Stuff...

My mom hosted a great party in Orem for Christmas.  She had a theme for the year and it was cars.  She had made us each a scrapbook of my dad and the cars that he owned over the years.  She also went through all his old Hudson treasures and old car parts and found something for each of us.  She put them in a shadow box along with a picture of us with our dad.  

Dad died 11 years ago, so I don't burst into tears every time I think about him anymore, but I did cry when I looked at the scrapbook that my mom made for me.  I am a lucky girl to have had such a great dad here on earth.  He was pretty awesome, but man, my mom is amazing too.  She makes such an effort to make sure we stick together as a family and continue with traditions.  It was pretty crappy to have my dad die, but man, we'd all be a mess if Mom had died instead.  We tell her all the time that she needs to stick around for at least 20 more years.  She takes such good care of us.

Anyway, here's my shadow box...I love it.

We also had a flea market of the things that have been sitting and collecting dust for  years that my mom wanted us to enjoy.  When we have these things, we take turns picking out what we want.  The person with the first pick usually gets the best thing, but we all get something that we are pretty excited about.  This year, among other things, I got lots of books that Mom used to read to us as kids, my dad's Samuel Hall Society jacket...

...and my mom's gloves and hair piece that she wore to prom.  I forgot to get a picture of the hair piece.  I was going to see if I could comb it out.  It is a little worse for wear after all the years that we used it as a dress up, but the gloves are still perfect.
After I came home with my treasures, my mom sent me another one...

I love that picture of my mom...she's a babe for sure.  The girl in that picture has no idea of the life that is in store for her.  She's got some good days and some bad days on the way.  Most of all, she has some experiences that will mold her into a strong, wise, kind, amazing woman.  I tell you...I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have that beautiful girl as my mom.  She has been on a trip for most of the month of January and it is one of the only times she's been gone when we haven't been able to call or email her throughout the trip.  I miss her so much.  I miss her when I am making chocolate frosting and I can't remember if you add vanilla.  I didn't, but I probably should have.  Anyway, my Mom is the best and I can't wait for her to get home...just so that I know she's there on the other end of the phone line.