Day 35: Ot chhh!

Anybody who knows Ruth Ann well, knows that she is very loving and has a lively personality. Her conversations are captivating because she shows genuine interest (unless she's playing free cell) and because her voice is so melodic. What some fail to detect, however, is her accent arises from a smattering of sources.

The Midwest is the biggest culprit. Yes, Ruth Ann was born in Ames, Iowa and reared in Fargo, North Dakota, don'tcha know. You might catch her wording 'warm' like 'arm' with a 'w', or muttering an occasional 'ot chhh', the catch-all Ruth Ann phrase used at will in response to a cheeky joke, the accidental dropping a sewing needle, or a person going out in Rummy before she's ready.

You might also hear a hint of hick in Ruth Ann's vernacular, which stems back to her days spent growing up in Utah. She has long been ridiculed for wordsmithing 'sinsuous' the time-saving combination of 'since you were', as in "Sinsuous up, would you mind getting me a tal'?"

As if that weren't enough, she married a crazy Canuk and has listened to drawn-out vowels for the past 38 years, only adding to her colloquial confusion.

While I facetiously tease Mom about the way her words sound, I've never once questioned the way they make me feel. Mother's language is laced with love. Just as a band-aid makes scuffed up knees all better as a child, Mother's loving words heal wounded souls. Her unfailing optimism and zest for life make me want to be better and let me know that I can.

Day 34: I love to read the holy scriptures

Much has been written about how much mom loves reading. But something that is often overlooked is how much she loves the scriptures. As I've started raising my own children, I've found how difficult is to stay diligent with personal and family scripture reading.

I'm grateful for mom's example of scripture study and for sharing her love of the gospel with her children and grandchildren.

Day 33: Don't get testy with me!

I remember when I was a teenager, I was driving in the car with mom one day and she said, "I think you're going to do really well on the ACT."

"Really?" I said. "Why's that?" "I don't know," she replied. "I just have a feeling that you'll do well. I think you're really smart and some people are just better at taking tests and it just seem like one of those people."

Up to that point, I hadn't really cared that much about grades. I had focused a lot more on extracurricular activities, work, and hanging out with friends.

When I finally took the ACT, I completely knocked it out of the park. Well, actually, scoring in the 69th percentile was more like a slow grounder to the pitcher's mound. Undeterred, I studied hard and took it again—and landed in the 80th percentile...which was somehow enough to get me into BYU.

My mom was wrong.

My performance on the ACT was little more than mediocre. But her words of encouragement and unwavering belief in me awakened something inside that has been running around ever since. One undergraduate degree, two graduate degrees, and two GMAT scores later, I can proudly say that I would never have made it this far without my mom's encouragement and support.

Love you mom. And even though I'm done collecting degrees, I hope that I can pass your unconquerable optimism onto my children.

-Johnny

Day 32: Welcome to the family!

**this post was written by Cecile Christensen, Rob's awesome mom! (standing behind Flori in the picture)**

What I notice about Ruth Ann is she can make you feel like you have known her for years even if it has been only a few minutes. She has such a way that she brings you into her circle of happiness. She always has a smile as she talks to you. Her eyes light up when she is introduced to someone new and she immediately lets that person know through her eyes that she is excited to meet you.

When our son fell in love with Ruth Ann's daughter Flori he kept telling us about her family--how much he liked their family and how cool they were. Since we had never had a child get married we wondered how this would be to share our son with another family. We hoped that the family he married into would accept him and love him like we did. Well when he started telling us about this family and how great they were and how much he loved being with them we wondered if we would be forgotten and never see our son again. So the day came for us to meet this family. I will never forget the way I felt in their home as they welcomed us and fed us (one of Ruth Ann's great talents). I immediately felt what my son had felt. We loved being with these people.

They love you and make you part of their family without any formal time of acceptance. They love to entertain and they do it so well with food and with laughter. You come away with a warm feeling of acceptance and a full stomach. Ruth Ann, to me, is the best in making you feel at home even when it is not your home.

Day 31: A silly song for mom

 

We've all gushed about Mom's virtues but I do distinctly remember being told many of the things in this song. I especially like, "Stop crying or I'll give you something real to cry about"-

Maybe because I'm a fake cryer :)

Thanks for always taking the time to make sure we knew the important stuff.

** I would like to add that I didn't really feel nagged by you. This song comes across a little "naggy" (and I don't want any jokes about who's name rhymes with "Naggy")

Day 30: Nanny love

How does Ruth Ann make all the grandkids somehow feel so special and loved? I don’t know how she does it, but she does. It seems like as a family we’ve really grown in the past couple of years with new grandkids, but Ruth Ann never tires from loving each one individually.


I love this picture of Ruth Ann with some of her grandchildren. How many are on that hammock? Six? It’s been so fun to look back on our Park City trip with the family.

Nanny you are the best!

Day 29: The Perfect Sister

When I was a sophomore at Olympus High School, I didn't have a lot of friends in the new school. There was no one to eat lunch with when the school year started. Ruth let me eat with her and her friends. I'm sure that as a Senior, it was not cool to have your little sister eat with you, but she invited me to be with her. I did eat lunch with her and her "cool" friends every day until I developed my own friends and met with them at lunch. I always appreciated her being so thoughtful of me and my feelings, and sacrificing her status to let a lowly sophomore eat lunch with her every day.

When Ruth had her own car, the yellow '50 Chevy, she would take me along with her on her rides to whatever. She was always good to let me tag along on the fun things she would do. In many ways she was my best friend while I was growing up and in many ways she still is.

We always shared a room growing up until Ruth went to BYU. I had a room to myself for the first time for the two years that separated us. When we were little, I would always have cold feet at bed time. Ruth hated my cold feet and would not let me warm them on her warm ones. She told me there was a huge knife that was at the center of the bed and if I put my feet on her side, the blade would come down and cut my feet off. I tried not to touch her, but I would inch my feet as close to the warmth of her body as I could without actually touching her.

Ruth was and always has been the 'perfect' sister. She still takes care of me and lets me warm my spirit by getting as close to her spirit as I can. She is always so generous with everything that she has to share me and everyone that she meets. She is truly a Christ like person in every way. I think that Heavenly Father uses her for his hands here on earth every day of her life. What a consummate trust He has in her and she honors it in all she does.

Love,

Mary Mahoney