Five for Friday

1. Amie and I hadn't gotten together in months, so last Friday before the family party at my parents' house I went over to her house to hang out for about 50 minutes. We did a speed round catch-up on life (which was way too short) but at least we were able to get together.

But then we were able to get together again on Saturday night (shocker) because Jimmy was out of town and both her kids had plans. Randy and I weren't doing anything so I drove out to her house (Eagle Mountain 2 days in a row!) and we hung out for 2.5 hours. She gave me a Christmas present of the world's softest pillow case (which she made), a darling dish and dangerous treats.

2. We've been enjoying spring weather all week!

So guess who's decided to make an appearance? These beauties opened up yesterday and you can see the purple of some crocus in the background...delightful!

3. Whitney made an elaborate scavenger hunt for us last Sunday while the rest of us were napping and of course ended it with this message (we knew it would end in treat mongering).

4. I used the Amazon gift card my parents gave me for Christmas to get a new shower curtain, rings and shower rod so our bathroom got a mini-makeover this week! It only ended up costing me $1.61.

The packaging on the curtain hooks was a bit bizarre though.

5. Our Relief Society activity this month was a traditional Passover service led by a retired BYU professor (who used to be my landlord back before I got married). It was interesting, but really not my kind of thing, plus church clothes and sitting on a hard chair for 2.5 hours on a Wednesday is just cruel.

**How was your week?

Is it Spring near you?

Where would you like to do a mini-makeover?**

Birthday Alley Gathering

We got together at my parents' house last Friday night to celebrate Amy, Ashley & Adam's birthdays (I also thought we were going to celebrate my dad's in advance, but we didn't).

We ate well.

Laughed hard!

Enjoyed this bit of marketing.

Lived vicariously through Ashley's 6 year old joy.

Documented the evening.

Laughed some more.

Wished Adam well.

Sang.

Ate some more.

Good times.

Weird Saturday

Saturday morning found me shuttling, Landon, Parker and Hunter down to BYU for a Scout Pow Wow. They had the option of working on multiple merit badges, but Landon chose to work on his one  last required merit badge, which meant he would only need to be there for an hour.

 There was some silliness and no-cooperative photo taking going on, but I must document.

It's nice that they have these opportunities!

Whitney and I planned to wander the bookstore for an hour until Landon was done and the museum opened at 10:00 but it turns out the bookstore doesn't open until 10:00 on Saturday either! Dang it. We chose to wander the Fine Arts building to see the student projects hung up in there and then made our way over to the library (which no longer resembles the library I slept...I mean studied in so many years ago).

These posters were hanging up and seemed like a very good idea to me. I wish I'd had a clue of what I was getting into before I got married!

Whitney wasn't keen on me taking photos of her in the library, but I ended up being rather giddy about being surrounded by all those books!

I was rather shocked to see a card catalog and had to laugh at the sign on top of it. Really, what is it for anymore?

I shnockered Landon into going to the art museum. They had this postcard display board at the end of one of the exhibits so patrons could leave comments, so he ended up being happy that he "has something hanging in the art museum!" 

His "piece".

I dragged the kids around the exhibits as long as I could but it was way too hot in there (museums always are) and they just weren't interested (even Miss Artist Whitney!). This photo of them outside of the museum says it all!

JCW's for lunch helped restore their good humor.

Whitney bought this little BYU notebook and pen with her own money.

It turns out that Randy's dad was in town from Chicago for a granddaughter's baptism, so Randy went to that in the morning and spent the day with his dad, sister and her kids. Roger ended up coming to our house ithat evening and got 20 seconds with Landon before I had to take him to a birthday party (we didn't know Roger was coming).

**How was your Saturday?

Do you find museums too warm?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It's 63 degrees and sunny today, spring fever is here!!

Interesting Week Rewind

On Monday evening after returning from Michelle's house, I picked up some super cute 40th birthday balloons to take to my friend Cathy. I texted her to make sure she was at home (and not out on the town) only to find out that she was deathly ill at home with a 103 fever and her husband had to work late! 

After some texting we established that she needed some Powerade for herself, and cheeseburgers for her kids. I got to her house to deliver the balloons, a gift, the Powerade, the cheeseburgers and the cutest mini cake you ever did see and found her in a state of great woe. I tried to help with her two kids (ages 4 and 6) until her husband got home at 9:00. He then took over and I ended up taking her to the ER to rule out Meningitis! 

Two rather hilarious (she's a character) hours later we found out she has a new strain of the flu brought in from California and that it lasts for 7-10 days! It was a super memorable 40th birthday for sure!

I ended up getting to bed about 3 hours past my desired bedtime and woke up with a migraine! I have never called-in sick to work before, so I texted my boss and went back to bed. I slept until 10:45 and woke up feeling much, much better. When I woke up the second time, the house was empty and it was actually snowing outside!

We were having our Scout Court of Honor that night and I needed to organize and label all the awards for it (which I would have done the previous night if I'd been home), so it worked out nicely that I was able to stay home and get all of that stuff ready. It was my first time and I was clueless about what I was doing, but felt pretty good about things by the end.

The Court of Honor went really well and now I think I'm starting to understand Scout stuff (I never really paid attention before) and am feeling more motivated and less daunted than I had been feeling just days before. (Landon took this picture of me, I have no idea what I was saying.)

They had a slide show with photos from last summer's 50-miler, this is a shot of Landon.

They had some of the boys and leaders share some details from the week-long adventure (which are quite incredible to hear) and Landon was one of the participants. I'm so glad he got to go on that amazing adventure, and feel so grateful that they all made it home safely (the stories they tell are clear evidence of the Divine intervention involved to keep them safe!). He's one merit badge away from being ready to work on his Eagle project!!! I need to put his badges on his sash (we just bought it this week) so he can be outfitted like Nick!

After the Court of Honor I dashed over to Amy's house (I got there at 9:00!) for book club. They had started at 7:30, but were kind enough to move it to Amy's house so it would be closer for me to get there late. We discussed the book for a bit (I gave it 3.5 stars on Goodreads) but as always, the personal conversations are the best part of the night.

It snowed again for real (not just a skiff) on Friday and it was the first time of the entire winter there was enough snow to play in! Whitney invited her friend Sally over for snow fun and hot chocolate.

**How was your week?

Did you get any snow?

Ever had an ER adventure with a friend?**

Comment Window Tidbit: This has been a good Saturday so far.

Creative Friday--No Creativity Edition

It had been two weeks since Michelle and I last got together for Creative Friday, so we had a lot of catching up to do.

I love my calendar alerts!

Eva was the only one who did anything creative. She made clothes for her glow-in-the-dark dinosaur and then a pouch (with some help from Michelle) for her stick pony (sadly I don't have a photo).

After a couple of months of fruitless searches for white shipping tags, I finally found some online (through ULINE) in 1000 quantities. Michelle and I went in on them together and will be properly supplied for years!

Eva was cracking us up as she excitedly called a friend to see if she could play (notice her crossed fingers).

Michelle and I talked the whole time, we didn't even get any of our project stuff out. We had to catch up on life chat and spent 2.5 hours doing that. Ahhh, what a relief.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: It actually snowed today!

Sunday Thoughts

As part of today's Relief Society lesson, the teacher invited her return-missionary daughter to share some of her thoughts/experiences regarding prayer. The first thing she said was, "I encountered all kinds of people on my mission, there were some who had never even heard of the concept of prayer." These words stung me and tears instantly came to my eyes. Prayer is such a huge part of my life that it never occurred to me that it wasn't an option for everyone. I know lots of people don't take advantage of the opportunity to pray, but it was devastating to me to think of people not knowing about the possibility. I would be so lost. I start and end every single day with a personal prayer, we say family prayer morning and night, plus prayers over the food and miscellaneous prayers in our minds throughout the day. Heavenly Father is never far from my thoughts. I can't even imagine what would be there in His place!

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: We have our first Court of Honor with me as Advancement Chair Person this coming Tuesday. I've decided this time is like being thrown into the deep end of the pool from the high dive!! I'm going kicking, screaming and plugging my nose!

Odds and Ends

I'm hurting for stuff to post about because my days are so much the same thanks work. If I could post pictures or tell stories about work I'd have some entertaining (and disturbing) stuff to share, but I can't.

We missed Whitney's penpal Luci's birthday somehow but sent something a couple weeks late. Whitney drew all over the envelope while her fancy lemur watched.

Cathy texted me this mistake-filled message a few weeks ago and it keeps cracking me up.

This is NOT winter weather?! I've got daffodil leaves poking up already!

Michelle sent me this cute Valentine.

Patsy sent me a cute Valentine too!

I don't have a picture of this, but I went to get my eyebrows waxed today because they were so out of control. I pluck them regularly, but somehow overnight I wake up looking like a Wookie! I think my stylist was a bit disturbed by the situation and went at them with a vengeance. She did a good job, but took more than she usually does (I only get them done a couple times a year) so now I feel like there's a lot more of my face...not necessarily in a good way. I'll probably just need to get used to them, but for today I am in hiding.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Birthday alley is officially upon us and I'm ill-prepared yet again. I wish I was chock full of good gift ideas, then I don't think I'd mind it so much.

Steps

Remember when I used to sit in my car and read while Whitney was at art class? Well now that I'm a step-counting, pedometer-wearing girl with a goal of 11,000 steps a day I've been using that time to walk. It's funny that I never even considered doing that before, but it's an unfamiliar neighborhood and I like to read so it just didn't occur to me until recently on a day I needed more steps.

I only had 6,318 when I dropped her off at class today, so I drove over to this hill, parked my car and walked. The one flaw in my plan was that I parked at the top of the hill, which meant I had to hike up it when I was tired and ready to be done, but other than that it was great. I had 10,220 when I got back to my car, so I'll easily hit 11,000 by the time I go to bed.

**Have you gone walking recently?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I put myself to bed at 7:20 last night!! I read for an hour but was asleep by 8:30. I felt soooo much better today. I'm like Debbie-Downer when I don't get enough sleep!