Despite the fact that I had been completely sleep deprived, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 a.m. Time to go for a run. Mom's home is set up in the foothills and is really near to where John and I lived before we sold our home and moved to the UK. I know these hills well, but wasn't ready for the change in elevation and dry mountain air. Wow. I loved the run even though my lungs were heaving out of my chest as I ran through the hills. I have always been a fair weathered sort of a girl, so the blue skies and sunshine were like heaven to me. I always told John that he could not move me anywhere colder than UT...... Needless to say, our next move will be somewhere hot with a pool :)
I finished my run and had to take a picture of home. I feel like we live in the most beautiful part of the state. We have the mountains to our right and great views of the Great Salt Lake to our left. There was never a day when I would run over the past 6 years that I did not feel like I lived in the most beautiful place on earth. There are a lot of beautiful places, but my running route is definitely one of them.
After my run Gucci, Melissa, and I went shopping. It was so much fun to bum around like we used to do all the time. There is no relationship quite like that of mother and daughter and sisters. After we spent the day shopping and buying all the things I can't get in the UK we headed home to prepare dinner for Gucci's Mother's Day party.
Gucci invited the Mother's-In-Law of my sister and SIL's to come for a special Mother's day dinner. John's mom was out of town helping his step-sister and John's step mom was unable to make it, understandably, as it was her first mother's day without her daughter. Therefore I was flying solo. We decided to put Gucci's fire pit to good use and do tin foil or camp fire dinners.
Grandma Great.
Melissa's sister-in law Ann brought her MIL Linda and then stayed and joined us for the party.
My SIL Shannon and her mom. I always laugh because I am 10 years younger than Shannon's mom and Shannon is 10 years younger than me. It is really strange because I was Shannon's dance teacher for MANY years and remember her mom bringing Shannon to dance when her mom was my age. It really makes me realise how fast time goes by.
My SIL Sherri and her mom Cathy. Sherri and I have been friends since she was 19 and I was 17. I feel like Sherri and Shannon are just as much a blood member of our family as my brothers are......and I usually like them better than my brothers ;) We have a very close and tightly knit family and I am grateful that despite my parents divorce a year and a half ago we have been able to keep the strong ties that we have always had and not be tempted to quarrel or take sides about the divorce.
My hot mama!
Melissa AKA Birdo, Me, and Sherri
My sister nearly had heart failure when we left to go shopping and I came upstairs sporting my cheetah leggings. We'll just say that fashion in the UK and fashion in the US is a little different. I will also say that I did get a few uncomfortable looks in my cheetah leggings in UT that I had never received in the UK. Uncomfortable as in I felt uncomfortable because of the way some fellows were looking at me.
You can see other dinners around the fire pit....and then there is mine in its shining silver glory.
After our campfire dinners we made S'mores. Mmmm......I love S'mores. The marshmallows cooked to a golden perfection and tasted divine. We had chocolate frosting, peanut butter, and chocolate bars to put on the graham crackers.
Perfection!
Sunset view from Gucci's back yard out over the Great Salt Lake.
Gucci gave us girls a very special gift for Mother's Day. My great grandmother had a charm bracelet that mom had inherited when she died. I remember staring at this charm bracelet as a girl and sneaking into my moms room and jewellery box and playing with the little charms. My mom took the bracelet apart and divided up the charms and added them to a bracelet for each of us girls. I have a charm bracelet of my own and when Adessa was born I started a charm bracelet for her that she will receive when she is 18. We have been collecting special charms and then writing down what each has been for since Ads was born and then we will give it to her on her 18th Birthday. I am thrilled to have these special charms that Adessa will one day inherit and add to her bracelet.
Each of us sporting our bracelets.
We laughed about our cheesy hand pose with the fingers intertwined. Look at Birdo's tan hand! We were all thrilled with our gift. Gucci also gave us a book about her grandmother and her parents. My Mom feels very much her Bliss heritage in her life right now and shared some sentimental things with us. We had a great Mother's Day celebration and I enjoyed seeing everyone with their mother's and MIL's.
