. . . she knows how to give you the best personal gifts. on my mission she sent me Harry Potter stamps because she knows i love Harry Potter. . .


. . . she taught me how to love reading. we have a literal library in our basement. growing up with didn't have enough bookshelves so we used wooden boxes stacked on top of each other as bookshelves. i continue to have an addiction to books. don't let me in a bookstore because i end up buying too many books. . .

. . . she's always up for an adventure. she let me plan our entire trip to British Columbia last summer and was totally chill with eating authentic Chinese food, going to the most hippie farmer's market in the PNW, getting bubble tea in downtown Vancouver, going whale watching, and chasing cattle in Vanderhoof. . .
. . .she knows what's up when it comes to oils. one night when i was so anxious and upset that i couldn't sleep, she came and brought me her diffuser, a melatonin and some miracle oil that helped me sleep through that hellish night. . .

. . . every year my mum cooks us whatever we want for our birthday dinner. she's even made me chicken tikka masala and let us eat in the living room, sitting on the floor, whilst listening to Indian music. . .

. . .  she puts up with having (almost) ALL adult children! and only one of us is married so basically that means she gets to hear the rest of us complain about dating and every other part of hashtag adult life. she's pretty much a therapist who doesn't get paid anything. we're pretty much goobers as you can see below. . . 



. . . she is so selfless! she took care of my aunt who had cancer and liver failure during the last months of my aunt's life. she did all this while doing her calling, working from home, preparing to teach her home school english literature class, and keeping up with us kids. . .

. . .  she's helped all five sons get their Eagle Scout Award (and let's face it people she probably did most of the work). and helped me and my sister get our Young Womanhood Recognition Award. now she's Young Women's president and is helping all the YW in our ward! what a rockstar. . . 


. . .  mum taught me how to be grammatically correct. and yes, even though i'm a scientist at heart, i am still bugged by bad grammar and bad spelling. . . 

. . . she taught me the importance of getting an education and more importantly, of following my dreams. she supported me 100% in going to Africa, even helped me fund raise money to go. she supports me in my current job. she helped me survive BYU by reminding me I didn't want to flip burgers for a living. she's continually supporting me as a apply to nursing schools. and she is supporting me as I run for the Huntsman Cancer Institute in June. . .

. . .  probably the most impactful thing my mum has taught me is to have faith, to follow the promptings I receive, and to keep going even when things get hard. my mom has had many trials, but she has always stayed faithful and true to her covenants. she reads her scriptures and prays fervently. she attends the temple. she loves her church calling. she tries to be a better person all the time. she's not perfect, but she is perfect at trying. . .