i'm grateful for mothers

i wasn't able to go home to ohio for thanksgiving, but i was able to spend a couple days in utah with some really close family friends who might as well be family.  

while i was there surrounded by their children and grandkids, i realized how lucky i am to have so many amazing examples of really good moms in my life.

my mom, these family friends i spent time with, my grammy, and my sisters are all so selfless; they do so much for their children and are just awesome in general. they rarely fly off the handle, are so caring, and give up so much time and energy to raise their kids right.

here's a fun little snapshot about a couple of my favorite mothers:

 this is dixie, my grammy.  she is an insanely good cook, absolutely hilarious, and she has sacrificed so much throughout her life for my mother and her sisters.  she's been through some hard times, and because of her i know a young mother can accomplish anything.  

(from left to right)

-emily is really smart, an amazing cook who is always trying new recipes, and she's super thrifty, and that's something i need to learn from her.  

-kaylea is a total babe, hilarious, super giving, an amaaazing baker, and is really calm all the time.  when baby gus is being a pill she's super chill; i hope i can be like that.  

-georgia (my mom :)  is most likely the best mother on the face of the planet; she is also an amazing cook, baker, caretaker, and is so selfless. she also doesn't look old enough to be my mom, yet alone the mother of my 29 yr old brother.  while talking with her recently, i realized she had to bite her tongue a lot when i was younger as to not say exactly what she wanted to.  (i imagine she might have wanted to say "oh my gosh, you idiot, stop making terrible decisions all the time and giving me anxiety attacks.") yet she was patient and gave me loving advice instead. she's so patient, loving, giving, and forgiving; i am insanely grateful for her.  

my day at the BMV.

on friday, my lovely mother georgia and i headed to the bmv so i could finally get an ohio drivers license and possibly get ohio license plates (which are insanely cute and colorful and awesome).

sad to say, i could not get my adorable plates because i was missing some documents. bummer, but i did get to get my ohio license...about four hours later.

this is my bmv story.

first of all, bmvs are always filled with interesting characters. from people who reek of weed to people talking to themselves to people who smell like bodily fluids.  wait, am i in the e.r. of a downtown hospital? nope. just the local bmv.

so, let's start off with my written exam. it was epic. seriously. they ask you 40 questions on these little touch screen computers and you have to get 30 right, and if you answer 11 questions wrong you automatically fail.  i wasn't scared; i should have been.  it was super hard, and i fell for every trick question. also, i didn't study. dumb, i know. it came down to the wire. after answering 29 quesitons right, there were still like 7 to go. i only had to get ONE MORE right. and i missed the first 6. oh my gosh. all the sudden i realized i was one wrong answer away from failing. how embarrassing.  i drive 2000 miles cross country twice a year but i'm about to fail  this lame test.  

anyways, so the very last question was about how far away your car horn but be audible to be road-worthy.  i was terrified and had no idea what the answer was. after staring at it for forever i guessed b. 200 feet.  NAILELD IT. haha. like i said: epic.  i wanted to scream. run around pumping my fist. kiss the lil' wayne look-a-like sitting next to me.  

instead, i calmly walked up to the desk and told them i passed and was ready to get my picture taken.

small problem. since i had let my indiana license expire a grand total of 5 days, (remember? i turned 21 on sunday!) i had to completely start over.

this is what i got at first. a temporary license. see that picture? my hair is huge, but my morale was small. the woman at the desk said that with my temp license i have to drive with someone over the age of 21 at all times. does that mean i can just drive by myself? you know, since i'm over 21? i wanted to ask but i thought that would be a dumb question. although, i still don't know the answer.  anways, i'm informed that i have to take the driving exam again. laaaaaame.  luckily they squeezed me in and i took my test right away.  i felt like haley dumphy on modern family when she had to take her driving test.  i wanted to tell my driving instructor this, but i refrained.  luckily, i passed!! the test was kinda hard though to be honest. i had to reverse through this super narrow path. 

BAM! there it is. $46 and four hours later i had a real license.  my hair is smaller but my smile is so much bigger. 

needless to say, it was definitely an adventure.