Inspiring Mothers {For English Mother's Day}

A few months ago (it was actually last summer now) I threw a barbecue with my party planning soul mate. As we were sitting out on her patio after our guest had gone home, she scooped her two boys up onto her lap. She talked about getting up with them in the middle of the night multiple times a week. There was something in her kids' eyes that showed their gratitude for this mother of theirs. They've probably never said thank you while she's cleaning up a nosebleed or soothing bad dreams but you could see it in their sparkling eyes and smiles as they snuggled up close to their mom.

As I sat there watching this scene I had a moment of clarity and gratitude for the examples of great mothers I have observed since moving to this side of the country. I have felt so lucky to see these inspiring women in action and glean knowledge and perspective from them.

Early last summer a group of ladies from our ward and I went to the beach in Gloucester. I rode out there with a new friend of mine. She was so patient and kind with her two small children. It took a lot of work and persistence to pack up those kids and drag the stroller through the hot sand but her smile never left her face.

On another occasion I watched a friend chase her toddler around the house as she pulled down everything she could get a hold of. This little one just discovered she is tall enough to reach the countertop and has been having a field day. In the midst of it all this mom was hosting a handful of guests and had whipped up a delicious spread. All with a smile and laugh (and a little exhaustion) in her eyes.

I am so glad for the moms who let me take care of their kids during the third hour of church. I know they think I am doing them a favor but I love being able to get my baby fix whether it's a tiny newborn or a squirming toddler. I love it all.

The past decade has been filled with wonderful women who've stepped into my life to mother and take care of me. Now I feel like I have women stepping into my life showing me how to be a mother. These gals show me exactly what motherhood is. It's messy and stressful, it's exhausting and frustrating but it's also joyful and exciting, fulfilling and humorous.

And for those assuming this is some sort of announcement, no, I am not. I just really like the moms I get to hang out with.

Now here is a picture of me with my two brothers just for fun.

5 Things About Buying Your Own House

I have realized a few things since beginning the process of buying a house:

1. This process is not for the faint of heart.

2. There is no limit to the things I have the ability worry about. Unless I know where the worst case scenario cap is, I can worry to the moon and back about things that are extremely unlikely and over which I have no control.

3. There are SO many moving parts and hoops to jump through when buying a house. I had no idea there were so many people involved from every angle imaginable and then some!

4. There is no point in comparing the price of a house in Boston to that of one in Texas or Utah or Idaho or even California. So what if I could buy three houses in Texas for the price of one here? I don't live in Texas, I won't live in Utah and I'm not sure what the heck we'd do in Idaho so it doesn't matter. Living in a van at the beach in Santa Barbara is still an enticing option however.

5. Buying things for your VERY OWN house is really fun albeit expensive. We bought a washer, dryer and fridge the other week and I felt very grown up.

We are just crossing our fingers and toes that everything continues to go smoothly and that by the end of this month we will be living in our cute little Cape house on Hamilton Road.

Bonus thing I've learned:

I have no idea where the camera lense is on my phone.

Key West {and buying a house}

Our trip to Florida at the end of January was a mix of sunny relaxation and nervousness. You see, the day before we left for Florida we put in an offer on a house. As the flight attendants were instructing the airplane passengers to turn their phones off we were ducked behind the seats whispering about counter offers with our realtor.

When we arrived in Florida we rented a convertible, put the top down and drove to our friends' house under the swaying palm trees and inky night sky. I think we barely slept that night, waiting for an email to confirm that our offer was either accepted or rejected.

We couldn't have been happier to be staying with our old friends the Bean's. Their little girls made us the most adorable sign to welcome us:

Seriously, they are the greatest.

In the morning we decided to head to the Ft. Lauderdale Temple for a little reflection and decision making. The sun was out, the top was down on the car and it was not snowing! Such perfection.

In the end we did end up making some great big decisions. I have more on that to come in future posts but just suffice it to say that the Temple brought such peace and calm to our minds and our hearts.

From Ft. Lauderdale we packed up and headed to the Keys. Thomas has been talking about renting a convertible and driving to the keys for a couple of years now so this was a little dream come true for him. I enjoyed it thoroughly as well :)

I think a convertible suits this guy, don't you?

When we arrived in Key West it was already dark so we grabbed some dinner, wandered through the old part of Key West, passed some awesome drag bars and picked up some croissants for breakfast. We sat on our patio under the stars and talked about our new house. I love sitting under the stars. I used to watch them for hours with my grandpa when I was a kid.

The next morning we woke up to the most amazing view from our patio! We sat on the deck chairs out there and ate our croissants in the warm sun. I was not missing the 3.5 feet of snow we left back home one little bit!

In the afternoon we rented some bikes and rode all around Key West. It's actually a very small island and we saw pretty much the whole thing in just a couple of hours. We visited the southernmost point in the US. It was crawling with tourists. You can see me scowling at them in this picture:

I look marginally more happy in this one:

We rode through the whole village, saw the Hemingway house, harborwalk, fish swimming in the crystal clear water and picked up a few little souvenirs.

We had lunch at a place called B.O.'s Fish Wagon. It was actually a little food trailer with a bunch of blue tarps draped over broken up patio tables and a rusted pickup truck covered in stickers out front. They served the absolute best fish tacos I have ever tasted! I want to go back and eat them every day for the rest of forever.

We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon to see if we could score one of the hammocks at the beach. We found two right next to each other and spent the next few hours napping and reading. The hotel staff brought around popsicles and we ordered pina colada's and mojito's by the pool. The whole afternoon was just so wonderfully relaxing.

Thomas found a restaurant called the Hurricane Hole for dinner. It was certainly a locals place, nothing but a bunch of picnic tables lined up on the dock. We had conch ceviche and fish tacos again. Amazing! Why is it that the hole in the wall places are always the best?

The next morning we took our time getting ready to drive back up to Ft. Lauderdale. We stopped at a few beaches on various keys on our way back. I couldn't get over how beautiful it was there! The warm sun and the water and the palm trees. It made me question our decision to buy a house in Boston just a liiiiiitle bit.

Also, doesn't this guy look so great at the beach. I mean, come on!

And that's where I leave you for now. We had a couple more days with our friends in Ft. Lauderdale (including a Superbowl party) but those pictures are all to come.