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See how Olympic athlete’s phone call to mom ended in happy tears

... and other heartwarming, happy and funny videos and stories to end the week.
/ Source: TODAY

Though it feels like January has lasted 5,789,643 days, the last week of the month did have its share of happy moments. Here are a few that kept us going:

Dolly Parton's newest venture is icing on the cake

The answer is no, there really isn't anything Dolly Parton can't do. Her latest achievement? Bringing some Southern sweetness to our kitchens, courtesy of a new line of cake mixes and frostings she has created with Duncan Hines.

A complete kit, which costs $40, includes Dolly's Southern Style Coconut Flavored Cake Mix, a Southern-style banana-flavored cake mix, a buttercream frosting and a chocolate buttercream frosting, as well as a collectible tea towel and spatula and custom recipe cards.

The kit went on sale online Wednesday and quickly sold out, but it will be available for purchase in stores in March.

An athlete's phone call to her mom left them both in (happy) tears

The Olympic Games haven't even started yet, and they are already bringing us emotional moments like this one, when Team USA ski jumper Anna Hoffman had the chance to call her mom with some special news.

"Getting to tell my mom I’m going to the Olympics is probably one of the best highlights of my life," Hoffman wrote in the caption of a video of the moment on TikTok.

“Oh, Anna Banana!” was her mother’s very mom-like response when she heard that her daughter snagged a late spot in the Olympic Games in Beijing this winter.

Congrats to the whole family!

This dad started a movement to support LGBTQ+ couples on their big day

Tennessee father Dan Blevins did not want any LGBTQ+ couples to have a wedding without a family present, and in his determination to help, he has enlisted thousands of "stand-in parents" from around the world willing to make sure no one says "I do" alone.

After issuing an invitation to same-sex couples who would not have biological family members willing to support them on their wedding days, Blevins began a movement. More than 33,000 members now belong to his Facebook group, and they are ready and willing to stand in when they are needed.

The group has become a family itself.

“It has changed my life,” Blevins said. “It’s shown me that there was so much good in the world where I really hadn’t seen that before.”

The cast of 'This Is Us' joined a TikTok trend and won the internet

Céline Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" would make a fitting theme song for NBC's "This Is Us," so we shouldn't be surprised that when members of the cast joined TikTok's recent trend in which users recreate the iconic video for the song, it was perfect.

"This Is Us" star Mandy Moore posted the video on her account and led the charge in full make-up and hair for her character, Rebecca, while her castmates Sterling K. Brown and Jon Huertas assisted with the lighting and ambience.

"The best part is that this is 100% in character for Randall and Miguel," wrote one commenter.

"This is the only version that matters now. I don't make the rules," wrote another.

But there have been more amazing versions of the trend this week from other celebrities as well, including Michael Bublé, who brought some fellow Canadian pride to his rendition.

A group of Chiefs fans showed true sportsmanship after their playoff win

The Buffalo Bills might have lost a heartbreaker last weekend, but in the days that followed, a group of Kansas City Chiefs fans lessened the sting by donating more than $306,000 to the Patricia Allen Fund, the charity started by Bills quarterback Josh Allen to honor his grandmother.

A Facebook group called "Chiefs Kingdom Memes" has put out a call for fans to donate $13 in honor of Allen's performance last Sunday, when he was able to push the game into overtime in the last 13 seconds.

The donations to the Patricia Allen Fund benefit Buffalo's Oishei Children's Hospital, where Bills fans have already donated so much in Allen's honor since his grandmother died in 2020 that the hospital's pediatric recovery wing bears her name.

"An incredible $178,000 from over 9800 donors in just over 24 hours from #ChiefsKingdom," the hospital posted on Twitter. "Thank you all! These donations help the ongoing need and ensure our team has the tools, training and programs to care for the kids in WNY."

That's a win in our playbook.

Let it snow!

Word is there is more snow coming to parts of the country this weekend. This is good news, because snow can lead to moments like this...

Cuteness alert...

And because we can never get enough dog and baby content in our lives, here's one more video we think you need before you start your weekend.

Hang in there, everyone!

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