Happy Mother's Day to MY MOM!!

I know everyone THINKS they have the best mom ever.....but I win, hands down, don't care whatcha say!

Above picture is mom at CHA (scrapbook convention for store owners)...she just LOVES to go with me each year! BUT, if she goes, she wants to be let free to wander and do all the make and takes she can possibly fit in!!!

Below is mom at Ghirardelli's in Chicago....it's NEVER dark enough chocolate for her!

In Hawaii, the zip lines! Her screams were heard for miles away!!!

Mom and dad eating breakfast in Hawaii

Don't mess with mom and her ice cream!! (Prescott girls only weekend!)

Mom taught Julie how to tie a quilt and even hem the edges!

Mother's Day 2005

Modeling the jewelry she made!

Planting me a tomato plant even though she knew the chance of it living at my house were slim to none!

Mom and Dad at the Annual Tate Picnic

Her Grandkids ALL believe she loves THEM the most!

Singing Gramma Happy Birthday at the TOP OF THEIR LUNGS!!!

I'm still looking for the picture I WANTED to put in here....but in 2008, all of us girls did the IronGirl Triathlon. I quit probably 10 times before the day finally came. I think secretly mom wanted me to quit because I know she was more nervous for me to do this then I was. The Ferrin kids were NOT raised to be tri-athletes...we were raised in sports, yes, but at the same time LOVE TO EAT and generally DON'T love to exercise! So one by one my brothers have become athletes....3 just finished a REAL IRONMAN last month. So their wives are somewhat as stupid as they are.....but not quite! haha j/k!
So one by one, they all signed up for the Irongirl...then Bill found out I wasn't doing it. I barely know how to swim, let alone competitively!!! So he worked with me for months, teaching me. THEN came swimming in open water....a complete different challenge.

So our whole family would spend Monday nights at the lake, so us girls could practice swimming in the open water...the week before race day, I almost quit, so mom took me out to the lake again and floated in the water next to me while I practiced swimming.

Up until the night before, I new in the back of my mind I could quit. The night before, in the hotel I cried myself to sleep I was so scared, and so MAD at myself for falling to peer pressure and doing something I knew I wasn't physically ready for.

So the day came, and I did it....with my mom on the sidelines cheering me all the way, probably one of the worst days of her life.....kept calling Sean to ask if I was out of the water yet...knowing I'd be find if I could get through the swim!

So anyhow, this support is the perfect way to describe my mom. No matter what I was doing....little league, church ball, volleyball, High School tennis matches every week in the spring for 4 solid years....she was there, cheering me on. If I was hurting, she was hurting more, if I was happy, she was ECSTATIC!!! But no matter what, I knew then, and know now she will always be my best friend, cheering me on through thick and thin, loving me along the way.

Thanks for all you've done for me, I KNOW I wasn't the easiest child to raise, but I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world!!
Survived the swim.......

Modeling my bloody knees from the bike crash!