Mother's Day 2011

Last weekend was Mother's Day and I was able to spend the day with my mom going to church with her and spending time at home. My mom is wonderful and everytime I think about her I realize how lucky I am to have her as my mother. She is very talented and loving and would do anything for me. We took this picture of the 3 girls on Mother's Day and I turned it into an impressionistic painitng because it reminded me of my mom. She loves art and loves impressionism and one of my favorite memories with my mom was when we spent a week together in Paris and visited the Marmottan Museum and saw many of Monet's paintings.

I went to church with my mom and dad because my dad gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. I was in tears during the whole talk it was so good. In fact, I think it was the best talk I've ever heard. He talked about my mom and about his mother, my Grandma Smith. What stood out to me the most was when he talked about how his new hobby of cooking has helped him to more fully understand all that moms do for their families. He said that while he cooks, he sometimes wishes he could turn back time to when he was first married and help my mom with dinner or wishes that he could go back to age 14 and help his mother with dinner.  He understands now what he didn't understand at a younger age. My Grandma Smith passed away 5 years ago, and although it is too late to help her with a meal, my dad said that he feels that she understands and knows my dad's intentions of his heart and loves him for it. He related this experience to Christ and the Atonement. When younger, sometimes we do not understand all that we should do or are expected to do, but through the Atonement we can change and mend the mistakes we have made before. The Atonement is like a time machine that lets us go back and redo what we wished we had done before.  I loved this anaolgy and somehow seemed to simplify all of the problems and concerns I had at the moment.  Of course, he also recited poetry and talked about his Scandanavian acestors during the talk, making the whole talk a true representation of my dad.

After church, we went back to our house for a special Mother's Day dinner. My dad made the meal and Megan made a beautiful strawberry cake.  Her cakes are amazing and this one tasted delicious! You can look at her cake blog here.  Overall, it was a great day with my mom and whole family.