Mother's Day {a little late}

 Happy Mother's Day to me!!! The boys, with a lot of help from Scott, put this flower bouquet together for me. The white flowers are the boys hands with the fingers curled back. It's a huge, beautiful flower arrangement, that I still have on my table. It's so unique. I love it.  I also received a few other fun gardening gifts from the boys.

Scott had to work all day, which was a total bummer, but I headed to my cousins house for dinner. Just me and Preston. The boys fended for themselves at home while I ate a delicious pan-seared with butter steak, twice baked potatoes...YUM. After, we played games, laughed and talked. It was wonderful. When I arrived back home, the house was clean, the little boys were in bed and the older boys were playing their instruments or reading. Nice!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day, like me!

I am so lucky to have this "job" of being their mom. Of course it's tricky, frustrating, messy and loud at times. But, it's totally worth it! I am super lucky to have them all to raise as my own.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

"A Tribute to Mother's"

 A couple weeks ago I was in charge of the mid-week activities and planned an extra special Mother's day one for May. I had different sisters decorate the centerpieces and bring soups. There were several speakers, a musical number, a funny poem and a slide show. It was fantastic. There were laughs. There were tears. There were a lot of compliments!

What a fun evening! Thank you to all the sister's that helped make this night extra special!

Time Out for Women Part 3

Saturday started bright and early. We met at the convention center at 8:15am so we could get better seats than Fridays night. The conference didn't officially start until 9am, but 3,000 other woman had the same idea as us! (We did find some pretty good seats in the middle section!)

Saturday morning...Linda Eyre and her daughter Shawni Pothier

The mother and daughter duo spoke together about Motherhood. They offered 5 "helps" to be a better mother.

#1 Be your own best kind of mom! Everyone comes form different packages, different husbands, and different circumstances.

#2 Infrastructure. Have a family mission statement and/or motto a theme for your family. Something that your family puts together. (Shawni's family is "Learn, Work, Service, Respect". (My family's motto is "All for one, and one for all!" We also have a saying for the boys, "Brothers First") Hold Family Home Evenings and family meeting often and regularly.

#3 Give your children ownership. Have your kids make their own goals they want to achieve. They talked about the "Repenting Bench" which was so cleaver! (I've already used this form of ownership a few times already!!) When the kid are arguing or get mad at one another they have to sit on the "Repenting Bench" until they can say what THEY did wrong. (we used the stairs in our home)For example, we were listening to music in the kitchen the other day when Jackson and Tyler started arguing about it and I had them sit on the stairs and tell me what THEY did wrong in that situation. They both tried to state what the other brother had done first. I would interrupt him and have him start over by stating only what he did wrong. It was pretty cool!

#4 Family traditions. Hold family testimony meetings on Sunday after Fast Sunday. (Make sure they tell how they FELL about Jesus in their testimony. They have a picture of the Savior in every room. (I would add a picture of the family, or brothers in every room as well...)

#5 Teaching your children to work. (Scott and I totally believe in this as well!!) They offered some cleaver ideas how to contract out jobs by the children bidding on them or after you've taught a child a certain chore ie scrubbing the toilet they can then teach a younger sibling to do it and receive a special certificate by doing so.
**Keys for good work:
Print out (List or bubble system)
Patience
Persistence

Cherish those small moments, the moments that make up the tapestry of life.

valuesparenting.com
71toes.blogspot.com
http://powerofmoms.com/

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I came across this short video the other day and it was so inspiring that I wanted to share it with all of you! When I was younger, I wanted to get married and have children. I've always wanted to me a mom. I love having 6 boys, but as you may know, being a mother is hard a lot of the time. This video reassures me of my choices in life and affirms to me that what I am doing is right and sacred. I am thankful for my calling in life to be a mom. Especially to these 6 boys. I was raised by a single parent and an older brother. (We lived with my Gram for 12 years also). There were not a lot of male role models, father figures or the priesthood in my home. I learned a great deal about the priesthood in college and especially on my mission. I am so grateful now to be able to teach and share my testimony and knowledge with these wonderful boys. On the drive up to Utah from California I wrote a poem about my sons. (I have written like 5 poems in my entire life, I'm not very good at poetry...So this is huge for me!!)

I am a mother of 6 children.

I am a mother of 6 boys.

I am a mother of 6 future Eagle scouts.

I am a mother of 6 future priesthood holders.

I am a mother of 6 future return missionaries.

I am a mother of 6 future college graduates.

I am a mother of 6 future husbands.

I am a mother of 6 future fathers.

I am a mother of 6 wonderful human beings.

I am a MOTHER.

Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's day I was in Santa Barbara, but it was fine because I celebrated Mother's Day for a second time when I returned home two days later. Early Sunday morning Scott called to I could hear Will, Jackson and Tyler sing a couple of songs for sacrament meeting in Mesa. A little while later Scott called again so I could hear Tyler give a talk in primary in Mesa. I subbed as the primary chorister while visiting and it was fun being with all the kids. Gavin made this cute bag filled with tissue paper and there was a small bottle of lotion inside. He also stood on stage and sang the Mother's Day song for sacrament.
Above is Will's letter to me, Tyler's talk and picture and Gavin's picture. He drew him and me..can you tell? :)

Scott ordered me these three books, all from a author I know! I can't wait to dive into those! (We read the children's book, "Grasshopper Pie", which was real cute. Her 14 year old daughter is the illustrate of that book! How fun!
Here is something else Tyler made for me, an adorable stat chart about me...Pretty funny if you can see it! ("youta= Utah, Tackos= tacos)

Jackson wrote up a cartoon word strip and made me a key chain and this door handle thingy. By the way, he goes by Jet now at school. (Jackson Evan Thompson)

Tyler made this at school for me...

THANK YOU all sweet boys and hubby!

I hope awesome, hard-working, fun, hot mama's had a wonderful Mother's Day too! We sacrifice a lot, but man it's sure worth it!

Great Scott!

Scott was home this morning doing some work form home, which I love because then the boys will want to play and chat with him so I can get some stuff done. Like, take a shower! I finished nursing the baby and handed him off to Scott. Brigham and Gavin were in the bath just climbing out when I was going in to take a shower. So he's holding the baby, who needs a diaper change. And there are two adorable naked little boys running around who need to get dressed. Scott asks, "how do I do this?" With a little chuckle I reply, "I don't know, how do I do this.....everyday....when you're not here?" He eventually figured it out, like most husbands do. But then it made me think about being a mom. I don't have any magical powers, even though sometimes I wish I had. I don't even think I'm a great mom. I usually don't know how I accomplished the things I do in an average day. But I am confident that most moms, if not all, feel that way. We just get it done. I don't know how, we somehow just do it! So, for all you mother's out there with youngsters or teenagers, with a baby on the way or 6 running in circles around you...I applaud you! You just get it done! And you are AWESOME!