Ten Things of Thankful: Mother's Day and Other Things Edition

Photo: A toddler (me), with an impish grin, rolls out dough on the kitchen counter while my mom stands behind me and laughs

Happy Mother's Day weekend to all the moms out there, and gentle hugs to those whose dreams of motherhood have not been fulfilled. 

1. I'm thankful that I had the incredible good luck to have the world's best mom. I'm sure you can tell from the photo above that she had her work cut out for her when I joined the family. She patiently harnessed my energy and taught me. . .well, everything. 

2. I'm thankful another friend from California visited me this week. I hadn't seen her since we moved, and it was so good to catch up. I took her to Moon's Rare Books (of course--that's my go-to place to show out-of-town visitors) and then we went out to lunch. 

3. I'm thankful for spring! Knock on wood, but it looks like the apricot tree is going to have a bumper crop this year. John and I keep thinning the fruit, but it doesn't look like we've touched it. 

4. I'm thankful for spring! The roses John ordered for me arrived last week, and he has been so busy making sure the beds are just right so we can get them in the ground. The rose bed is going to look so good.

Photo: John installs wooden beams at the back of the sloped (future) rose bed so we can make the ground more level

5. I'm thankful for family history progress. I went up to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City this week. Usually I do my research from home, but there are lots of resources that are not available online. I was looking for Jennie Frue, the first wife of my great-great aunt's husband. Jennie was married previously to Edward B. Warwick. I had seen a birth record for a daughter of Edward Warwick and a Jennie Silk. I was pretty sure the two Jennies were the same person, but I wanted to go see the microfilm to see if the last name was somehow transcribed incorrectly. Clear as day, the name was Jennie Silk. I got on the computer at the library, and found Jennie's dad listed on the 1880 census as divorced (something that wasn't all that common in the 1800s), and I found a marriage record for Jennie's mom marrying a Mr. Silk when Jennie was very young. I suspect that Jennie took on the name of Silk, even though she was born a Frue, and gave Jennie Silk as her maiden name on the birth record. That baby girl (Elizabeth) was Jennie's only child, and lived only 6 months. It was quite sad, but probably my favorite part of family history research is finding lost children, so I was happy to have solved the mystery, and thankful for the help I received by actually going to the library.

Photo: A list of mother's maiden names, as projected on the microfilm reader. "Jennie Silk" is on the 4th-from-the-bottom row.

6. I'm thankful for freshly vacuumed carpets. I have a robotic vacuum (not a Roomba, but a much less expensive brand that I got on sale) and I love the fact that the carpet gets vacuumed everyday and I don't have to remember to do anything other than empty the collection bin. The carpet tracks are all-over-the-place random, but they make me smile. 

Photo: Vacuum tracks on carpet go in all different directions

7. I'm thankful for a beautiful lightening storm earlier this week. Some bolts were going sideways through the sky. It was a great show!

8. I'm thankful for Relief Society. We had a watercolor class. I was willing to give it a try. I had fun, though I am pretty sure I'm not the next Grandma Moses of watercolor. 

Photo: A very child-like watercolor painting: blue sky, yellow mountains, green hills, and an odd tree that can't decide if it is a Joshua tree or a deciduous tree. 

9. I'm thankful for my children. They have taught me so much, and I'm privileged to be their mom. I'm thankful for the adults they have become, too. 

10. I'm thankful for John (and for his mom for raising such a great guy!)

What are you thankful for this week? Comment below, and/or link up your own post! 

Text links of those joining us this week:
The Prolific Pulse
MessyMimi's Meanderings
A Season and a Time
The Wakefield Doctrine

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