Mother's Day Surprise

It's been a few weeks now since Mother's Day, but we had a special one this year that needs documenting. Weeks ago I was telling Justin I was missing my Beal family, and he suggested we go visit for Mother's Day. So I called Dad to see if they would even be around that weekend and he said they would be. So we did a crazy thing and Thursday morning the 10th we got up at 3:30, and at 4:00 loaded our two littles into the car and set off! We made amazing time actually. I got us to Yakima and Justin took over until the Blue Mountains and I took over until we got into Boise. We got there is 8 hours and only stopped once for gas. We took a break and grabbed some Chick Fil A to eat at the park. Emmett enjoyed chasing the ducks for a bit, but the weather was cold and windy so we didn't stay very long. We downloaded some "Llama Llama" episodes onto the ipad and gave that to Emmett to enjoy between Boise and Arco. Justin and I ate our weight in peanut m&m's and he had an audiobook to listen to for the long drive. We pulled into Mom and Dad's house right at 6:00 PM. I knew Mom wouldn't recognize our car since it is "new" (we bought Keith and Gerda's old car - a 2005 Chrystler Pacifica). As we pulled in she was on the back patio headed to the four-wheeler and man I wish I was filming because her face went from, "Don't bug me" to surpsie and shock! So fun!

So we spent Friday-Sunday with Mom and Dad. The weather was the worst - growing up there my whole life I remember one summer (2009) when it rained like crazy and the river came back and it rained similar to that over the weekend we decided to visit! But we managed to enjoy ourselves and Emmett didn't go too crazy. He loved Mom and Dad's balls and was pretty content to bounce the basketball around. Friday we managed to get Mom's garden planted before the rain set in, though Dad wasn't as lucky with his crops. Mom and I made a few trips to the A&A to pass time, and we did watch some really good movies each night. I totally loved "The Glass Castle." Saturday morning we helped clean the church and Trisha came out to visit with us which I was grateful for. I enjoyed showing Emmett the trampoline, cows, and horses and taking him on drives on the four-wheeler when it wasn't a downpour. Sunday we went to Sacrament Meeting and then came home to eat Sunday dinner. Mom and Dad headed back to their 3rd hour meetings and we loaded up the car and left. That night the Beal siblings gathered at Gabe and Christy's - Christy made a ton of delicious food which was so generous of her! All at 39 weeks pregnant and scheduled to deliver a baby that week! We are so grateful to her for opening their place for us to gather so we could see everyone. We enjoyed Christy's food and Gabe's fire until the thunderstorm brought us inside. We left Gabe's at about 8:00 and drove to Pendleton to get a hotel for the night. We got back home around noon on Monday.

A tribute to my mom is how faithful a woman she is to the gospel. I sing to Emmett at bedtime, usually "I am a Child of God" but sometimes I mix it up and sing "A Child's Prayer" or "Love is Spoken Here." As I sing the words, "I see my mother kneeling..." I remember seeing my mother kneeling. I remember seeing Mom pray in her room, and I remember seeing her study the scriptures. I remember family prayer, and I remember how on Sundays you could always catch Mom studying her next Sunday School lesson, immersed in the scriptures. I remember family scripture study. We rarely missed a day. As I teach my young family the gospel, I think, "Do my kids see their mother kneeling?" So much more is caught than is taught, and I caught so many valuable lessons from my mom. I hope I can be strong and unapologetic about my faith as she is. When I think of my mom and her example, I think of Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Other than our Idaho visit not too much has happened for us. We can't believe Justin has been working with Aaron for almost 6 months now! Logan is coming up on the 3 month mark and he is a big boy! At two months old we moved him into 3-6 month clothes, and right now is fitting into clothes that Emmett wore at 4-5 months. He is our sweet baby boy. He is such a SMILEY baby! He coos at me and smiles a lot more than Emmett did. Emmett is learning more words all the time. My favorite things I love to hear him say are:
thank you
outside
bu-bye
and most recently "amen" at the end of our prayers. Justin likes when he says
I'm sorry
hello
and of course, ball.

I wish I could freeze my kids at this stage for a while. I am just loving this season of my life and every day it gets better. We are blessed beyond measure.