International Women's Day
There are so many amazing women out there. I feel like I would be very ungrateful if I didn't take a moment to thank all the women that fought for women to get the right to vote, that fought for women's education, that are fighting for women's rights. I am so blessed to be able to vote, to make my voice heard, to get to choose if I want to be a stay at home mom one day or if I want to be a working mom, to be able to get an education, and to be who I want to be! Sadly, these choices that are readily available to men everywhere still are not available to all women. In so many countries, girls aren't allowed to go to school when they have their period because they have nothing to stop the bleeding. And when you have to miss 3-5 days of school every month, you can't really keep up. There is still so much work to be done in America as far as equality, but I can't even imagine what it's like in some other places in the world. How fortunate we are. I hope that more women can come together to help fight for our rights here and in other places. I hope that I can live to see a day where every girl has the chance to go to school and make her own life better. I hope I live to see a day where every girl can make her own choices and not be forced into a marriage or life that her father or husband or brother picks for her. I have so many female role models in my life. But some of my favourite women are all in this one picture:
My Grandma Larsen, the cute little blonde in the middle of the top row, is an incredible woman. She grew up in a family with 11 kids on a farm in Norway. She and her sisters helped her mom with all the washing, knitting, cleaning, cooking, etc. while her brothers were more or less left to do what they pleased after helping some on the farm. My grandma lost several of her fingers while helping her sister chop wood. My grandma was 3-5 and her sister was just a couple years older. Yikes! She learned an incredible work ethic and is still extremely close with all her family. She left home at 14 to go work for a family in the city so she could send money home to her family. At 20 she married my grandpa and they soon found the Mormon missionaries and joined the LDS Church when they had 3 small children. They then up and moved to Canada, leaving all their friends and family to go to a country where they didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language. My grandma gave birth to 7 children and raised 6 of them. While the kids were still young, she had to have a melanoma removed from her leg. She was back up and moving around just days after her surgery, limping around to take care of house and family. She is so fun to be with and is an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother. She's in her 70's now and still works a couple days a week because she is such a busy body. I sure love this amazing woman!
My Grandma Remington, the cute dark haired woman up top on the left, is another incredible woman. She grew up in a family of 6 kids and always did her part to help with the cooking, cleaning, babysittying, etc. I know they didn't have a lot of money so things were usually pretty tight. At 19 she married my grandpa and went right from her parent's house to living with my grandpa. She's never had her own room. My grandma worked the first bit she and grandpa were married but had my uncle about a year into marriage. She ended up raising 2 of her own children and lucky for our family, adopting my aunt. She also lost 3 babies. Can you even imagine how terrible that would be? But she stayed strong and raised 3 children while my grandpa was in med school and doing his residency. That is not an easy job! It's almost like she went to med school too since she would always talk with grandpa at night asking what he learned and helping him study. When my mom was in Jr. high or high school, they moved from Canada and their families to Utah. My grandma has been an amazing, caring, giving woman. She hasn't had much energy, but she still will cook a big Sunday dinner for us cousins in Provo and any friends/roommates they bring. She plays the organ in church. She always helped our family and would have us kids over for sleepovers. She has a great sense of humour and even when she is exhausted from taking care of my grandpa while he's been sick (which is so sweet to see by the way), she still has a smile and a ready laugh. I am lucky to have 2 strong, sweet women for my grandmas!
My mom is the beauty next to me in this picture. She is awesome. Seriously. She always says she wasn't a good stay at home mom, but I thought she was the best. She made chores fun for us. I remember she made old socks into little mops so we could skate mop the house while listening to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. It was always a blast! She made sure we ate our fruits and veggies, which at the time I hated, but I am so glad now! Looking back, I can't believe how patient she was with us. She would crack sometimes but man it took a lot to get her really mad. My mom is so great. I told her pretty much everything growing up and I knew that if I ever got into trouble she would be there to help me first and then punish me later. She's someone I could tell anything to but I always knew that she was my parent first, friend second. That's exactly the kind of parent I want to be. Looking back on my childhood and comparing it to other women's childhoods, I have to say that one of my favourite things about my mom is her happy, accepting attitude. My mom had thyroid cancer and ever since her thyroid was removed, she hasn't been able to lose hardly any weight. She went without sugar for months, no pop for even longer, and worked out and still nothing. And instead of getting down on herself or giving up, she just said, "Oh well!" And she still tries to be healthy, getting on the treadmill every day, eating fruits and veggies, but she still enjoys life and dessert, as it should be. She would casually say things like, "I'm fat." And give a shrug like she didn't care at all. Side note, my mom is not fat! But I loved her attitude over something that really doesn't matter. She tries to be healthy and that's what really counts. I didn't realize how lucky I was to grow up with a mom who helped me to develop such a positive body image. I work hard to get my workouts in at the gym and I try to eat healthy, but I like to bake and as far as I'm concerned, if I'm doing my work at the gym, that's ok! I know so many women who are constantly on a diet or who don't eat in front of guys or who are obsessed with what a number on a scale says. After spending time with their families or hearing their experiences, I've realized that so often girls get this fear of food and fat from their moms. I am so glad my mom helped me realize there is so much more to people than their outside appearance and that it doesn't matter what people think. If I ever said something about wishing I could lose weight or look more like someone else she would roll her eyes and tell me I didn't need to lose weight and tell me something about my personality she liked. If I ever said I wanted to get in better shape or be healthier, she was always supportive of that. I hope I can do the same for my daughters. My mom is not only awesome and one of my favourite people, she is hilarious and never lets anything bring her down. Having a testimony of the gospel is a huge help in that I'm sure and I'm glad she lets that show.
I am so grateful for the line of strong women I come from. I hope that I can be like all of these women. I hope that I can help my daughters to be like them also. I grew up believing I can do anything and I hope I can teach my daughters they can do anything and be anything they want to be.
My Grandma Larsen, the cute little blonde in the middle of the top row, is an incredible woman. She grew up in a family with 11 kids on a farm in Norway. She and her sisters helped her mom with all the washing, knitting, cleaning, cooking, etc. while her brothers were more or less left to do what they pleased after helping some on the farm. My grandma lost several of her fingers while helping her sister chop wood. My grandma was 3-5 and her sister was just a couple years older. Yikes! She learned an incredible work ethic and is still extremely close with all her family. She left home at 14 to go work for a family in the city so she could send money home to her family. At 20 she married my grandpa and they soon found the Mormon missionaries and joined the LDS Church when they had 3 small children. They then up and moved to Canada, leaving all their friends and family to go to a country where they didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language. My grandma gave birth to 7 children and raised 6 of them. While the kids were still young, she had to have a melanoma removed from her leg. She was back up and moving around just days after her surgery, limping around to take care of house and family. She is so fun to be with and is an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother. She's in her 70's now and still works a couple days a week because she is such a busy body. I sure love this amazing woman!
My Grandma Remington, the cute dark haired woman up top on the left, is another incredible woman. She grew up in a family of 6 kids and always did her part to help with the cooking, cleaning, babysittying, etc. I know they didn't have a lot of money so things were usually pretty tight. At 19 she married my grandpa and went right from her parent's house to living with my grandpa. She's never had her own room. My grandma worked the first bit she and grandpa were married but had my uncle about a year into marriage. She ended up raising 2 of her own children and lucky for our family, adopting my aunt. She also lost 3 babies. Can you even imagine how terrible that would be? But she stayed strong and raised 3 children while my grandpa was in med school and doing his residency. That is not an easy job! It's almost like she went to med school too since she would always talk with grandpa at night asking what he learned and helping him study. When my mom was in Jr. high or high school, they moved from Canada and their families to Utah. My grandma has been an amazing, caring, giving woman. She hasn't had much energy, but she still will cook a big Sunday dinner for us cousins in Provo and any friends/roommates they bring. She plays the organ in church. She always helped our family and would have us kids over for sleepovers. She has a great sense of humour and even when she is exhausted from taking care of my grandpa while he's been sick (which is so sweet to see by the way), she still has a smile and a ready laugh. I am lucky to have 2 strong, sweet women for my grandmas!
My mom is the beauty next to me in this picture. She is awesome. Seriously. She always says she wasn't a good stay at home mom, but I thought she was the best. She made chores fun for us. I remember she made old socks into little mops so we could skate mop the house while listening to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. It was always a blast! She made sure we ate our fruits and veggies, which at the time I hated, but I am so glad now! Looking back, I can't believe how patient she was with us. She would crack sometimes but man it took a lot to get her really mad. My mom is so great. I told her pretty much everything growing up and I knew that if I ever got into trouble she would be there to help me first and then punish me later. She's someone I could tell anything to but I always knew that she was my parent first, friend second. That's exactly the kind of parent I want to be. Looking back on my childhood and comparing it to other women's childhoods, I have to say that one of my favourite things about my mom is her happy, accepting attitude. My mom had thyroid cancer and ever since her thyroid was removed, she hasn't been able to lose hardly any weight. She went without sugar for months, no pop for even longer, and worked out and still nothing. And instead of getting down on herself or giving up, she just said, "Oh well!" And she still tries to be healthy, getting on the treadmill every day, eating fruits and veggies, but she still enjoys life and dessert, as it should be. She would casually say things like, "I'm fat." And give a shrug like she didn't care at all. Side note, my mom is not fat! But I loved her attitude over something that really doesn't matter. She tries to be healthy and that's what really counts. I didn't realize how lucky I was to grow up with a mom who helped me to develop such a positive body image. I work hard to get my workouts in at the gym and I try to eat healthy, but I like to bake and as far as I'm concerned, if I'm doing my work at the gym, that's ok! I know so many women who are constantly on a diet or who don't eat in front of guys or who are obsessed with what a number on a scale says. After spending time with their families or hearing their experiences, I've realized that so often girls get this fear of food and fat from their moms. I am so glad my mom helped me realize there is so much more to people than their outside appearance and that it doesn't matter what people think. If I ever said something about wishing I could lose weight or look more like someone else she would roll her eyes and tell me I didn't need to lose weight and tell me something about my personality she liked. If I ever said I wanted to get in better shape or be healthier, she was always supportive of that. I hope I can do the same for my daughters. My mom is not only awesome and one of my favourite people, she is hilarious and never lets anything bring her down. Having a testimony of the gospel is a huge help in that I'm sure and I'm glad she lets that show.
I am so grateful for the line of strong women I come from. I hope that I can be like all of these women. I hope that I can help my daughters to be like them also. I grew up believing I can do anything and I hope I can teach my daughters they can do anything and be anything they want to be.
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