Happy Birthday, Mom!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. She turns a wopping 25! Yeah! Talk about old.

Just kidding. But seriously.

Anyway. She's wonderful and I just want to give everyone a list of 25 reasons why.

1. She is ALWAYS supporting her children in the decisions they make. For example, my mom told me to go for it when I wanted to bungee jump off of a bridge in South Africa. (She also told me not to tell her what day I was doing that. AND I chickened out. But she supported her crazy daughter anyway.)

2. She is more of a daredevil than I will ever be. She jumped out of a plane by herself at my age.

3. She is an AMAZING cook. The BEST.

4. She is the perfect example of what a wife should be. She respects my dad. She loves my dad. She has never said a negative word about him. AND she loads out pigs with him every 4 months or so. Now that is a BIG deal for those of you that don't know anything about the farming world. He hasn't been able to get me to do that for nearly 5 years.

5. She puts family before her work. My mom just spent the last 3 months in a car with my sister instead of behind her own desk because my sister needed her there.

6. She's a wonderful daughter and was there for my grandpa nearly every day near the end of his life. And she tries to talk to her mom nearly once, if not five times, a day (Whether it's her choice or not. Love you grandma.... (: )

7. She's super creative. When we were growing up she would always be giving us fun arts and craft ideas that I now use when I'm babysitting people.

8. She's sooooo giving. I couldn't tell you how many times she has made meals for friends, family, and church members throughout her life when they need them.

9. She's super smart and I'm always learning new things from her. Like how to keep cash in my wallet at all times because you never know when you'll get to that toll booth and have no idea where it all went...

10. She loves to shop. And has instilled that quality in her two wonderful daughters. It may be engrained in the second daughter a little more than the first though.

12. She's the big sister I want to be. She is one of 7 girls and I've seen her love and support her sisters since the day I was born.

13. She would seriously do anything for me. I'm thinking back to this night in high school. It was the night before my arts and craft project was due for 4-H. I still hadn't framed my painting. She went out and bought me all of my framing supplies and then stayed up with me until I had it finished. It may have gotten a little stressful and I KNOW she was exhausted and a little angry that I hadn't finished it before that night. But she stayed up and helped me anyway.

14. She's the best cheerleader. I remember in Junior High I was on the track team. My coach told me one day that my mom was the loudest mom in the stands. It's true. But I always knew she was there cheering me on no matter what place I was in.

15. She's also a gymnast. She taught Denae and I how to do cartwheels and roundoffs (and attempted handsprings) when we were itty bitty. She probably wouldn't be willing to do that today but I thought it was cool that she could do them back then. Oh! And she can do a wonderful back dive into the pool. Yup. She's awesome.

16. She's just downright beautiful. I want to dress as well as her when I'm a mom.

17. She's strong. Without her arm muscles I would not have furniture in my apartment. (K, maybe my dad did most of the heavy lifting but she helped. A lot.)

18. She always shows interest in my life. Last week she had called an SLP in my hometown to ask if she had any extra supplies that she wouldn't need anymore. I never even asked her to do this.

19. She can sew with the best of them. So what if she never finished that quilt that she started when she was pregnant with me. She made up for it with all of those "cute" matching dresses Denae and I had to wear on Easter Sunday.

20. She's no girly-girl. That's why there is a picture hanging in our back porch of her standing by a dead deer. With a gun in hand. Pregnant.

21. She cries pretty easily. I don't see this as a bad thing. (I do it, too). It shows that she truly cares about others.

22. She's a hard worker a.k.a. she is always going. I think I've seen her sit through an entire movie maybe twice in my life.

23. She shows me exactly what it means to be a Godly woman.

24. She loves animals and animals love her. We have 6 pets at our house and whenever my mom is outside they never let her out of their sight. It's not just because she feeds them so well.

25. She's pretty hip with technology. Yes. Hip. She has an iphone and she knows how to use it. (She also has facebook and just poked me. That's a problem.)