How awesome is my Mom?

My mom and dad got to come for a wonderful visit last week.  I think we ran them ragged, but they were good sports about it, starting with the school carnival Friday night, planting flowers and spreading mulch on Saturday, plus going to the temple,

had a yummy Mother's Day dinner (that me and my mom cooked---yeah, I know, but Jeff helped),

and a fantastic FHE lesson about the plan of salvation (we went through different parts of the house as we went through different parts of the plan--so cool!) by my parents on Sunday, and then berry picking on Monday, before my dad left on Tuesday. 

They really were such good sports about everything, especially since my fantastic memory-making trip to the berry farm was tragically canceled because I didn't actually know where the berry farm was.  But again, they took it in stride, and instead took the kids to Hill Ridge Farms (there was almost no one there, so it was way fun).

Turns out that Hill Ridge Farms is fairly close to our neighborhood.  Ah, the things you learn while driving about aimlessly, looking for the berry farm that you're almost sure is around here somewhere.

We also had Kelcey's birthday celebration Monday night ( I can't believe she's 5!), with cake and presents,

and then brought birthday cupcakes to her preschool Tuesday morning, my mom cheerfully in tow. 

On Tuesday we also took a quick trip to the State Farmer's Market where I picked up 2 flats of strawberries for 18 bucks a piece.  I hope that was a good price--don't tell me if I got hosed.

Then, on Wednesday, the plan was to make the bread for the week, and make freezer jam with all of the strawberries that we got.  I was very excited for this plan, and was thrilled to be a part of it (name that movie quote, anyone?) but I didn't quite realize how much focus the bread making would require.

SO, the question is, how awesome is my mom?  She is so awesome, that while I was making bread, she made all of the jam herself!  10 batches of it!!  And she even made me go take a nap while she finished the last batch!  So awesome!  I mean, just look at all that jam!!

I seriously can't believe how incredible my mom is, and that I get to be her daughter for forever!  How amazing is the gospel, huh?  And when I think about my blessings, in every single aspect of my life, I truly get blown away.  Especially when I don't really deserve most of them.  Heck, I don't think I can 'deserve' any of them.  But I am so, so grateful, more than words can say.

Our Fabulous New Guest Room

A month, or so, ago I decided to turn Benjamin's old nursery into a fabulous guest room.   What prompted the decision, you may ask?  Well, my sister and her husband came to visit, my parents came a couple weeks after that, Jeff's mom is coming in September, and I am really trying to figure out a way to convince my fantastic Aunt Chris who lives in Atlanta to come up and visit. 

Plus, Benjamin has been on the bottom bunk in Jarom's room since Christmas, so it was just wasted real estate, something I really can't stand.

Unfortunately, we didn't exactly have a fabulous budget to go with the fabulous guest room, so I have spent many a day shopping at Ross, low budget furniture stores, and various thrift stores to get our guest room into "fabulous shape." 

Oh, and as I tell you my saga, I am including prices so that you can either marvel at my shopping prowess, or smack your forehead as you think to yourself, "I could have done so much better!."  I am all about the entertainment value here, people.

First, I found a knotty pine sleigh-bed headboard and footboard ($125) at a secondhand furniture store that needed some cleaning up, but turned out to be a very good piece of furniture--solid wood and all that. 

HOWEVER (and I didn't understand how big that "however" was going to be), it didn't come with the side rails.  This wouldn't be such a problem, you would think (I thought!), but I found out after buying universal metal side rails ($59), that the metal dowels that held the side rails into the footboard and headboard were too far in for the rails to slide over them, and lock into place. 

So we returned the first set of rails, went to several other furniture stores, and bought some wooden rails ($99), which didn't even match, because they were all that was available.  

I call this the color of desperation, because I was so desperate to find something that worked, that I didn't even care about how they looked.  But I also knew that a bed skirt can hide a multitude of sins.  :o)

Luckily, there is this guy in our ward who is a genius with wood, and, by witchcraft of some kind, he was able to fix the rails so they could work, the night before my sister and her husband arrived.  David Fisher, you rock!

Oh, and also, the luxury pillow-top mattress set that we got at BJ's for a steal ($399 after a $100-off coupon!) were really, really high, so they had a sort of princess-and-the-pea kind of feeling, which also made it impossible to use a conventional Queen-size comforter, as I found out later.  But I ended up getting a king size Laura Ashley quilt that worked great.  (And, yes, those are hospital corners, thank you very much.)

The week before my mom came I was a Ross shopping demon, trying to pull together a coordinated look with all the disparate pieces that reside at a Ross store, which I think of as kind of a Goodwill where everything is (relatively) new. 

It took about 3 trips, and a couple of failed tries (because of the size of the mattresses), but after a bed-skirt from Target ($17.99) plus curtains ($10.99 each), a curtain rod ($7.99), quilt ($44.99), and throw pillow ($9.99),  it finally all came together like this:

You like?

I still need to get a lamp for the table, and a couple of other little things, but I'm calling it good for now.  And, just so you know, we would love to have guests!  :o)

Quote for the Day

"The gospel is ALWAYS the answer, whatever the question."

~ Elder Jeffrey R. Holland