Mother's Day 2011

I wrote this last Mother's Day but didn't get it published. More like a journal entry but I finally decided to share it.

I want to record this weekend before I forget. This weekend is the last weekend that Ryan will be with me for some time. For the next 5 weekends, he will go to his dad's. I set aside some appointments for me (hair) and left my huge bag of grading at school and decided to focus on him.

Sat.
We slept in. Glorious! We leisurely made our way through a morning routine. I purchased our plane tickets online for the summer. Eventually we were ready to go by noon. We left for the science museum- just us. One the way, we talked through the car wash. Once there, we rode the Segways together - my first time. We worked together to make the pulley contraption move the weight. We had robot arm wars. Ryan rode the flight simulator and lets just say I don't think I will ever ride with him as a pilot - he clipped a few trees, seems to love rolling the plane and I suspect it was a crash landing. We shared a basket of fries and walked around the gardens. I had no idea the gardens where there and they are gorgeous! We dreamt together what we would like in our dream backyard. We watched the Extreme Sports Imax movie which now has Ryan regretting he signed up for Snowboarding for his Snow Sports merit badge. :)

Once home, I switched laundry and played on the internet, while Ryan mowed the lawn. Then he played on the internet while I weeded the flower beds. He opted to stay home while I ran a mother's day gift to a friend. While out, I remembered I needed to pick something up from a sister in our ward. She didn't have my item, but I was able to spend a few minutes talking with a sister I haven't seen in a long time. We both lost our husbands around the same time - mine to divorce and her's to death. It was good to talk to her. Afterward, I ran to Walmart for a few things. Once home we had a late night dinner of salmon, stir fry veggies and rice - some of Ry's favorites.
Sunday began with the 6am alarm as church begins at 8. We got going and were there early. I remembered to wear my locket from my parents. I felt emotional before we even left! The hymns always bring a lump to my throat and I spent most of the time holding the book and wiping tears. The sacrament hymn was "I Stand All Amazed" - I love that song and sing it often to Ry when I am tucking him in at night. I love watching Ryan pass the sacrament. The talks were wonderful - some of the best I've heard on Mother's Day. They were from the heart, personal, intimate stories. They spoke of Christ, they uplifted and inspired. I loved them. After, I gave my first primary lesson on John ch. 9. It went well and I could see the kids were paying attention.

After church, the missionaries came over for dinner. We had baked french toast with homemade syrup, apples and apple dip and smoothies. Lots of sugar today! After dinner, we pulled out the conversation jar and shared "one funny and one spiritual story from our college days" (or school days in Ryan's case) We shared the Lamb of God cd music with them and some of Molly Davis' cd and sent them home with a bar of my favorite soap.
I took a nap. Afterward, I made up some pans of baked french toast and some apple dip and delivered to some of the best mom's I know. I spent time talking at two of the homes. At the end of the evening, I felt like I had been a ministering angel. And I had followed the spirit - at the last minute, I had changed my delivery route and was were I needed to be at the right time.

I got home late - 10pm, but I never wanted the weekend to end so we put in Secretariat and watched together until we fell asleep. It was a good weekend - a beautiful weekend that didn't end up how I had planned. We ended up doing most of the things that Ryan wanted to do. Mother's day weekend this year was one of the best but mostly because most of it wasn't about me - It was about Ryan and serving so many around me. My cup is dripping down the sides...