brag on my mom

I have also been feeling this post come on for a while now. I wanted to save it til I was ready to do it justice -- and also because this is my 300th post and it just seems fitting to have it about something real.

First of all I just want to say that I have the greatest mom. She has been so helpful and supportive to me this past year. My dad has always worked a crazy schedule (he was a sports broadcaster that sometimes went on roadtrips with sports teams for weeks at a time) and my mom has really understood my struggles -- when I have complained she has been the only one to help. She just let me know that I just need to adjust to the schedule and in a year or two I won't even bat an eye -- but that it's really hard for everyone at the start.

Another thing that is amazing about her is shown in the picture above -- I took this picture before she was ready . . . but she is just emotional. Sometimes that can be a bad thing, but over the past year I've come to realize how much she truly loves, cares for, and hurts for all her kids. I've had some experiences now with having a daughter that doesn't always make the right choices -- that you care for her success and happiness so much . . . but there's nothing you can do but watch them on a downward spiral. It's a horrible feeling, and I know I've had a small glimpse of what my mom deals with a lot.

Sometimes my mom thinks she hasn't been such a good mom [and yes I like to remind her about the pickle for my 17th bday or when she made me call and ask an older cute boy to prom to get ungrounded--those are not the highlights of her parental skills] but I'm here to tell ya she's amazing. A year or two ago we were in Stake Conference and one of the presidency members talked about parents as bows and kids as the arrows -- our aim as parents has a lot to do with where the kids land, and I know my mom's testimony has always been strong and true to help all of her kids get to where we need to be -- even if some of us took detours along the way.