Mommy Lila

I meant to write on Mother's Day but the day got crazy. Then yesterday got a little crazy as well with me ending up on the couch with very sore muscles and pulled ligaments (the story behind it is actually quite humorous, but I'll have to save that one for another time). So I'm sorry, Mom, that your tribute on my blog is a little belated, but better late than never, right?

I've titled this post "Mommy Lila", because that is how my mom is affectionately known by my nieces Maile and Kanani (who just so happen to live down the street from my parents and Maile is my little sister Annie's best friend. How cool is that!?!) I think the nickname suits her well. She's served in the church Nursery, Primary, Young Women's Program, and many of the kids seem to be pretty attached to her. She's kind of like a second mommy to many of them.

My mom is awesome for many of the same reasons that other moms are awesome. She taught us from a young age to pray and read the scriptures together, she's an amazing cook (she makes the best tortilla soup in the world, and I mean THE best!), she can make a dollar bill stretch for miles, and she's got the loud "mom whistle" down (the piercing, deafening kind) for whenever she really needs to get our attention. I think a million other moms out there share these same attributes and are awesome for it. But you see, there's more to my mom than all her normal mom attributes, so I should probably share the attributes/quirks that make my mom the BEST mom:

1) My mom is in better shape than 97% of the people I know. My abs and arms have never been as chiseled as hers. I run an 8 minute mile while she "speed walks" the same pace right along side of me. I don't think even SHE knows the limit of push-ups she can do (and I'm not talking about the modified, girly push-ups)!

2) My mom has a freakishly awesome inability to feel pain like normal people. I witnessed her speed walk on the treadmill up until a few minutes before she delivered my baby sister, Annie, and she actually looked like she was having a good time all the while. I've also seen her step on a huge spike that went through her foot and it took her a few minutes before she even realized that it had happened! Who is she!?!

3) My mom has the longest tongue in the world. She can practically pick her nose with that thing!

4) My mom made sure to raise us with a good work ethic and sense of entrepreneurialship. When I was ten, she taught my sister and I to bake bread and helped us set up a bread baking and selling business. A few summers later, she helped us organize a "kids summer camp" as a way to make money. I think most of my friends spent their free time riding bikes or something.

5) My mom let my dad move our young family down to Mexico almost 21 years ago. My mom had four kids; one was an infant. She didn't speak a word of Spanish and most people in the area where we moved didn't speak a word of English. I think I would want to wet my pants.

6) My mom loves to garden at an unhealthy level. This is an obsession she shares with her sisters because their mother (my awesome Grannie) is also a crazed gardener. During the summers she lives in her garden and greenhouse. Whenever she's headed outside to garden, my dad teases that she's "off to tend to her babies". I'm not complaining! I LOVE eating her yummy veggies and looking at all her pretty flowers. Sometimes obsessions can be good!

7) My mom knits little Mary Jane slippers for every baby within a twenty mile radius of Palmer. She even knitted some slippers for myself and my roommates when I was in college. Mom, you're so gosh darn cute!

8) My mom was Miss Alaska. Yeah, she's gorgeous. She sings like an angel. Whenever she's in a theatre production, she steals the show even when she has a minuscule part. She totally could have been on Broadway and if she had been, she probably would have won a Tony Award.


So there you have it. My mom is awesome, but she's also weird and quirky and sometimes just crazy. And that's how I like her, because it makes her the best. I love you, Mom!

9) PS Kristy just reminded me of probably the funniest/weirdest reason why my mom rocks. My family came to drop Bret and I off at BYU my junior year and for some reason, my mom decided to relay to my roommates a time that Joey got a stomach flu after eating a bag of flaming hot Cheetos and was crying as he threw up because the Cheetos were seriously burning his throat. My mom was laughing so hard telling the story, I thought she might pee her pants. What mom laughs like that at her kid's expense? My mom!