THANK YOU MOM AND DAD

I have never really appreciated my family as much as I should. While I was in class today I realized that my family is so amazing. We were talking about family dynamics and I heard so many things that I thought were alarming, but most everyone else passed off as being "normal". My classmates were talking about how their parents are divorced, and how they live with one of their parents, or how their siblings and them fight a lot. It was weird to me. Let me tell you about the dynamics of my family. My parents are always in charge, they work together as a team. My dad usually has the final say in something, but the major decisions are made together. My siblings and I got along the vast majority of the time. I only ever remember fighting with my younger brother, usually about meaningless things and we got over it an hour or so later. We all enjoyed family vacations even when it meant fitting all nine of us in our suburban to drive for hours. One time I remember my dad went to go rent a motor home and he was talking to the dealer and the dealer was surprised that my dad was going to have all of us drive around the country together. However, when my dad told us about this encounter all of us thought it was weird that the dealer was so surprised.

Of course we aren't the perfect family and there have maybe been a few rifts here and there. I do remember as I was growing up that I wished I had the "best friend" mom that other girls I knew had, but looking back I am so glad that wasn't the case. My mom was my leader, and my rock, someone I could look up to. I always had other friends, but I only had one person that I could base my life on. I think the reason that my family is so close and functional is that my parents based rearing their children on values and principles of the Gospel. Every morning before school (sometimes insanely early) we would read have scripture study as a family, then we would have family prayer, and then we would eat breakfast together (a real breakfast: pancakes, eggs, french toast, biscuits, oatmeal, we only got cereal on Sundays). My parents did this every morning without fail. We also ate dinner as a family and had family prayer at night before we went to bed. My parents also regularly attended the temple.

I don't mean to brag about my family, but they are awesome. Since it's Mother's Day weekend I thought it was only fitting to tell my parents and even my siblings that I love them and that I am so glad I was put into this family. Thank you mom and dad for raising me with a solid foundation.