"FAMILY FRIDAY"

For my first "Family Friday" post, I thought it was most appropriate to highlight my mother, Brenda - since she is the glue that holds our family together. She is a spunky, fun-loving mother who would do anything for anyone. She extremely generous and would give you the shirt off of her back. We are very close, and I can honestly say that we have been that way most of our lives. People always say that we look alike and I take that as a serious compliment.

Some of her cute personality traits: she ALWAYS wears an apron for cooking and rubber gloves for doing dishes. She loves being spontaneous and going shopping. I tease her all the time that she has something new everytime I come to her house. After I've been at her house for about 5 minutes she'll say, "Come 'ere Mariss, I want to show you something." I just grin and follow her to see what "finds" she purchased this week.

Some of the most important things she taught me: that I really can do anything I put my mind to, always give people the benefit of the doubt (she will defend any of her children endlessly), and to take care of myself. She sacrificed much while she played "taxi" to her children - however, she always looked nice and got her nails done every week. I think that is important for moms, and when I become one, I will do the same.

I have so many fond memories of my mother, it's hard to tell just one story. This picture was taken in 2005. It was an unusually rainy year. She saw on the news that the wildflowers were amazing at Death Valley because of all the rain. She called me one Saturday morning to drive out there with her to take pictures of the flowers. Sure! We both got ready and took the 2 hour (maybe more, maybe less) drive to Death Valley. We took pictures and continued to drive home. I love her very much! She is one of my best friends!