Mother's Day

I've had a wonderful Mother's Day! Emily was a day ahead so she actually wished me a Happy Mother's Day yesterday and then again today. Nathaniel and Audrey reached out and they gave me a gift card to Olive Garden. I'm glad we had a video call with Andrew. Jonny made me a card and Daniel gave a beautiful talk about me. I loved sitting in sacrament meeting with Jonny up at the sacrament table and Daniel waiting to give his talk with all the other priests who are graduating from high school this month. It was a beautiful sacrament meeting. That was the whole program, hearing all those young men speak. I sat there wondering what Daniel would say. He started off talking about Elder Michael Dunn's talk "One Percent Better" from four years ago. He said that talk must've resonated with me because I immediately got to work on it and he's right. That's exactly what I did. I started making small changes to myself in my own life and for our family. He talked about how I started doing Duolingo, riding my exercise bike, and writing detailed journal entries. He talked about the changes I made to our family scripture study. That we always read the entire Come Follow Me lesson, we read five verses at a time and say what we think about that, we sit at the dining room table, and we use our paper scriptures instead of our phones. He made a cute comment about how he doesn't sleep as much as he used to during scripture study. He said it helped him to understand the scriptures better and that he could see the benefit in all the changes that I made even though at first he wasn't thrilled about them. He said I'm one of the most diligent people he knows. I kept the whole talk because he had emailed it to me last night so he could print it out on my computer. The title of the document was "Don't Read This, It's a Secret." So I didn't. Anyway, when he started talking about the one percent changes I started getting choked up. Daniel later commented that he thought he saw me tear up and I admitted that I did. I think that made him happy because he knows how seldom I do that. Michael said that watching me tear up made him do the same. Anyway, it was a beautiful meeting and I felt the Spirit and I told the boys that later tonight. All the young men went up to the front and sang Army of Helaman to us. So many people told me what a great job Daniel did. Ashley teased that it made her think she needed to be doing more. I talked to her after church. I told her that as I was sitting there I was thinking that probably all of us moms have been hard on ourselves and doubting if we're doing enough and that it was nice to hear from our boys that they see our efforts and we know we're doing our best. Relief Society was nice. They had the yogurt and fruit and granola like they always do with water bottles and it was very nice. After Relief Society, Shellee Naylor said that all the moms and senior boys were going to gather to get a picture so we did that and I also got a picture of me with Michael and the boys. I got my confetti Nothing Bundt Cake and it was delicious, of course. 

We came home and I did the crossword with the boys and then I took a nap. When I got up, the food was almost ready. Michael grilled steaks and made a lot of nice sides. 

Andrew messaged us and said he would call around 5 PM our time which was perfect because that's when Emily has her lunch break. After we ate, Michael and the boys cleaned up and I finally got completely caught up on all my pictures which is a huge blessing. I even got everything backed up to OneDrive. We talked to Andrew for a couple of hours. Dad, Nathaniel and Audrey, and Emily all were able to get on. Emily wasn't on for very long but she was out to lunch with Daniela and then they headed back to work. 

We talked until about 7 PM. Then we had family home evening together. Michael gave us a beautiful lesson. Then we all played Taboo, my favorite game.

It was a wonderful day!