Kathy says that, after 31 years of marriage, the key to a happy Mother's Day is...(drum roll please)...for her to lower her expectations. She takes her expectations down a few notches...and then she lowers them some more and she's happy every time! As you can tell, the kids have I have blown it on more than one occasion.

This Mother's Day, all she wanted was for me to get the garden boxes ready for planting.

Mission accomplished! Well...mostly. I still need to run the drip lines and put some ground cloth and mulch around the boxes. But, they're ready for planting so...✅

I said "well what do you want for your Mother's Day dinner?" She said "oh...cook whatever you like, salmon or grill something that you're good at. It doesn't matter [lowered expectations]...I just don't want to wake up Monday morning to a messy kitchen. That's all I really care about."

Well, I'm not a total idiot...I rememberd to get flowers. So...✅ ✅

Since it was Sunday, I went with music by Michelle McLaughlin. As the music played, I cleaned the kitchen and the house real nice for her. I even pulled everything out of the fridge, wiped it down, and put everything back in.

When everything was sparkling, I started to get dinner ready. I decided to go with Beer Can Chicken (except that we make it with soda). I've only made it one other time more than 10 years ago but we LOVED it! I figured that would be fun and yummy and different.

I coated the two whole chickens with this rub that we love (equal parts salt, pepper, brown sugar, and paprika) and put them in the BBQ to cook for two hours using the indirect heat method. I put a can of Coke in one and a can of Sprite in the other.

I cut up the watermelon. It turned out that I picked a good one! Yay! Super juice and sweet!

I prepared the salad and made sure to serve it with Ranch dressing that I got from the BYU Creamery (yum!!).

I took a couple quart bags of fresh corn out of the freezer. This is the super sweet corn that we froze last fall. Yummy!!

I got the green beans ready to go in the pressure cooker and seasoned them just right.

The timer on my phone went off reminding me to rotate the chicken in the BBQ after the first hour. So, I did that.

Then, I boiled some small, yellow potatoes and was going to serve them that way. But, as I thought about it, I remembered that Kathy really loves fried potatoes. So, after they were cooked, I cut them up and fried them with butter and some yummy seasonings. According to Kathy, these potatoes may have been the best part of the whole meal!

I cleared everything off the table and set the table with real plates (not paper!), real glasses (not plastic cups), and hot pads in the center so we could sit at the table and eat rather than going up to the stove buffet style like we usually do.

Finally, when the time was right, I started heating the corn in the microwave. I started cooking the green beans in the pressure cooker. And, I went to the fridge to get the Ranch dressing, the milk, apple juice, and chocolate milk.

I pulled the birds from the BBQ and let them rest for 10 minutes while I pulled the corn out of the microwave and put it on the table. I put the green beans on the table. And, I put the fried potatoes on the table.

Finally, I carved up the birds and called everyone to dinner.

Right when we were about to say the prayer to bless the food, my missionary son, Andan, called from Mexico to wish his his Mom a happy Mother's Day.

When Kathy returned, we ate and then we ate some more. Everything was SOOOOOO delicious!

The seasonings on the chicken were....oh baby! So good! The secret ingredient to the fried potatoes was the butter (shhhh...don't tell anyone!) I went heavy on the butter. That's why they were so good! The key to the green beans in the pressure cooker was to not over-cook them and to put a little sugar in the water.

After dinner, we played with our grand daughter, Juliet. And, my son Danny played the guitar and sang some songs for us while I cleaned the kitchen and put the leftovers away.

Then, my other missionary son, Carson, called from Guatemala to wish his Mom a happy Mother's Day.

We ate chocolate covered strawberries that I got from Costco while Kathy talked on the phone with her boy.

When Kathy got off the phone, we played a super fun dice game called Bank! We played until Kathy won and then I pulled out a strawberry cake dessert that I also bought from Costco. It was very, very yummy.

We played with Juliet some more until she finally fell asleep in Kathy's arms...which is just what Kathy wanted on Mother's Day.

Needless to say, I think Mother's Day was a success. In hindsight, I should have put placemats down first when I set the kitchen table (do we even own placemats?). I should have put out bowls or plates for the salad as well. And, when I carved the second bird, I realized that I didn't do it quite right the first time. So, there was plenty of room for improvement there.

But, all things considered, I'm very happy with the way everything turned out. And, most importantly, Kathy was happy. We just wanted to show her how much we love and appreciate her and, in that regard, I think we succeeded. ✅ ✅ ✅

What do you think? How did I do?

More importantly, Happy Mother's Day! In this day and age, Motherhood is not revered or celebrated as much as it used to. In my opinion, this is a huge mistake. Nothing can replace a good mother and homemaker. May God bless you all!