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Attending missionary farewells, and homecomings have become an important part of my life. It seems the older my children, and I get the more I want to be strengthened by the light the youth have. I love hearing about the young men, and women who have been called to serve a church mission. I notice the excitement on their face as they mention putting their papers in, and the light of love in their countenance as they get their mission call, It's a mixture of joy, and nervousness, but the end result of sacrificing those 18 months to two years of their life to serve the Lord is worth all the blessings that they will receive once they return home, and for the rest of their life.
So much happiness happened over the weekend. I think we all literally got but four hours of sleep throughout the entire weekend, but our trip to Montauk and Connecticut was so worth all the driving we did. I feel so blessed to be in an area where there are known, unhidden gems that we have never been to, and when I heard how beautiful Montauk, and the Hamptons are (thanks to my favorite movie Something's Gotta Give) I figured why not go check it out, and have some fun on the beach!
Due to some major technical errors on our vintage iMac I wasn't able to blog for a whole week which gave me some time to be old school, unwind, and cleanse my mind of being on the internet too much. Hopefully my time away from blogging gave some of my new readers extra time to catch up on reading some of my archives! Nonetheless our iMac is back to normal, the problem is fixed, and I'm back to blogging!
This post is mainly going to consist of photos because everyone looked so beautiful. Lexie getting asked to prom got her pretty giddy mainly because she loves the group of friends she went with, and the young man she escorted was a gentleman. So instead of writing my heart out as to how the day went in regards to her getting ready, and all the fun that happened before I am going to quote Lexie as to what she wrote on her instagram she shared with her friends about attending her first prom in her junior year, "Hey, so um...never had a conversation before but...prom?? Tubular-est night ever!" And the comments to that, "no comment." Seriously though, everyone said she looked beautiful! And we all agreed!
Today my oldest daughter turns 22. It's super surreal knowing I have a 22 year old. Maybe it's because I have a young heart, and my brain tells me that I'm not that old. I think of her all the time, and pray many blessings upon her this year with all that is happening in her life! I want her to know how much she is loved in our home. How much her siblings think of her. How much we wish she was closer. We've gotten quite used to her being gone, and I hate that, but she is an adult now, and has her own choices to make. I pray they are always the right ones that are led by God, and that she will always carry that foundation with her wherever she goes.
Happy Birthday my sweet Sierra! Celebrate 22 with fun and laughter, and hope your year is fabulous!
Last Saturday Lexie attended her Mormon prom, (for those of you who are not familiar with Mormon prom you can read this article), and the way she dressed for the occasion seemed as if she walked onto the set of Downton Abbey. She's a fan of the show as well as a major anglophile, and when I told her she resembled Lady Sybil she crossed her hands, and did peace signs, and had a huge smile on her face. Even though her character died early on in the show Lady Sybil was the most caring, and compassionate sister, and Lexie certainly has that attribute. I think I'd rather have her look like Lady Sybil than her snarky sister Lady Mary (although I do love that one too!)
Waking up on Mother's day felt like any other day for me until Noah walked into my room with a paper in his hand. He was the first one to wake up. He was holding a note with a sweet letter he wrote all by himself. His words were so sweet, and it was lovely! He wrote how "he loves to see my face everyday after school when I pick him up." But my favorite moment from Mother's day of Noah was when he was singing to me at church. You can watch a little snippet of that here, and even though he didn't know the words-I know that he loves me. I mean...just look at his reaction when he looks at me saying, "mother i love you!"
As I was walking around the streets of Philadelphia the other day I noticed a bunch of blossoms on the ground. It warmed my heart to see that someone really took the time to spell out three wonderful words with blossom petals-"Happy Mother's Day." Being that it was a perfect day in the city with the sun shining seeing this on the ground for everyone to see brought nothing but joy to my face. I saw mommas with their kids walking past it, and some of them paused to take a moment to take a picture.
There are many times when we do dates as a family, couple, and individual dates whether it's one on one with the girls, and Noah, and but this time with it being a Saturday Jon and I decided to go for a drive to Delaware Canal State Park to have some two on one time with Noah. With the girls having a church activity until late afternoon we figured this was a perfect time where we can give all of our attention to our sweet boy. As you know boys love the outdoors, and we live in the perfect spot to be able to drive to places where we can hike, and explore nature.
One thing I love about the LDS church in the spring is when they have BYU women's conference. I have yet to attend one in person, but oh how edifying they are. Had I known about them while I lived in Utah in my 20's, or had I been invited to go with someone I would have totally taken advantage of attending. Now that I'm in my 40's I am more involved in reading all about the presenters that were featured to speak. Very inspirational. If I lived even two hours away from Provo I would totally attend one. So for any of you who live anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley, please go!
I often wonder how it would be if I only had one daughter, let alone one child, but then I look my girls, and my son, and think to myself...no way. Having three daughters has been a blessing, and it has really helped me distinguish certain things in my life. I love how I look at other moms with one child, and their life seems so easy, and great. But then I look at my life and even though it's not perfect I feel as if i hit the jackpot with these kids. Especially Noah. He is my dreamboat. My miracle baby. My solace. Having him at a later age in life changed my perspective in how i see things. Especially since he was born in South Jersey.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of being a mormon! I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 25 years ago, and it was the greatest thing I ever did. And although I felt that my life was going to be perfect after being baptized I was not at all disappointed when I saw on the second day after my conversion that it wasn't. I have learned throughout my years of being a member of this church, that the way to live a good christian life is by keeping those simple commandments-such as loving one another, treating others with kindness, honoring your parents, and being honest in all that I do. Life is a lot easier when I learned that it's the simplest, most basic things that The Lord has taught us how to be. I will always remember the day my life changed, and you can read my entire conversion story here.
Since church for us doesn't begin until 1:45 I decided to snap a few shots of more blossoms before they start peaking, and falling onto the ground. I have become obsessed with spring, and all the beauty that comes with it! Blossoms, and cherry trees, tulips, and wildflowers. Blame it on moving further north, but the blossoms on this part of the county are absolutely unbelievable in color! I'm very fortunate to not get major allergies this time of year like Jon (sorry babe!), but he's such a good sport and comes outside with us anyways.
