28 Reasons I Love My Mom!

Today, July 28th is my mom's birthday, so I wanted to make a SPECIAL post because I have the greatest mother a girl could ask for, so since she has 28 days for her birthday month, I wanted to list 28 reasons why I think she is so great:

1- We can talk for hours on the phone. I am so grateful I have a mom who loves to listen, and loves to call and chat with me.

2- She motivates me to be an entrepreneur. As far back as I can remember, my mom has thought of a dozen different companies that she could start a business with. She has such a creative mind

and comes up with some AMAZING ideas!

3- She can cook! Her razzleberry pie is to die for!!!!

4- She loves people no matter. I find this to be one of the greatest qualities about my mom - how Christlike she is. My mother is very compassionate, and forgives people constantly.
5- Along with #4, she is very tender-hearted, and sees the good in others that most people wouldn't see on the surface.

6- She is funny funny funny! She has a laugh that brings a smile to your face and has the best sense of humor!

(mom: BFPinkW... think about what that stands for!)

7-My mom brings out the best in people, she believes in you when no one else will.

8-She has a unique relationship with each of my sisters and I. We are all so different and she makes sure that she has a special bond and strong relationship with each of her girls.

9- My mom takes good care of her mom. I hope to have just as strong of a relationship with my mother as she does with hers.

10- She loves dogs!! My mom loves animals, especially her dogs. She treats them as if they were her own children.

11- My mom has a great relationship with my husband, and I love her so much for that. She treats him with so much respect and loves him as if he were her son.

12- She is beautiful both inside and out, she has the light of Christ in her and you can see it in her countenance. Her actions speak far louder than words, and she is a constant example for me to follow.

13-She is a fantastic housekeeper, she cooks great, cleans immaculately, and can tell when her kids just need a shoulder to cry on or a friend to talk to.

14-My mother has a strong testimony. I have never questioned her faith in the gospel or worried about her straying from the church. My mom has again, set a remarkable example for her kids. I am so glad she is a constant in the church.

15- She does fun stuff with her kids. I love that about her. Whether its going to get an ice cream cone, (remember when I ate the wrapper mom!?) going for a walk, taking us on a vacation, she always makes such great memories w/ us!

16- I love how special she makes us feel on our birthdays. She has never forgotten our birthday, and always tells us about the day we were born and makes our special days memorable!

17-She encourages us to do our best.

18-I love how my mom values friendship. She has so many good, close friends that she keeps in touch with and is a great friend to me as well.

19-My mom has been through a lot, and it amazes me each day to hear how strong, motivated, determined, and overall happy she still is with life, even with some of the bad cards she's been dealt. I love that she loves life and can find the good in any situation, which helps me to keep chugging along, her happiness is so encouraging to me. Her will to continually be happy even when life gets you down is something I look up to her so much for.

20-She is so knowledgeable, and in so many areas. She loves to read and to learn, this is such a great quality to have.

21-She has sacrificed many things on our behalf, which is something she is still doing. She is always willing to lend a hand and give service to others.

22-She is a wonderful grandma to little Titan. I am excited to have children one of these days... because they will have an amazing Grandma to spoil them! She is so good to her family!

23-She is a great leader in the gospel, she has always magnified her callings, and is always going the extra mile when it comes to serving in the Church.

24-My mom has always been a great picker-upper. On many occasions, she has sent me cards, flowers, notes of encouragement, and advice to express her love to me. She knows exactly when I need those words of love and it's always RIGHT when I need a boost the most!

25-My mom NEVER gives up, she is not a quitter! Her life theme I guess you could call it, is centered around the children's book, "The little engine that could."

26-She is one of my best friends, along with my husband of course. =0) She knows me better than probably anyone else, and can help me in any situation.

27My mom is an EXCELLENT party planner... she is such a great hostess!!!!

28-My mom is our cheerleader. Whether its a game, talk in church, graduation of some type, anything, my mom is sitting front row cheering her team on! I'm so grateful to have a mom that is so involved and supportive of our lives.

I couldn't ask for a better mother if I wanted to-which I don't! Even through my teenage rebel years =) if that's what you'd call them, she has been by my side through it all and I'm so lucky to call her my mom!

Happy birthday Mom... i love you so much! I hope your birthday is as SPECIAL as you are!!!!

Grand-duke

Its been one year since my Grandpa Taylor passed away, I can't believe how fast the year flew by. I had a really hard time with his passing last July, possibly because I looked up to my Grandpa a lot. He was such a neat man, a hard worker, and was a great joke-ster, always in a pleasant mood and could make you laugh so easily! He would do these funny little dances, I remember him and my Grandma coming to our house each year on Christmas Eve and staying for a few days, and all the fun motorcycle rides we would go on with him when we went to visit at their house in Almo, ID during the summers.

He was always a man who honored his priesthood, treated his wife with a remarkable amount of respect, and took care of his family financially no matter the circumstance or sacrifice he would have to make. My Grandpa had the best personality and accepted and loved his family no matter their struggles or trials. My sisters and I used to call him "Grand-duke" from the movie Cinderella, and that nick-name always stuck with him. These pictures I posted were from our wedding last May, two months before he died. He was very sick at the wedding, and he went home shortly after the ceremony ended. But I'll never forget his sweet, quiet little voice whispering to me at the wedding, when he gave me a hug goodbye, "I came here for you Whitni. I wouldn't miss it for the world." That was the last time I saw my Grandpa before he passed away, and I will be forever grateful that he was able to be there for me on my big day, and escort my mom down the aisle.

Our family talks of my Grandpa all the time and all the great memories we had with him. I miss you so much Grand-duke, I know you watch over our family constantly and we think of you so often! LOVE YOU Gramps!!!

Recent Festivities

Well I have had no time whatsoever to make posts lately, but Jess and I have had quite an eventful summer so far! We have both had our fair share of busy days and lazy days, but all in all the summer has been good to us... minus all the rainfall!!! We have both been working lots of overtime and comp hours at work to try and save up for the vacation days that are coming our way in August and September; I have been going to school throughout the summer - 15 credits this term... Yikers! Plus with photo shoots and keeping up with our yard and housework, we've managed to stay occupied! So in a nutshell, here's what our little Dickson family has been up to:

1- Back in the middle of June, we went camping with Jess' family to a place up the Logan Canyon, just a ways from Bear Lake.. here are a few pix I captured, and NO I'm not in any of them, I looked hideous up there because it poured rain on us quite a bit...

Here is Jess and his nephews Bradon and Trent...

Jess and his older sis Katie cutting down trees for our log bed. Jared, Travis and I helped haul the trees down the mountain side. ** Jess just finished making his nephew a log bed for his birthday, and now we are starting on a log bed for us, which Jess says I am apparently learning how to make this time.

My hot hubby....

2- Lots of boating trips to Pineview. I think that all boating pictures look about the same, but here's a few so you can all get a taste of the fun times ...

My Pop skiing...

My brother Will being a goofball

Cute sister Matti on flag duty

And Jess showing off his sexy white, muscular legs!

And no - I didn't get a picture of me riding the Grandma tube... haha sorry!

3- We lucked out and got ourselves FRONT ROW at a Josh Gracin concert for South Ogden Days two weekends ago! Last year, my mom worked for Crossroads Fitness (who was hosting South Ogden Days) and she hooked us up with backstage VIP passes to see Sammy Kershaw front row. Well this year Jess and I were way bummed out because we didn't have tickets to the show at all. So we showed up that night about half way through the concert.

I smoothe-talked my way in by talking to one of the Security dudes about how bummed out we were that we didn't have tickets and last year we had great seats. He snuck Jess and I in and the next thing we knew, we were front row staring at Josh Gracin as he sang, "I Got Nothin to Lose!" It was so awesome, but unfortunately we only got pictures from the camera on my phone and I can't figure out how to download them onto my computer... sorry! But it was a blast!

4- We had a really fun 4th of July weekend! Our tradition has been to go up to Liberty Days every year... and it is my all time favorite holiday! I love everything about Independence Day!!!

I didn't get many pictures of this event either (I know, what a great photographer I am, huh!?!) but I was too busy savoring all the fun times to worry about snaping away! Here is the only picture I took from the 4th of July, of Jess and his nephew Trent on some sort of truck... thing:

5- Yesterday we celebrated 5 years since our first date! Everyone was making fun of us yesterday because we have an anniversary for something almost every month, haha - but every year up until our wedding we celebrated July 5th as our anniversary because that is such a special day to us. July 5th, 2004, we were set up on a date by our good friend Dan Turner, for Liberty Days. In 2004, the 4th of July fell on a Sunday, so everyone celebrated it the following day, on the 5th. That is why the 4th of July is our favorite holiday and we do something fun together every year on the 5th. I cannot believe I've already known Jess for five whole years! Whew - that's just about a fourth of my life! Here is one of the earliest pictures I have of us together, don't we look so young?!

6 - Also yesterday my little nephew Titan was blessed in church by his Grandpa. It was an emotional day for our family and we felt the spirit very strong - I really believe we grew even closer as a family than we already are.

Doesn't he look like a little glowing angel, sent straight from heaven! Although his angel attire is a bit big on him... oh well, he's still such a handsome stud!

(sorry I posted this pic twice, oh well he's fun to look at!)

So that is our summer so far... many more events to come! Hopefully it won't take me as long to post them next time!