Happy Birthday Momma!

Yay! Today is my mom's birthday! She's a super young, fun, and pretty 55 year old! I hope I can be just like her when I grow up!
We had a party/dinner last night. Our newest birthday tradition: Birthday Person Name Scattergories. It's pretty fun!
Some of my favorites were:
E-Elegant
L-Listener
I-Interesting
S-Sexy (from dad), sewing queen
E-Endearing
Philip won the game because he used a bunch of hard words, that none of knew and so we couldn't argue that they didn't describe my mom. So fun!


I've learned so much from my wonderful mom! Here are a few things about mom/Grandma Jones:

**She grew up on a farm, and so she knew how to milk cows, butcher chickens and pigs, ride horses, move irrigation from the ditch, and go get the cows out of the pasture so they don't get bloated.

**Just about everything domestic I've learned from my mom. She taught us at an early age how to can all sorts of stuff, how to sew, how to make homemade pies, and how to clean.

**She had a full-ride home-economics scholarship to college. She entered a dress she had made into a scholarship contest, and at first the judges didn't believe she had done it herself, because it was so well made.

**She taught me the value of good books. So many summer afternoons were spent with mom reading to us on her bed, probably wishing us kids would take a nap. We read lots of great books. Most of the time Mom would fall asleep, so we would jiggle the bed to get her to wake up and keep reading. Poor Mom, we should have let her sleep!

**She has made and altered more wedding dresses than anyone in the world. Also, she is the official prom/formal dress maker for every high school girl in their stake. She does a wonderful job, and most of the time she doesn't make any money, just blessings.

**That's another thing about my mom, she is so spiritual. She is constantly reminding me of how I should be, by her wonderful example.

**She taught me firsthand how to be a mom that puts her kids first above her own desires. She could have done anything she wanted in life, probably could have started up and won the first Project Runway, but didn't ever make us think that being a mom wasn't what she'd always dreamed of doing.

**She still puts us kids first. All of my projects always become my mom's and mine, because I can't imagine actually doing it on my own, at least without my mom's opinion and approval. But, she doesn't seem to mind that we all still run to her first. (The story goes that when I was little, I didn't like to do anything on my own, so I'd say "Loo do it, mamma". Hmm, I don't think I've grown out of it.)

**She gives her all to the Lord. My testimony of the gospel was nurtured from a very early age from my mom. She always teaches me what is right and helps me to learn and understand and apply what I'm taught. Mom has had just about every calling in the ward and stake. It was the funnest when we were both Primay Pres. at the same time. I stole all my good ideas from her!

You're the greatest Mom! Have a happy day! I love you!