team that the NHL drafts from, and since you have to be 21 to be in the NHL there are a lot of really good players in the minor league. My uncles swear it is actually better hockey than the pros. I won't lie while the game was amazing...we killed them (7-1) the mascot got more of my attention.




Overall it was an amazing trip. It was one of those trips where you truly come back rested and ready to face life again. It was relaxing, low key, fun, and it doesn't get any better than hanging out with family. So THANK YOU to everyone!!!