A new kind of mothers day

My whole life Mother's Day has been a day that I have felt eternally grateful to my Mom. My mom has lived a life dedicated to her children. She is a woman of love and service. I have always been amazed at her patience and understanding. Each year that goes by I notice more and more of her example that has been imprinted into my life. I start to remember and recognize the things she did for us which at the time I thought had little significance. Now those things mean the world. Even right down to waking up at 5:00 am to make me smoothies before early morning seminary, letting me call the zoo as a little girl to see if I could buy a Koala Bear, driving me two hours to Los Angeles for acting lessons every week when I was little because my dream was to be an actress, picking me up from school to go to lunch together, listening to me and instilling life lessons, self worth and virtue by being my best friend and talking to me as if we were peers, even though she will always be a million times as wise as me. She has always made me feel like anything is possible. She makes everything seem better and brighter. If you know her, you know that she can make anyone/anything seem like "THE BEST" she has ever heard or seen. She taught me to be independent and prepared me to leave her home one day and to create the best life for myself and gave me the confidence to do so.

Similarly Ben has an incredible mother. I could not ask for a better Mother-in-law. She is someone who is so full of love, so much that sometimes I feel like her heart might burst. She never wants anyone around her to ever suffer and wants to be the person to carry the weight so no one else ever has to. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She raised Ben so perfectly it is unreal. She taught him to be a gentleman, to be kind, to give service and to be strong. Ben has told me stories of her waiting up for him at nights to know he is safe, always wanting to be sure that each of her kids were cared for and protected.  She has always supported Ben in every way throughout his life and has never missed a sporting event, graduation, etc.. All three of her kids have turned out to be faithful, hard-working, caring people, exactly how she taught them to be. She is an incredible woman that has become a great example to me. She always has a very gospel centered life and home and you can feel peace, warmth and love just walking into her home because she has made it that way. I am so happy that Hadley has such wonderful Grandmas.

Today, not only am I celebrating them but I am also celebrating being a mother. This is my first Mother's day with a daughter of my own. The day I became a mother and the days since have been the best days of my life. I have gotten to know and love a very special daughter of our Heavenly Father. Hadley is literally my angel. I never knew such love existed before she was sent to me. I constantly have my heart pouring with pure genuine love. I will do anything for her. All I want is to make her happy. One of the greatest things about being a mom is feeling loved myself. Nothing can explain how happy it makes me each time she looks at me and grins from ear to ear and her face lights up because she sees me. She smiles because I am her mom and she loves me. Nothing can beat that. She wants me to hold her because she feels safe with me and I make her feel better because I am her mom. I can spend all day just watching her and even though I get exhausted, once she goes to bed I miss her. I look at her and think she is the most beautiful thing in this world. As much as I do not want her to grow up, I can not wait to see her learn and succeed. She has already brought so much light into this world and I know she has so much more to offer in the future. I love being her mama. I feel so blessed that I can be a part of her life.

As silly as it sounds I heard a great quote on the T.V. show "Army Wives". She said "Once you become a mother you are no longer the picture. You become the frame."

I hope I can help Hadley to frame her life to be the most beautiful piece of art the world has seen.

The day I became a mom. Photo Credit: Natalie Norton