anchovy & pepperoni

(Mom and the first grandbaby, Olivia)

55 Things I Love About My Mom:
1. She makes delicious desserts. A few of my favorites are: German Chocolate Cake (totally from scratch), Heavenly Hash Brownies, Homemade Raspberry Ice Cream and Texas Fudge Cake.
2. She makes homemade rolls, even when we are out in the middle of nowhere camping. If the world comes to an end anytime soon, I hope my tent in near her tent.
3. She designed our house in Mississippi. Naturally, the countertops were pink. You heard me, and they were awesome.
4. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when she was 20. She read the entire Book of Mormon in two weeks while working at a rental car office at the Farmington, New Mexico airport. Must not have been too busy there.
5. She can drive for 12+ hours straight. It there was no need for gas, she probably wouldn't stop to pee either.
6. She seems to get a second wind at 10:00PM. Either that, or it's the only time she has to herself. You can call her at 11:00PM and she is wide awake doing something.
7. She is the only person I know who can laugh at the possibility of out-living 3 husbands. (My first dad died when she was 28 years old. She remarried my now-dad who is 17 years older and whom she will likely out-live based on statistics, and if she remarries in her 80's it's likely she'll outlive #3 based alone on her spunk.)
8. She pretty much single-handedly converted our attic into another bedroom. She doesn't mess around when it comes to mudding, sanding, and painting.
9. Speaking of painting, she pretty much repaints the entire interior of the house every year or so. Just so it stays new and nice.
10. She has a wicked sense of humor. And I've seen her cry from laughing so hard more often than not.
11. She has been stranded (without my dad) in the desert with a broken down (brand new I might add) suburban with all 7 kids and didn't freak out.
12. She has a sense of adventure. Once when driving back to MS from Florida we had the option of turning off to go home or continuing on a few more hours to New Orleans. We ended up in New Orleans for the day.
13. She has some really funny moments like the time she went ahead and changed my name from Pepper Brown to Pepper Sessions in her cell phone when I got engaged. Then when I called she was like, Peps! You've already changed your name! Then she realized that SHE had changed my name and thought it was really funny.
14. She's allergic to pine trees (one of many things) and therefore we always had a fake tree. I mention this because she once spent 8 or 9 hours putting 28 strands of lights on our fake tree. You could turn off all the lights and still read a book by this tree. It was amazing.
15. My mom loves the smell of that Lavender SoftSoap. When ever I smell it it makes me think of her.
16. She used to watch General Hospital every day at 2PM, conveniently at the same time as mandatory nap/quiet time for the rest of the kids.
17. There was a time when we were not allowed to say "that sucks." After years of convincing her that it really didn't quite mean what she said it meant, which it probably did, she has caved in and has said it a few times. It's funny to hear your mom say something sucks.
18. My mom should have been born with a mask and snorkel and fins already on. She was an avid scuba diver back in the day, and as recently as last summer went snorkeling by herself when my dad and their 2 friends wouldn't go while they were in Mexico.
19. For some reason she really loved the pig movie "Babe".
20. Madre is not easily frazzled. In fact, most of the time she just rolls her eyes, cocks her head to one side, and says "oh brother". However, if you did something naughty and she had said "stop doing blank-blank whatever, and I mean it" she really did mean it.
21. It was nice to know that 999 times out of 1000 whatever you were asking permission to do she said yes.
22. Mom used to log 20-30 miles a week running. She did this for years. Getting her to sign your school papers in the morning before the bus came was not a good idea after her run. For some reason running caused her otherwise neat signature to look like a 3rd graders. I was always worried my teachers might think I had forged it.
23. All of my friends thought that my mom was so cool. All of the young women she has ever taught, or been in charge of, have thought she was cool. I am sure that her influence has been monumental to more than just a few teenage girls.
24. She thinks the smell of red meat is really gross. I would tell you exactly what she thinks it smells like, but then that would be really gross of me. And yet, she still made hamburger patties squishing all that sick meat around in her hands.
25. Actually, my mom never complains. About anything. She got Lyme disease from a sick tick at girls camp and no joke could hardly get in and out of the car or bed because of the pain that attacked every joint and muscle. She is still taking some sort of medication that has helped her immensely, but you never really know how she feels because she just goes on with life. And yes, she still went back to girls camp the next summer. Who does that?
26. She has mad Dr. Mario skills. Sometimes, I would get home from school and she would be sitting in one of the little kid chairs in front of the the small tv designated only for nintendo playing Dr. Mario by herself.
27. She claims she isn't creative or crafty. However, she has handmade pretty much anything you can buy in a store, and done it a million times better.
28. Despite the fact that my mom thought she didn't need any pets with 7 kids, at least indoor pets, we still had kittens & cat, dogs, ducks, turtles, goldfish, rabbits, and a baby possum. All of which (except the fish) had to stay outside. Actually, the baby possum cruised around the kitchen counters like a little rat until it was put outside where it was never to be found again.
29. I love that my mom has a million nick-names. All of us have given her our various takes on Mom. Jaron went through a phase of lovingly (I'm not being sarcastic) calling her Hag. She just laughed and I guess tolerated it knowing there was no mal intent.
30. My mom sings alto, self taught. I would not say she qualifies herself as a singer, but she does pretty good.
31. I suspect that my mom alone has been Santa for the last 20 years. One time when I was home from college she asked me if I wanted to help. Nope.
32. My mom is an amazing example of sacrifice and service.
33. My mom taught me the value of saving and budgeting money. If there was something we really wanted as kids, we could do chores to earn money that we would save to spend at Toy R Us on a little something something that we had had our eye on. Funny how many adults never learned this.
34. If you dare play cards with my mom, you are more than likely going to loose. She doesn't cheat, she just always wins.
35. When you ask her how to make something, as in what is the recipe for this or that, she can't tell you the exact measurements. She's one of those people that just whips it up and always turns out right.
36. My mom gives really good advice. Really good.
37. I am certain that my life has been very blessed due to the prayers on my behalf said by my mom.
38. Bad Mother-in-law jokes don't apply to this mother-in-law.
40. I like that my mom used to let me hold, look at, and play with her wedding ring during church. Her fingers are pretty small, so are her wrists. She also wore a little gold watch that I liked to see on her left wrist.
41. My mom's fingernails are more useful than any tool created by man. She gives a most desirable back scratch, and can do a variety of things that most people would need an actual tool to do.
42. I always thought it was funny when people would tell me I look a lot like my mom, she would say, "poor child." She said this because she is very modest, but I always thought it to be a great compliment.
43. My mom made us all baby blankets. Usually a good amount of the cross-stitching or whatever was accomplished during her General Hospital hour as mentioned above.
44. My mom and I never fought while I was in Jr. High or High School. I think this is largely due to the fact that she does not nag. Most high school girls do things that probably drive their mom nuts, and I'm sure I was no exception. My mom was good about just letting those things phase themselves out.
45. We never had to eat brussel sprouts growing up because according to mom, she just couldn't make us eat them either.
46. Sometimes I feigned sickness so that I didn't have to go to school because I wanted to stay home with my mom.
47. The first month I was at BYU I talked to my mom almost everyday. I wasn't home sick or sad, I just missed talking to her. Even though I don't talk to her every single day anymore, I still think about her everyday.
48. My mom let us make our own choices. She didn't care what was on the radio in the car, what hideous outfits we picked out in the morning, or how we did our hair.
49. I love that she would make breakfast for dinner on Sunday nights.
50. I love it when she gets hyper. It still happens.
51. Mom can pack a car full of suitcases and stuff better than any man ever thought he could. Sorry guys, all her years of Dr. Mario and Tetris paid off.
52. Things "just grow" in her garden. That cilantro and basil, it's just there. Oh really, when I try to let something "just grow" it "just dies." We have had our share of garden bounty due to her green thumb.
53. She is one hard worker. In everything she does.
54. She seems to not sweat the small stuff. I'm sure she has her fair share of worries, but her answer is usually that things will work out. For some reason it's very comforting having a mom that is so stable and sure that most things aren't worth worrying about too much.
55. When I think of my mom I think of love, sacrifice, service, faith, forgiveness, adventure, and laughter. I hope today is just her half-way mark in life. Today meaning March 26th, not the 27th like it is in NZ.