my marvelous mom...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how grateful I am for my mom.

I've had the opportunity to spend some quality time with her recently. She is, honestly, one of my best friends. I know how lucky I am that I can say that. There are a lot of people who aren't close with their moms at all. I feel blessed to have such a good relationship with her.

We laugh together, cry together, and have way too much fun on our crazy adventures.

I look up to her in so many ways.

No one ever says that my mom and I look alike, but I get lots of comments on our mannerisms. Sometimes I'll say something, or even stand in a certain way, and someone will tell me that it reminds them of my mom. I take every similarity as a compliment.

Now that I'm on my own, I notice the similarities more and more.

For example, my mom has a love-hate relationship with ironing. She irons everything, from high-school gym shirts to jeans. I used to make fun of her for that, but now that I'm doing all my ironing, I notice that it really does look better that way. The "hate" part of my mom's relationship with ironing also leads her to let the ironing pile up in the laundry room. She gets completely caught up on it twice a year: during semi-annual General Conference.

Well, guess what I did during October Conference?

You better believe it.

I guess the bottom line is, I love my mom. I'm so proud to be her daughter. I'm grateful for the random little things she does to make my life easier, like "accidentally" buying too much broccoli at the grocery store and dropping it off just in time for dinner. She's a wonderful person, and I hope to grow up to be just like her.