Happy Mother's Day

My previous post was to my Mom, and as a tribute to my daughters who are mothers I'll send you to a post from my archives.

Mom and a Recipe

Unfortunately, my Mom tripped and fell on Monday night; thankfully nothing was broken. But she has been down this week, so I got to "be her" at the annual Seville Branch Mother's Day Luncheon on Friday. I made the salad my Mom was assigned to make and I helped to serve at the luncheon. One of the blessings was getting this yummy recipe:

Chicken and Pasta Fruit Salad

1 (10 oz ) pkg colorful spiral pasta
1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks ~ drain and save juice
1 cup red seedless grapes
2 Granny Smith apples, cut in bite-size pieces and soaked in pineapple juice 1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cup slivered almonds or chopped cashews
3-4 chicken breasts cooked and chopped OR 1 (14.4 oz) cans of chicken
Dressing: 1 bottle Kraft coleslaw dressing plus 1 cup mayonnaise
Mix all ingredients together and serve ~ delicious!

I'm sad for Mom and her sore knee and shoulder. I just want to say that I love her and she's a wonderful mother. Always loving and giving. She continues to set a good example for me. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

May

A while ago Kim did a post ranking the months in order of preference. I didn't seriously think about my favorite months, but today I woke up and thought:

I like May!

It's sunny and warm ~ actually the perfect 70ish degrees. It's green and the bulb flowers are blooming. It's a happy month. It's a hopeful month full of the anticipation of summer, but without the heat. Working in the yard seems like a treat after the long winter, not the chore it will become. The school year is winding down which feels good to both students and their mothers alike.

Hurray for May!

Happy

No, I don't have a thing for polo shirts, put when I walked past this display in Target I just felt happy at all the colors and in rainbow order no less. It's the little things.

Crafty

Saturday Jenny and I went to the "Beehive Bazaar" in Provo where I got this great idea for earring storage. I've had my earrings in drawers of a jewelry box and it was way too hard to find matching pairs. This empty frame with wired stretched across to hang the earrings works great!

My post earrings are still in the jewelry box, but much easier to locate without all these in there as well.

Note: I made most of these earrings. When I first started making beading a few years ago I only knew how to make stretchy bracelets, but then I learned how to make earrings and now I go a little crazy with them as well. I don't really need/wear this many, but it's a creative outlet so I just keep making them, I can't stop myself!

Prom

Check out this handsome young man in his prom finery:

Dance

Last night Rich and I attended the Timpanogos Dance Theater concert at THS. Our neice, Alysha was performing, as was Michael's girlfriend, Taryn. I have just one word:

WOW!

Rich and I were both impressed with the amazing performances of the dancers. We've been to a few dance concerts in our time. (Love you, Mary!)
The dancers were very good and the costumes and music were appropriate and wholesome and it was just a delight to watch.

In fact, I was near tears for much of the evening. Dance just touches my heart. I realized that I've missed watching beautiful dancers expressing themselves with their bodies; I haven't seen much since Mary traded in her dance shoes for motherhood. (a choice I'm very proud of, and she still teaches dance and choreographs. And BTW I'm in need of a "Mary's dance videos party!")

Sometimes I feel like Pam in "Saturday's Warrior." In the scenes in the pre-mortal life she's dancing and says: "I don't worry about what earth life will bring, as long as I can dance!" Then in the next scene, earth life, Pam is in a wheelchair. My heart dances even though my body doesn't.

Which got me thinking about regrets. I do wish that I had danced, and I often wish I were a runner. I guess truthfully the only things stopping me from running are 40 lbs and me. (I recognize that it's pretty creepy when older women dance, so I'm not planning on going there) So I'm announcing here and now that I'm going to start the "Couch to 5 K" program and run in the Freedom Festival 5 k on July 4th. (I kind of walked/jogged it last year with no training and the pathetic time of 45 minutes.)

Which also got me thinking about all the wonderful things I'm grateful that I have done with my body:

Giving birth to six children
Climbing to the top of Timpanogos twice
Taking care of my family and home and yard
Swimming with dolphins and reef sharks and stingrays
Hiking to Lone Pine all nine years I've been to Camp Shalom
Cross-country skiing

Indeed, it is all good