The Tomlin's: How I Spent My Mother's Day 2012

This mother's day I felt quite spoiled. Bill and the kids did a wonderful job letting me know I am loved.

Mother's day just so happened to fall on my birthday this year as well so Bill was very considerate of that.

He asked me what I wanted to do for my day of double celebration,

and I didn't hesitate to give him my list.

Really it wasn't THAT big of a list, I just wanted to not have to do anything AND to get breakfast and dinner made by him and my babies.

He complied with my requests... I got French Toast for breakfast (my favorite) and then he got some huge steaks to bbq for dinner. I only had one other request with my dinner and that was spinach artichoke dip from Chili's. Instead of doing that, he got all the ingredients to make it homemade. I had to help him make, but that was okay because I really enjoyed being in the kitchen with him at my side making some delicious food.

Our dip turned out FABULOUS!

Even better than Chili's.

(This post is going to all over the place so I will apologize ahead of time)

That morning after breakfast Bill and the kids rushed out to his truck and came back in with a bag of gifts. They each picked me out something special from them. Brenna got me a photography book that teaches you about all the various cameras, lighting, staging, exposure, contrast.... You know all those things that go along with photography. I LOVE IT!

Sam got me some perfume. They told me they went to Kohl's and that Brenna was the test subject. Sam sprayed numerous kinds of perfume on her until he narrowed it down to the few he liked. Eventually he narrowed it down to one by Ed Hardy.It smells great! I love it!

And I love it more simply because my son took the time to pick it special for me.

Bill got me another photography book, but this one is all about how to run a successful photography business. I have skimmed through it a little and was struck by the first chapter titled,

Getting Started: Finding the Real you.

The very last sentence of this chapter reads, "My career success began the day I became clear on who I was as a photographer and started sharing it with the world."

This is something I think I am still unsure of myself. I don't know how all this photography stuff even really happened to me. It all just kind of fell into my lap. I am grateful for it. I love to do it. But lets face it, I'm slightly lost in this whole business stuff.

I am so happy Bill got me this book. Just that first chapter tells me that it is going to lead me to great places in my "business."

At around 2pm I got a text from my little brother. All it said was "5pm Moms house."

Of course I reply, "For what?"

"A BBQ"

Well considering that Bill had already went above and beyond for me with some great dinner plans I had to decline the invite. In which case my brother was bummed out. He said that it was okay, but they (my brothers and brother in law) had planned to have cake for my birthday.

AWE! They are so sweet.

We ate dinner at my house around 4, so even though I declined the invite for the BBQ at my mom's house I ended up heading over after dinner. I felt bad that my brothers thought of me and I had to disappoint. It was a good thing that I went too, cause they bought 2 HUGE cakes because they couldn't agree on which one I would like.

Again AWE!

I took my camera along with me because I knew that all my mom's kids would be there and she ALWAYS wants a picture done with all of us, but somehow it never happens. I was determined to make it happen for her. It was a good though for Mother's Day right?

I was happy to see that my grandparents came up for dinner as well. I don't seen them often enough so it was a good surprise.

We spent three hours there, just enjoying one another. Laughing.

I had my brother-in-law take some pictures for us... then I edited them.

AS you can see my family is entirely incapable of taking a 'serious' picture,

That's okay though... It's who we are.

It was a good day!