Ode to the Joj

This post is about my mom, aka the Joj. I have lots of things to say about her, so get excited. The Joj was an army brat so she lived pretty much everywhere on this planet, including Germany. As a result, she loves Hummels--hand painted figurines of children that are made in Germany. She has no less than a million of them, and is totally hip and finds them on Ebay all the time. Here are some of her Hummels:


My mom loves her 19 (soon to be 21) grandbabies and always helps her girls when they have a new little one. But even more important than that, she listens to the Spirit all the time, and when It tells her to wake up because my little Emily isn't breathing and she needs to help her, she hears and is able to act upon the feeling she has. And I will always be grateful that she hears, and that she taught me to hear.


My mom is a know-it-all (not meant in a bad way) on many subjects like good deals, flirting with boys, English grammar, cleaning/getting stains out of any material, sewing, raising children, budgeting, real estate, etc.
She often goes down to Walmart at 10pm on Saturday night to price match all the ads for the week. I'm sure it has saved her more money then you can imagine over the years.
Seriously, my mom is still, to this day, a WAY better flirt then I will ever be. 58 and she's still got it! She used to coach me all the time before I got married.

The Joj is an amazing seamstress, and over the years she has made me all sorts of things like:
my blessing dress that Emily is going to wear now


my dresses for high school dances (sorry the pic is blurry, since it's a pic of a pic)


my wedding dress, and she didn't even have a pattern--she just saw it at Alyse's Bridal and made it from memory! and she had to sew 51 yards of ribbon onto the train, and didn't even complain.


and tons of things for Emily---like her blessing blanket, clothes, bedding, towels, and blankets. Aren't they all darling?!


The Joj loves a lot of things. She really enjoys eating seafood and cinnamon bears. she loves watching and playing sports, and she was always my best cheerleader at my many soccer, basketball, and track events. (hopefully she loved going to those.... :) ) She loves to read books, and taught me to love reading as well. We would often read the same book at the same time, and would come away with a total kink in our necks because of it! She really likes to travel and has been to many places throughout the world. Germany and Hawaii are some of her favorite places. she loves the gospel and has a strong testimony that she shared with me many times while I was growing up.


So in case you hadn't noticed, I pretty much have the coolest mom ever and I feel pretty good about that. Love you Mom!