Happy Mothers' Day!

This year, we had a very low key Mothers' Day--George had just returned from being in Dallas with four of the boys and didn't get home until 1:30 a.m. from the airport.  Of course, I had to hear about all the fun he had, so we ended up getting to bed about 2:30.  The day was really enjoyable, however.

 

 Jeff and Amy gave me this beautiful Mothers' Day corsage.

 It's really fun to be in the same ward as Jeff and Amy because we get to see them at all the church activities.

 After Relief Society, the boys came running in with their flowers that they had made their mother.

 We were laughing so hard (after the boys left, of course), because we knew exactly which boy had made which flower.  Garrett is the exacting one whose creations have to be perfect.  Now, do you get the idea.  Hah!

 Jeff, Kyle, Carter, and Brady left for The Players Golf Tournament in Ponte Vedre, so they didn't eat until after the tournament, but the rest of us had a wonderful dinner together.

 In a few more days, it will be ten years since my mother passed away.  I still have a longing to just go give her a call when I want to talk.  She was truly such a special person in my life--a mother in every sense of the word.

My mother, Lola

 

George's mother, Ruby

 George's mother died 14 years ago.  She was such a hard worker and truly dedicated to the gospel.  Even though both George and I don't have our mothers at this time, we definitely carry with us so many wonderful memories and teachings they gave to us.  We are truly indebted to them and love them dearly.  How grateful we feel to have the knowledge that we will be with them again someday if we but live our lives worthily to be where they are.

All of the calls I received from the rest of the family--my sweet daughters-in-law, daughters, sons, and sons-in-law, meant so much to me.  I love you all!  Thanks so much for the wonderful day you gave me.

One son-in-law I didn't get to talk to was John who ended up in a Shanghai hospital.  He went out to play a little game of basketball with Parker a few days before and had only been playing a few minutes when "POP"!  His Achilles tendon snapped, and he had to go for an overnight stay a couple days later for surgery.   (This is the same surgery Kent had to have one year ago playing church basketball!  What is it with playing basketball?)   Then a couple days later, he developed blood clots and is back in the hospital for another three or four days to make sure they don't cause further harm.

 I love this picture of John and Alison.  They just celebrated their 20th Anniversary right before all this happened.  We can't wait to get them back to the states in July--San Francisco, here they come!
 

Like I mentioned, George spent two and a half days in Dallas where he had such a wonderful time with Craig and Cassie's family and Cameron and Anne's family.  (It was so sad that Craig had already left for work the morning this picture was taken.  It is so rare to get this many kids together at one time!)  Kevin flew in from Utah and Kent flew in from Guatemala where he had just spent a week re-visiting old missionary sites and wonderful people he had met there on his Mormon mission. 


One last very exciting bit of news:  We just found out this past week what our twenty-fifth grandchild who will be born the first part of October to Craig and Cassie will be:


A GIRL!!!
With 17 grandsons, and only 7 granddaughters, girls are pretty rare in our family.  We are so excited for her arrival!



 Riley said she looked like a dinosaur!  Oh, dear!  We surely hope he changes his mind about not wanting a new baby!  Hah!