Ryan’s Open House/Mother’s Day Weekend

We had such a great weekend! It was busy and hectic, but turned out to be a lot of fun.

Friday and Saturday we worked preparing our home and yard for Ryan’s open house. Of course, since there is never a dull moment at our house, we had a few unexpected surprises.

You all know that we chopped down three trees a few weeks ago. Well, the person who could grind out the stumps for us was able to come Saturday morning. So, as we were trying to clean up the yard for Ryan’s open house, we had stump grinding going on. It was an absolute mess all over the driveway and the front yard. A special thanks to my dad for quickly getting it all cleaned up before the party. Ryan was fascinated by the machine and took this picture.
We also had some friends that came into town on Friday, but had to leave early Saturday morning to head to southern Utah for a softball tournament. They have a son who is Ryan’s age, and the two of them are best buddies. He ended up spending Friday night and all day Saturday with us. Both boys were great to help with jobs that needed to be done around the house and the yard.

Oh, I almost forgot. When I went to get the mail on Friday, wasps had started building a nest INSIDE my mailbox. The postal carrier had apparently been so alarmed that he/she just threw the mail in and left the mailbox door open. So I sent Ry as far away as possible and batted the nest out of the mailbox with a rake. I know – you’re all wishing that a neighbor had a hidden camera going for that one. There’s no video footage that I’m aware of. (There isn’t any, right Melissa?)

Ryan’s open house on Saturday afternoon was a lot of fun. We invited about 100 of our closest friends and family to help us celebrate Ryan’s baptism. Thank you so much to all of you who were able to join us! It was fun visiting with you. We missed those of you who weren’t able to come. The weather was beautiful (not like the 40 degrees and pelting hail yesterday), so we were able to have it in the back yard. We had a Hawaiian theme for the party. We put up several tables with light blue tablecloths, and decorated the tables with bamboo plants, sea shells in vases, and framed pictures from our trip. It looked beautiful. Here is a picture of Ry and me before the party started.
The food was great! Special thanks to my mom for helping me put it all together. We had fruit skewers with pineapple and strawberries, coconut macaroon cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chips and salsa, and bowls of three different kinds of Hershey’s kisses – plain chocolate, vanilla crème, and coconut! The coconut kisses were a hit. My cousin, Nate, dubbed them as “having no structural integrity.” We all told him that our interpretation of that was “melts in your mouth.” They were yummy!

I didn’t take any pictures since I was making the rounds as the hostess. But my mom took this one of Aunt Jean, Uncle Ted, Ryan, Uncle Randy, Aunt Dott, and Nate. We hadn’t been together since Christmas, so it was fun sitting around a table and chatting with them for a while. Thanks for coming!!!
Our Mother’s Day Sacrament Meeting program on Sunday was great. It wasn’t the typical one where I leave feeling depressed about the past few years of my life and guilty about all of the things I don’t/can’t do as a mom. It was pleasant and uplifting, and I really enjoyed it. Our ward gave boxes of Cavanaugh’s chocolates, so even if it had been the typical depressing/guilty meeting, I would have felt better later! :)

We had family dinner at my parents’ house for Mother’s Day. Ryan wanted to make a Mother’s Day card for Frances, so we printed the pictures of the babies and he made a card with the pictures, saying how excited he is about his new cousins. It was really cute. We had a great dinner, and had a lot of fun sitting around the table talking. Marc is feeling better, and spent a lot of time outside with Ryan playing rugby. (In the media kit that Excel sent out for “Forever Strong,” they included rugby balls. Marc brought one to Ryan. He should have known that would require him to play with it for hours!)

Since this is my Mother’s Day write-up (a couple of days late), I want to make sure that I let my mom know how much I love her. She has always been such a great example to me of unconditional love and of thinking of others before herself. I try every day of my life to be more like her, although most days I don’t even come close. She has been such an amazing support to me throughout my life, especially the past six years. I don’t know what Ryan and I would do without her. She does something to help us every single day, and I want her to know how much I appreciate her selflessness and service to us. I love you, Mom! (I love this picture of my mom. I took it while she was giving her “Holy Ghost” talk at Ryan’s baptism.)
Kristin sent me this quote in a Mother’s Day wish on Sunday. I loved it and wanted to share it here. A belated happy Mother’s Day to all of the great moms I know!

“What does it mean to me to be a mother?”

It means that I will never think of myself first in any decision again

and yet oddly enough,

I don’t resent it, it simply is.

I will never view the world quite the same,

forevermore I will not see it from my place in it,

but from the perspective of how it affects my children.

Little injustices that may not have affected me

suddenly have magnitude when I apply them to the next generation

of which my offspring are a part.

-- Kindra Fehr, Catalyst Magazine, May 2008