Mom

(post by Marissa) I'll make this short and sweet. Again, I'm not one to go saying all these amazing things about someone on my blog (I reserve that for cards), but I think my mom deserves a little praise! I am 24 years old, married, living 2,500 miles from my mom and I still get a Valentine's package. She sent two different packages for us on Valentine's Day.

And these packages are not just reserved for Valentine's Day. Every season, I get something in the mail with new placemats, napkin holders, and napkin rings and other festive stuff. Halloween, she got me a Halloween cookie jar....She seems to remember every LITTLE holiday. And I know I'm not the one and only special Bird child that gets these packages. She has to send out and prepare 11 packages for each of us. She manages to do this all while traveling everywhere to visit each of us, fulfill her calling, take care of the house, and do whatever other million projects she is doing. Everytime I call her she is doing some new project whether it's finishing an album for a sibling, planning a family vacation, or doing something for the church. Right now she is teaching a 40 week course on "Coming Closer to Christ," with my dad. She is beyond a perfectionist and so she seems to "go all out" on every project she ever does, including sending little packages to her kids. I could not ask for a better mom and the older I get the more I realize just how unselfish she is. When I was in Young Women's she was the Stake YW president. For the first few years of my girls camp days, we stayed in cabins and had the food prepared for us. Well, I was kind of a picky eater in those days....so she brought me "special" meals for every meal because she knew otherwise I wouldnt eat. I'm still not sure where she got the food or how she did it, but I'm grateful I didn't have to eat that camp food! Her energy never ceases to amaze me. I have a lot of energy and she can still wear me out somehow. Anytime I ever have to prepare a lesson, give a talk, or plan a party I call her for ideas. I have never called her for ideas and not had a million ideas within 10 minutes. Not only that, she'll call me and tell me other ideas after the conversation. She gets more into my talks, parties, etc than even me! Well, before I bore you I'll stop, but she really is amazing. And look how cute she is...11 babies and 60 years old later and she still looks hip! When I was in cheerleading she would come to my competitions in slacks and a fur coat. All the other moms were sporting the Cheer Sweatshirts, but my mom said she wasn't going to wear those. So she wore some fancy sweaters in our cheer colors and she always had to wear a fur coat because she gets cold in 80 degrees. (i inherited that too...). She takes us shopping and lets us put designer jeans on her now! If only she wore jeans 10 years ago, the cheer girls wouldn't always ask where my mom was going! She has a great closet though and always has....