Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday.

She is #@$% years old.

I will tell you, she is over 50 (I think that's okay to tell:)

So I will tell you fifty things that make my mom so special.

She is special, you know, she's different and amazing, I love her, and she deserves a fifty things post :)

1. My mom loves her kids like crazy. And we know it--possibly the best blessing a parent could give any child

2. She knows how to laugh at herself and at life--as much as I get annoyed with it at times--I envy this ability she has

3. She is the hardest working person you will ever meet

4. She always thinks of others

5. She is unselfish

6. She goes to movies at The Flicks by herself at least once a month...I feel relatively bad about this truth, but I don't care for those movies :)

7. She went to see Elton John by herself

8. She LOVES the movie Arthur and laughs at it no matter how many times she has seen it

9. She reads magazines like crazy

10. She stays up all hours of the night

11. She teaches the best Relief Society lessons

12. She loves to work in the yard and keeps her yard looking great all the time

13. She bought me garden plants and came over to help me plant my own garden

14. She watches The Bachelor and Bachelorette with me

15. She HATES Chris Harrison--sometimes this is funny, sometimes it is not funny at all

16. She makes to-die-for nachos

17. She helps me set up my classroom at the beginning of the year

18. She needs redirection when helping set up my classroom--at least once :)

19. She sometimes needs redirection in a lot of things...I always know how to redirect her :)

20. She is the person that I told Zach he had to get permission from before he could propose

21. She has a potty mouth at times

22. She takes a long time to learn the rules for games

23. You always feel sorry for her when you play games with her

24. She is so much fun

25. She looks like Oprah-at least Shane and I think so :)

26. It's fun to tell her she looks like Oprah or to tell her that random men in public look like my dad

27. Basically, it's a hoot to bother her! :)

28. She's forgiving

29. She is incredibly loyal...if she's your friend. I promise you can trust her

30. She's honest and she hates liars

31. She won't even tell her family about a trial that she's on the jury for

I know, I know, you're not "supposed to," but I give her a hard time about this

32. If you are having a hard time, she will text you to see how you are doing

33. If you say that your husband needs a ride home from work or to school she will send you a text like this, "I did all of my morning chores tonight so I can leave for work earlier. If Zach needs a ride I can give him one." I don't think anyone gets a cuter text than that!

34. She will pray for your class--by name--before the ISAT tests

35. When I got my feelings hurt by a boy in high school once, I came home crying. My mom was on the phone and immidiately got off the phone and came into my room and crawled into my bed with me.

36. When I got home the day I got my heart broken--truly broken--my mom had washed my sheets and put a clean pair of pajamas out on my bed so I could sleep in peace. She wrote me a poem, too.

37. Speaking of poems, my mom is a poet, did you know that?

38. She can crochet, too. You get blankets for baby blessings and such when you have one :)

39. My mom took her vacation time and spent it with her kids always. We had great times. Sometimes taking vacations and sometimes watching movies on our couch bed while drinking hot chocolate

40. She is the kind of mom that I never ever wanted to be away from. I have never "out grown" my mom

41. She made me invite every kid in the neighborhood to my birthday party. Even the red-headed pervert who picked his nose. I wasn't allowed to let anyone feel bad. As annoying as this trait of my mom's has sometimes been, I never grew up thinking that some people "weren't okay."

42. She escorted me through the temple

43. She "ruined' my exit from the temple on my wedding day--or helped make a really funny memory

44. She made up her own songs and sang them to us when we were little. I just told Zach about one of the songs just the other night and I seriously started crying.

45. You miss her when she's not around

46. She keeps track of EVERYTHING

47. She takes care of my Grandpa, my dad, her kids (Zach included), and all of our family. She takes Grandpa to his doctor appointments, goes to his family history class with him, mows his lawn, cleans his house, and goes out to dinner with him when he wants company. She never ever complains about doing things for others...she just does because she loves.

48. She lives a life that you would never regret living

49. She has NO clue how amazing she is

50. She is the best person I know.

Basically, there is no one like this woman on the face of the earth. She's the biggest blessing in my life, for sure. Sure, I have a wonderful husband, a job that I enjoy, and family and friends that love me...I wouldn't be near the person I am today if I hadn't been influenced by my mom. It's true...she is beyond amazing. There are really no words. Trust me, Heavenly Father practically told me this. I'm special...and so is my mom. In fact, I'm special because of my mom. It's true.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I'm so thankful for you today. Thank you for everything!