Mother, I Love You

I have been looking at pictures tonight and I kept thinking, I want to add this one, this one and this one.  Picture overload but I want to share with you my amazing mother!  Tomorrow is my mother's birthday and I want her to know how amazing she is.  It isn't going to be an especially fun birthday because she is getting on an airplane to go on her mission but... 

when she gets off the plane she will be greeted to the beautiful country of Samoa.

My parents on their wedding day.  I always loved looking at their wedding portrait in the living room.  The joy on their faces was something I looked forward to having one day.

I am the last of 5 kids.  Now that I am a mother of 3 I think... how did she do it?  I am grateful that she did though.  I have called my Mom with an 18 month old throwing a tantrum, me bawling my eyes out because I can't help my child and she tells me 'Go to your room, I can't hear you'!  I have also called to share in little joys and triumphs of potty training, and the frustrations of it all.  When something happens I  always think, I need to call Mom to let her know.  Thank you for being my friend, confidant and my go to person!

I don't know how we got talked into sitting in this box Christmas morning but I love having the crazy memories!

I love your sense of humour!  Need I say more?

I will forever cherish the memories of our trip in Australia.  Thank you for seeing my needs and helping me make them possible.  You do this time and time again.  I can think of three right off the top of my head right now.  This trip being one of them.  I really missed you while you were in Japan and I needed my Mom time!  Second one that I thought of was when you took me to Utah to live in high school.  Now as a mother I have a greater respect for the courage, sacrifice and love that that took to let me go live there.  Thank you.  That was the best part of high school for me and shaped my future in a lot of ways that are so important now.  Third would be just this past March when I was at your house and you had the Girls Pow-Wow aka Chelsea's Intervention.  I am still a work in progress and need to get back on the Pow-Wow Wagon but I appreciate you seeing a need and stepping in to help me fix it.

You are a seasoned traveler!  I loved listening to your stories of backpacking through Europe and hoped I could do something like that.  Now I look forward to maybe following in you tracks of travelling with Dad.  Teaching in Japan, I think Daniel would love to go back, and really living in a culture to let it become a part of you is amazing.  I like that Ed is the background of this... made me laugh when I first saw it.

I love this picture of you learning the proper way of picking strawberries.

You waited so long to have grandkids and made do with loving your friends grandkids.

Now you have many of your own that jump for joy to talk to Nana on the computer or to have to come visit.  I have a lot to learn from you in loving children and nurturing them.

Four generations of Innis women.

I love to watch you with the kids.  You get so joyful with them around.  Even when they color on your carpet, or break your starfish, or poop on you or... you get the idea.

We are a bit of an interesting family.

I don't know if we don't take normal pictures

Or if I just don't get copies of the normal ones but I am glad that we have so much fun together.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday despite having to travel.  Good luck on your mission!  We will miss you so much but we a grateful for the great example you are to us.  Hopefully will be able to come visit this time around in Samoa.