Mother's Day 2011

How can ANYONE not have a great Mother's Day when there are these beautiful flowers to wake up to?

:)
I woke up this morning thinking of my wonderful children and remembering one thing special about each one of them from when they were little.

JULIE: We lived in Murray, Utah and when she was very little I remember her waking up every morning. Dad and I would hear her start to make some noises in her crib, which was in her own bedroom down a short hallway. We could hear the noises of the crib, mattress and wood frame start to creek a little and then hear her sweet, high pitched voice, kind of call out. It wasn't a cry or yell or scream, it was more like a little shreek or kind of sing/songy coo.Then I would excitedly get out of bed and go look in her room to see her standing up, kind of bouncing up and down, holding onto the rails of the crib, with the BIGGEST smile on her face!!

She was excited for each day.

OWEN: I remember Owen being a very solid little boy...not small like our girls, although he was never cubby, just solid. (In fact, now that I think of it, he was the only one that didn't get his arm dislocated at the elbow when he was a toddler! Solid.)

I remember him being a very fast crawler, with a big smile usually on his face. He and Julie were best buddies when they were little and when they played house, Owen was the one that carried the tool belt and fixed things or the doctor. Owen LOVED transformers, legos, and little cars...anything that he could manipulate in his hands. He was a quiet little kid too. Oh and Owen was the BEST napper...it got to where I could just lay out his blanket, tell him it was nap time, and he would lay down and be asleep in about 30 seconds. OUT!

JULIE and OWEN loved to swim and when we lived in Corona I took them to the pool most everyday that the weather was even somewhat warm. They absolutely LOVED the water! Oh, and when they were both in diapers, I would assembly line change them throughout the day. When one needed a change, the other one got it too.

KAREN: When Karen was a newborn, dad and I would lay her in between us in the bed, with her dark hair standing straight up and say, "Aren't you glad we have her?"

Karen was born physically strong, I think, and with a loud voice, which proved to save Kathy's life at least once.She always liked doing things that challenged the muscles in her legs. She would hold on to me like a little monkey by sqeezing her legs and I could practically not even hold her, and she would be hanging on tight.
When she was old enough to walk, she liked walking up our stairs on her own and holding on to my hand. As soon as she could walk, Karen was running. Running always made her smile.

Karen was a happy little girl who loved to talk and dance and sing...always excited about everything and FULL of energy!!

KATHY: Seems that when Kathy was VERY little she was laughing at things throughout the day. Owen would often ask me, "Mom, WHAT is she laughing at?" She has always liked animals. Then when we got an aviary with a few birds, she LOVED to go inside and hold the birds. She could mimic every bird we had to the point that I honestly couldn't tell if it was the bird or Kathy making that sound!

When Kathy was about 3, we had watched Back to the Future on a Saturday night. The next day in church, Kathy got away from us during Sacrament meeting and walked up the isle saying, "Mcfly.....McFLY!!!..." in the exact tone of voice as in the movie!

What could anyone do but laugh!

Kathy was a quiet little girl, who got carried around a lot by her brother and sisters and loved to play with them.

These are just a few of the memories I have of each child and I wanted to share just a little and tell you all that my greatest blessing has been to be your mother.

Thank you for coming to dad and I.

Thank you for being so wonderful and fun!

I love you.

More pictures from my day.

This has been a great Mother's Day shared with Owen, Megan, Bennett

and the McCombs family in San Diego.