the "why"'s

Try not to be jealous that I have the best parents ever!  (Sorry, you're probably sick of hearing about people you might not even know.  Allow me one more gush post.)

make the bed every day - My parents' bed is always made.  How is that possible?!

keep the bedroom clean - Okay, they have to clean their room every once in a while.  But I remember, all growing up, being amazed that they always kept their bedroom clean.  (That was a hard one for me haha:)

empty the dishwasher every morning - My dad empties the dishwasher every morning, usually before anyone gets up (so there's almost never pile-up in the sink).  He doesn't complain or ever say he does it; in fact, even if you lived with us, you might never know it was him unless you asked.  But it always gets done.

start it every evening + wipe the counters after dinner - My parents go to bed every night with a clean kitchen.  I have never seen them clean up a mess one day that was made the day before at dinner.  I never thought much about that until I had my own kitchen.  Now, every night when I think, "Man, I'm tired... I'll just do this tomorrow," I also think, "How do Mom and Dad do this every night?!"

be intentionally friendly at church - What I didn't share from my journal on the day I shared this goal was that I made it 100% with my mom in mind.  She is the friendliest person!  It seems like everyone at church knows who she is / knows her and loves her.  She is not one to wallow in feeling friendless or leave immediately after a meeting so she doesn't have to socialize; she looks for those who need her friendship (and anyone else) and gives it!  I know she's not always in the mood to do any of this, but she does it.

make dinner every day - Growing up, we almost never ate not home-cooked food.  "Eating out" was buying 14 Happy Meals on the day they were on sale for a dollar.  Every once in a while we'd order pizza.  I respect this a lot about my parents - it's hard to cook every day!

plan for eating out - Like I said, "eating out" was $1 Happy Meal Day, not any day my mom didn't feel like cooking.

be a visiting teacher - My parents are the best home/visiting teachers ever.  I don't know if either of them have ever missed a month.  It never seemed like it.  And it's not just checking something off - Dad gives teachees rides to church when they need it, Mom calls to check up when she feels like she needs to or if they miss church, and they both always seem to know what's going on with their teachees.  They take the responsibility seriously.

say personal prayer before bed - I cannot even begin to guess how many times I have walked in on them saying their personal or couple prayer at bedtime.  Mom, Dad, have you ever missed once?! :)

exercise every weekday - My mom is one of the best examples of exercise in the entire world to me.  You know how people say, "Exercise!  If it's hard at first, it'll get better, because you will start to notice how GREAT you feel after you exercise!"?  My mom's hips hurt after exercise.  She never feels good after exercising.  But she knows it's good for her and tries to take care of her body.  She exercises every weekday.  And I always brag about my dad.  He could run marathons, easy.  He just doesn't because entry fees are non-refundable and you never know what could come up and cause you not to be able to go do it.  Haha.  But he used to run marathon distances just for fun.  "We just ran up to the airport and back.  Yeah, I guess it was probably about 20 miles or so."  He's so modest. :)

enjoy time with my family + strengthen family relationships - My parents are all about this.  Mom's especially vocal about it :) but strengthening our family has always been a priority.

go on dates with Joel - My parents date all the time!

learn to love (and hopefully be good at) being Primary Chorister - I'm pretty sure every person who ever had my mother as their Primary Chorister remembers it fondly.  She LOVES this calling.  When I called to tell her I had it, she was jealous.  She is fun but knows how to keep control, and she works the Spirit and the gospel into everything.  None of this "Use a picture of a bodybuilder to stand for the word "strong"" stuff.  :)

brush my teeth at night + floss once a day - How many people do you know who floss twice a day EVERY DAY?  Well, you can up your tally by one, because MY DAD.  Every day, people.  Think about that next time you get in trouble at the dentist for not doing it once a day.    

help my family + be a good parent - I cannot even say how much my parents do for our family, or how great of parents they are, so I'm not going to try.  Suffice it to say, they were the inspiration for these two goals.

incorporate the above goals as a mother - Did I mention that they did all of these things while we were growing up?  :)



Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm sure you don't think you're perfect, but you might be the only ones.

Love,
Everyone

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In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him; the flaming hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubbed handle - 

With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake’s head…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows