Fern Stevens Radford

Jan. 30, 1952 - Dec. 7, 1995

Today is my Mom's 55th birthday! So, today's blog is dedicated to her....she was such an INCREDIBLE person, I just want to share a little about her w/you.

this is a pic of her at BYU....

this is a pic of her and my dad at the airport as he is leaving for his 2 year mission to Texas...so cute, she was my inspiration while Adam in the Dom. Rep.
a pic of me and my mom

My mom and I playing a duet together on the piano in H.S....

probably "Jolly Darkies" or "Mr. Ming", so fun.

Happy Birthday Mom!! My mom was such an awsome example to me. Even though I got to be w/her for 19 years, I feel so incredibly blessed to have spent those 19 years w/her. She taught me so much--how to sew, cook, can, play the piano, reupholster furniture, work, never give up, serve others, and most importantly that I can do anything I put my mind to. My mom was always trying new things, figuring out how to do things she'd never done before. I think her motto was, "if someone else can do it, I can do it", she wasn't intimidated by anything. I owe 90% of my musical abilities to her, she tricked me...she would NOT let me quit lessons until I could play the hymns for church, but it was a trick, because she knew that if I made it that far I would like it for myself by then and wouldn't want to quit. I was such a pain though, I remember so many times crying w/my head on the keys, but she endured and I am so grateful. Now it's pay back time though, because she got to hand pick 5 to send down to me....

My mom loved the outdoors--loved to camp, hike, dutch oven cook. She seemed to always be a stake leader at girls camp each summer that I went, I may not have showed it at the time, but I loved having her there. I have such fond memories of sewing w/her. She always unpicked my mistakes for me because she loved to sew and wanted her girls to love it also, and everyone knows unpicking is not fun, so she'd do it, then show me how to do it again. I loved doing 4-H every summer w/her. Cooking and sewing both, and even cake decorating one year. I have so many memories of late nights doing school projects. I remember making a sugar cube pyramid w/her till 11:00 or so in 6th grade, it was the best in the class. She always helped me put 150% into my projects, nothing was 1/2 done at our house. I'm not sure how she found the energy to do it w/5 kids. My whole childhood I thought 5 kids was a total breeze. I guess from a kids POV she made it look easy. But now here I am w/5 kids of my own and let me tell you it is anything but a breeze. I have SO much more respect for her now than I ever have in my life. Hopefully they are getting the WWW in heaven and she can read this, because I sure didn't thank here even close to enough at 19. Thank you Mom!! I love you! Happy Birthday!