My Parents!

Today I have been thinking a lot about my Mom and Dad so I thought I would write down a few of my thoughts.
I've always felt VERY blessed to be apart of my family, especially because I have such amazing parents. We had so many wonderful times growing up. There was always something going on at our house, always friends and family over, it was the best. I always hope that when my kids get older they will feel the same way I did about my house. I loved having parties at my house with all my friends and my parents welcomed everyone who came. I don't know how many sleep overs we had over the years and even though we were SUPER noisy and my Dad had to bang on the floor quite a bit they always let us do it again.

My Dad always worries about whether we did enough things when we were younger and I always try and tell him that I had the best times ever. We went on fun holidays all over England, they were the best. Every Sunday we would go on walks up Bilton Hall lane, that was one of my favourite things to do. We would look for all the cool little colourful snails, feed the horses, go to see the Boyces, hear scary stories about a girl being stuck in her room and having to eat wall paper, go to the witches tree, it was always an adventure. We had FHE every week which is some thing I really want to do with my family. Once a month we would have a fun FHE were we got to eat junk food, those were great! Swimming at the river nidd or at the pool, it was great. I don't know how my Dad was patient enough to teach us all to swim, I think it would have driven me in sane!

My Mom has always been one of my best friends. She was and still is a big missionary lover so we always had the missionaries over which was so much fun. We had water fights with them, food fights, trashed their cars, not the best example to my girls but oh well, we had a blast! I guess it's not really suprising that I married someone who served in my ward. My Dad wasn't always happy about some of the things we did and most of the time he didn't know everything we did but he will now I guess. Mom and I loved to go shopping together, even if it was just to Morrisons to buy the weekend shopping. We watched all sorts of movies together, I think that's why I like so many different kinds of movies now. She has always been there to help me with anything and everything I have needed. I really love my Mom and I love that I talk to her all the time and I miss when she doesn't call me.

It's hard sometimes to live so far away from my Mom and Dad but I feel so lucky that they're my parents. They have helped me and my little family so much. I don't think we would have ever been back to England since Steve and I got married if they hadn't paid for us. If there's anything we need they're always willing to help. It's fun to see my kids with them when they come here or we go there. The kids know that Nanny will get them anything, which may not be the best thing but they know that she loves them and would do anything for them. They love to see my Dad because he tells them great stories and I love that too. He is the best story teller ever, he would always tell us the greatest stories every night. I told him he needs to write some books, he would be fantastic at that.

When my Mom and Dad came over here this summer it was so much fun to spend time with them. I wasn't the kindest, happiest person the whole time though so I'm sorry about that. I was super pregnant and just tired but it's really no excuse. My Mom and Dad mean the world to me and I don't always let them know that but they really do.

Most of all I am thankful that they were members of the church and had such strong testimonies. Every Sunday we would have round robin after dinner. It didn't matter who was over for dinner, we would all get together and go around the room either saying our testimony, saying a thought or scripture, singing, anything! What an amazing way that was to strengthen each of our testimonies and to share it with our family and friends. My parents haven't had the easiest lives. Losing two of their sons has taken its tole but through all of that they have stayed strong in the gospel and have been such great examples of faith and strength to me. I am so grateful for their examples to me and for the choices they have made in their lives. All of these things have made me who I am today. I'm not perfect by any means but all the good in me is from them and how they raised me.

I really am so truly thankful for you Mom and Dad and want to let you know how much I love you. Thank you for so many wonderful memories and happy times. You are the best parents ever and I miss you all the time but I'm so grateful that I can now have my own family and hopefully I will be able to raise them as well as you raised me. YOU ARE BOTH THE BEST!!!