Mom Days...

Yesterday was a fun-filled busy mom day...

It started at 4:45 a.m.

I was out on a run by 5,

Took Dallin to seminary at 5:45, 

Was back home and ready for the day by 6:30, 

Got Gavin off to school by 7:20, 

Helped the girls get ready and were out the door to pick up our elementary car pool by 8:15, 

(Annika, Mia, Mya, Elsa, Greta, Kambriella, and Kesslyn!)

Had those cute girls to school by 8:30, 

Went and picked up Gabriella Brown and dropped her and Kesslyn off to preschool by 9, 

and headed straight over to the High School by 9:05 to watch Dallin in his Welcome Assembly!

The energy and enthusiasm was thick in the room and I felt a great sense of pride and accomplishment for all of these amazing teenagers and the good things that they were all excited to jump into this year.

As I watched Dallin in the video they made I laughed and grinned and thought..."He is perfect for this."

Not that he is perfect by any means, but he is doing what he loves and has always wanted to do. He has found his nitch and fits perfectly in it. All of my other kids have found something that they each love and a sport they were good at...Dallin's happens to be "people" and helping to make them smile, laugh, and feel happy. That is what he does best! And that was what I saw him doing! It was so fun. :)

After the assembly was over, and they turned the lights back on, I stayed around for a minute with my eyes peeled to see if I could see him to say "hello."

Sure enough, when my eyes spotted the blonde boy in the white SBO sweater...it was Dallin...in the middle of a circle of ...girls. Yep. Didn't surprise me at all! I smiled to my self and then took a picture. Or two. :)

Ok, maybe it was three, I can't remember... :)  :)  :)

 At first I was curious what they were all looking at...and then I realized they were examining all of the different super heroes on his shoes! I knew those shoes would be a hit!

 I wished I was invisible because I was loving watching the interactions of friends with Dallin and I wanted to keep watching for a long time...

 ...but then I felt like a creeper so I decided that I should stop watching from a distance and go up close to see Dallin too. ;) So I did.

 Immediately when he saw me he came right up to me and said, "Mom!" and gave me the biggest hug!

I was so happy that he was happy to see me, and not the least bit embarrassed that his mom was there! We talked only for a few seconds before his teacher called him over and so I snapped a few more pictures of him and then I was off...

 I love that Dallin is still Dallin, even when he is in the spotlight. He is kind, funny, obedient, and HAPPY.

He is making a great leader...both at school AND at home. I LOVE that ALL of my kids love each other, watch out for each other, they are best friends, and they are teaching each other by their examples.

They are such good kids and I am such a lucky lucky mom.

 When I left from the assembly it was about 10:00 and I headed straight over to my friend Kisty's house. She has had a few complications from having her baby and we discussed ways that we can help her. 

 I fell in love with the perfect little features of her little baby boy Brantley.

Also, her little girl Gwen is a year and a half old and we will be taking her everyday for a play day for the next few weeks while Kisty's body heals. She can't even lift anything over 10 pounds (which includes both of her kids) so her mom is there at her house to help with the baby, and the women in our neighborhood are taking turns with Gwen. It is just what she needs. Ministering at it's finest. :)

 At 11:15 I left Kisty's house and had a ministeing interview with another friend, then delivered a "Coke and a Smile" to my friend Traci Day. She wasn't  home , but I knew that when she saw it she would get the "smile." :)

 At 12 O'clock noon it was time to pick up Gabriella (Gabbers is her nickname) and Kesslyn from preschool. I drove over and picked them up, and drove Gabbers home. When I got her out of the car and walked her to the front door, her mom (my friend Kelli) was there with an invitation, "Can Kesslyn stay and play with Gabbers for a while??" Well...I actually was going to go to a lunch date with all the car pool mom's to finalize our plans for the school year...so YES! Kesslyn had a play date with Gabbers while I went to lunch with my friends! It was soooo nice!!!! I was happy with the thought of taking Kesslyn with me on my lunch date, and everyone just kind of expects her to be my little sidekick, but I know that she had waaayyy more fun having a play date than sitting and listening to a bunch of moms "talk."

We met at Cubby's over by the District where I had a tri-tip steak salad and the most delicious sweet potatoe fries! We talked and ate, and ate and talked about our kids and high school, middle school, elementary school, and all of the good and bad and everything in between...

 We even took a few selfies as proof that we were all actually sitting down at the same time together!!! (Such a RARE thing!) I think the last time we did this was when all of our kids went to kindergarten together!!!

By 2 O'lock it was time to go and get Kesslyn. We said our goodbyes with our schedule figured out for the year...I will drive the girls to school every other week in the mornings and never have to pick them up. It is going to be so great and save me so much time!

I got home and began sending one million texts about needs for relief society (including the arrangements of the schedule for helping with Gwen) and then sat down and made my notes for my presidency meeting that was later on that night.

I had Gavin and Kambriella take Kesslyn on a walk over to the playground for me while I headed off to a 20 minute meeting at the elementary school for Back to School night too. Just as I pulled up to the school my phone rang and Gavin said, "Bad news mom. Kesslyn got hurt."

I stayed calm but HATE those kind of phone calls. I turned right around and headed straight home. My friend Bobbi happened to be walking past the play ground and saw Kesslyn crying so she scooped her up and took her to her house to wait for me to get back. When I got there Kesslyn finally let her emotions go and started bawling. Bobbi said she was fine the entire time until I showed up, and was only complaining that the bottom of her left foot was hurting. Honestly I thought it was kind of sweet because it made me feel needed. Every child needs their mom when they are hurt, and I don't care how old they are!

I couldn't really tell with Kesslyn how "hurt" she was because she is quite an emotional child anyways, so I took her home, gave her a popsicle and a bath, and then she was so tired she fell asleep by 7:30, which was honestly the best thing for her and I just figured that we would assess the situation in the morning when she woke up. 

I fed the others kids dinner while Clint went straight from work to his Elders Quorum presidency meeting, and then I gave them all instructions for showers and bed as I headed out the door to my relief society presidency meeting! It was 8:00 and I sat with my counselors outside at the pavilion because the evening air just felt so good. We talked and finished up things by 9:30 and then headed home for the night.

It was then that I got to see my sweetie for the first time in almost 16 hours, so I hugged him and kissed him, said a prayer and crawled into bed for the night.

What a full day of people and love and the important work of mothering and ministering. If I got paid to be a mom I think I would be a bajillionaire because my work is so busy...but the pay that I get comes in the form of blessings and eternal promises, and there is just no way to measure that!!!

All I know is that I'm one rich momma in the blessings department...to eternity and beyond! ;)