Happy Mother's Day Y'all!

For anyone who knows me, you know that my mom and I have our moments.  We argue a lot...but really only because we're so much alike.  We're both super opinionated and really stubborn.  But at the end of the day she's the person who has shaped my life and made me the woman that I am.

In honor of Mother's Day I want to tell y'all about my fabulous mother.  So here it goes, a big, huge list of facts about my mom, in no particular order:

She's totally gorgeous.

She joined the Marine Corps straight out of high school, despite her mother's objections.  

She had really long hair when she joined the Marine Corps and she didn't want to cut it so she wore this seriously awesome wig.

Due to a lot of infertility problems it took her six years to have me and I am her only child (but she does have 3 step kids).

She and her three best friends were all pregnant at the same time. 

She LOVES Angels baseball.  

And I mean really loves the Angels.  She and my dad have season tickets.  

They're friends with all parking lot attendants, ushers, security guards and all the other season ticket holders who sit in their section.  

And they go to Spring Training in Arizona every year.  

We even got to go to the World Series in 2002!

She's super patriotic.  One year for the 4th of July we got to hold the big flag before the Angel game.

  

She has one brother named Murphy.  

They grew up in Missouri and Tennessee.  

She still has a southern accent sometimes and says "warsh" instead of "wash" (that's how I picked my blog name).   

She loves horses.  When she was a kid she read horse books all the time and got to ride horses at her uncle's house.  The summer after her senior year her dad bought her a horse that she named Gypsy.   Unfortunately, she had to sell her  horse when she joined the Marines.

She's really just an animal lover in general.  I think she cried for a week when we had to put our Miniature Schnauzer, Maggie, down when I was in high school.  

  When she was a teenager she loved to lay out and get a tan.  She would lay on her driveway smothered in baby oil surrounded by cardboard wrapped in tin foil so she could get a better tan.  

She graduated from Fullerton College in Journalism and from Cal State Fullerton in Public Relations. 

While attending Fullerton College she went with a cute boy to the LDS Institute and was so intrigued by what the speaker talked about that she investigated the church and got baptized!  She was a truly golden investigator.  Boy am I thankful for great members of the church who are willing to share the gospel!    

She is such a strong member of the church and always taught me to live the gospel.  

She is so dedicated to her church callings and puts 1000% into everything she does.

She was the Gospel Principles teacher in our ward for nine years.

She was also a ward missionary and is great at helping out the missionaries in our ward.    

She's a total perfectionist...a trait which she has passed on to me.  

When I was in high school she put a sign up in my room that said, "Am I dressed to invite the Spirit of the Lord to be my companion today?"  It bugged me at the time but now I'm so thankful that she took the time to teach me modesty.  

She loves camping and hiking, especially in national parks. 

 She LOVES to ride her bike.  In fact she's ridden 2275 miles.

She's a fantastic bowler...she once bowled a 287.  She bowls on a league and her team name is "Jane and the Boys."
    

She loves politics.  You should seen our yard during election season...full of campaign signs.

Ronald Reagan is her favorite president.

She is a Fox News devotee.  

She is a member of the Pat Nixon Republican Women.     

She used to be a member of our town's planning commission.  

She's a district leader for Neighborhood Watch and she's the first one to spot anything suspicious in our neighborhood.  

She's has a beautiful singing voice...which I did not inherit.  

She's super organized.

She has hitchhiker thumbs.       

Her favorite television shows include Bones, The Closer, NCIS, Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance.  

She loves musicals and when I was a kid we always watched musicals and went to plays.   

She loves chick flicks and action movies.  

She also loves going to the ballet and made sure to take me to Swan Lake as a kid - which I loved.  

She loves to eat out and goes through stages where she wants to eat at the same restaurant practically everyday.  Then she becomes friends with everyone who works at her favorite restaurants and they give us free fountain drinks.  

She drinks just as much Diet Coke as I do. 

  

She adores M&M's and Jelly Bellies.

  

She loves to shop and taught me to never pay full price for any item of clothing.  

She totally outdoes herself at Christmas.  She's the best present wrapper and her decorations are gorgeous!

She was on the Price is Right!  Her prizes included a player piano, a refrigerator, pillows and tupperware.  She would have made it to the Showcase Showdown but a lady in her group got $1 when my mom only got 90 cents.  

She plans the best vacations!  She's a master at Priceline.  Did anybody say a hotel 4 blocks from Central Park for $100 a night?  Oh yeah...she's that good.  

She hates to cook but loves to bake.  

She loves to eat raw cookie dough but loves crispy cookies. 

She can do hospital corners on a bed better than anybody I know...and she can fold a fitted sheet (I've never figured out how to do that).  

She's also the best ironer I know.  

She's a great home decorator and has done some gorgeous remodeling projects on our house.  

She used to drive a Suburban and whenever anybody would get in her way on the freeway she would say, "I'm gonna squash em' like a bug!"

She named our Suburban "Boomer."   

She loves movie popcorn...especially when it's a day old.  

She hates sand but loves the ocean.  

Her favorite ride at Disneyland is Pirates of the Caribbean.  

She loves frozen yogurt with chocolate chips. 

She's a great public speaker.  When she was on the Heritage Committee that plans our town's annual parade she got to a be an announcer for the parade and wrote all the announcer scripts. 

Whenever I gave talks in church as a kid she would make me practice them in front of the mirror.  It's because of that practice that I decided to be a broadcast major.   

She loves to read mystery books.

She's never actually read a Harry Potter book, instead she listened to all of them on CD.    

She's loves candles and has them all over our house.  

She loves hot chocolate.  

She was a room mom every year when I was in elementary school and planned all of our class parties.  

She also planned the best birthday parties when I was growing up.  

She never missed one of my choir or dance performances.

She loves to ski! She had a bad fall a few years ago and torn her ACL, MCL, and her meniscus and cracked her tibia.  She had to have surgery and go through physical therapy.  Of course she got to be good friends with everyone at her physical therapy place.  Now she skis with a big brace on her knee.  

   She has the best hand writing.  

She's a great writer and editor.  

She wrote me the best emails while I was on my mission and sent me the best care packages.  

She is super friendly to everyone and never hesitates to talk to total strangers.  

She's always willing to lend a helping hand.  

She adores her own mother...my cute Ganny.  

And really, she's just the most dedicated and wonderful mom a girl could ask for.

I love you mom!!

You are the best and I don't tell you enough!