Five for Friday--I'm So Far Behind Edition

I am so far behind with blogging these days. We had the cousins here 2 weekends in a row including Conference Weekend, we helped Adam and Amy move, Randy turned 45, Whitney turned 13, and Landon just had his last football game. I have oodles of pictures but have had a crazy couple of weeks. 

1. Whitney has been wearing these fashion glasses lately, so when she stopped by the office Wendy grabbed these purple frames from the lost and found and put them on me. It was a random and funny moment, plus Whitney actually cooperated for the photo.

2. This was taken at our local Chili's...it seems like a back-handed compliment, but maybe I'm just reading into it. As we were waiting to be seated a group of women came in asking to be seated at the bar and were informed that the American Fork Chili's is the only one without a bar area (though they carry alcohol).

3. I found this picture on my camera and think it's hilarious...Whitney and her slime. 

4. Our shadows at Landon's football game last week...we look like fat cartoon characters.

5. I have never seen a sign like this before and immediately picture misfits sprinkling wild flower seeds on the turf football field. I pointed the sign out to Randy and he informed me it is about spitting out Sunflower seeds. Who knew?

Five for Friday

Greeting friends, this is my first Five for Friday post of the new school year and I'm very happy to say that I am posting from home at 10:30am because I don't work on Fridays! It's glorious. I've been cleaning, rocking out to music on Pandora, and enjoying the solitude that comes from having the house to myself, I'm stoked!

 BEFORE

1. I failed to report that Whitney got a newish hair style last Saturday to start junior high. 

AFTER

Sharolyn (our stylist of 7 years) thinned it out (Whitney's hair is super thick and getting curly), cut some bangs, and flat ironed it beautifully. We just wish we could recreate this look at home. I keep telling Whitney she has to practice, practice, practice but so far she's mostly invested her energy into complaining about it instead. Aargh! At least she had a few days of feeling good about her hair before she had to wash it and begin the battle again.

 

2. I got thrown into the deep end of being the primary secretary last weekend when I had to scramble to find 8 substitute teachers to replace all our male teachers because the Stake was coming to do a training for all the men. It was crazy for a bit but some nice women agreed to help out. I made these as thank you gifts.

3. I was able to upgrade my phone to the iPhone 4s a couple weeks ago and got this awesome case from this shop on Etsy...of course I love it.

4. Speaking of phone cases, we gave Landon a phone for his birthday (eek!) and Adam designed this case for him. It's pretty cool and I probably should have asked Adam to make a case for me, but they're a little pricey to have made so we did it for a birthday gift for the boy instead. (#84 is Landon's football jersey number in case you're wondering.)  

5. I saw this on Pinterest this morning and it resonated with me. I always know things are going to work out and I'm grateful for that, it keeps me from being a worrier.

Five for Friday

1. Last Saturday our Relief Society had an Education Day from 8-3, Michelle joined me until noon. I'll post some notes in my Sunday Thoughts.

2. Randy "helped" Whitney make a couple posters for her run for Student Council. They weren't what she originally envisioned, but I think they ended up looking better than our original plan.

3. I managed to surface from my gloom on Tuesday night for book club at Amy's house. We discussed Gold by Chris Cleave and had a heated discussion about modesty as well...interesting.

4. We took this feet self-portrait after our soccer game on Wednesday...I'm in flip flops and Whitney has the red laces, I kind of love this photo.

5. While waiting for Landon to finish football practice, Whitney did some dramatic leaf dancing in the wind.

Five for Friday

1. I remembered I had a gift card for Pier 49 Pizza so the kids and I went there for lunch last week. But in my frenzy to also utilize a coupon for $5 off $15 I forgot to use the giftcard! Classic. It was a mighty good lunch and now I still have a giftcard, ha.

2. I've been in a bit of an end-of-summer funk this week since I'll be going back to work next week and really wasn't in good form for bookclub (so I skipped it...gasp!) or Creative Friday. I didn't want to miss getting together with Michelle though so we opted to take Eva and a friend to the pool so we could talk and read (Whitney was at the cousins). It ended up being a nice day in the shade. The crazy thing is that Michelle forgot to bring her book, but I had brought 2! Fortunately she ended up getting sucked into my other book or else it might have been a very disappointing day for her. Also, I must confess that I succumbed to the craving and got a big Coke after going 10 days without any. It was glorious, but not so good that I am going to fall back into my one a day pattern. Surely I can have moderation in some thing right?!

3. I met up with Amy to retrieve Whitney and the girls and actually didn't mind when they said they wanted to go to the pool. I've hardly gone there at all this summer and since I have a good book I'm reading I was all for it.

 I think this photo is hilarious.

 We were there for about 4.5 hours. 

 Snow cones all around...the grape flavoring in mine was a little weak.

4. I have no photo of it but I coached my first soccer game of the season last night. We were missing 5 of 11 girls (@#$!) due to vacations, so we lost 1-4. They did better than I expected, especially since I don't know them yet, but it was still frustrating. It was my first "yelling" of the season so I was hoarse and exhausted afterward.

5. We caught the tail end of Landon's football practice after the soccer game. It was so hot outside, I really can't imagine running and doing push-ups and all of that with all that padding and helmet on!

Five for Friday

1. This is a shot of our table (my parents gave us their old one so our vintage yellow one has been retired) last week when I was working on my talk one morning. It pains me a bit now because I gave up Coke last Saturday...oh how I loved that relationship, but it was getting to be the boss of me.

 2. One evening last week, Landon and his friend Hunter made paint out of corn starch, water and food coloring and painted this Y on the driveway, not too shabby and I was thrilled that it had nothing to do with a screen!

3. Our friends Matt and Pam were in town from Chicago and stopped by unexpectedly on Sunday night. It cracked me up that Randy plopped down on the loveseat next to Matt--I ended up with the full sized couch all to myself.

Pam sat in the blue chair across the room. It was good to visit with them again, when we were all young married couples we used to hang out constantly.

4. We had a big Court of Honor Tuesday night which meant I was up to my eyeballs getting all the awards ready. I finally tackled the project of putting Landon's merit badges on his sash with Gorilla Glue! I had Goggled it and found that as a possible option (though it shows through on the other side) and it worked great!

5. Landon officially started football practice this week!! This is big news for us. We had to buy football cleats, a mouth guard and a practice shirt (on top of getting all the official equipment a couple weeks ago). He's loving it and walks with a bit of a strut when he's all decked out.

6. I met Amie for lunch on yesterday because we hadn't gotten together for a couple weeks. It turns out she's leaving for California next week and then I'll be going back to work (sigh) so we were lucky it worked out!

Five for Friday

Miscellaneous posts seem to be all I can muster these days. I plan to catch up in the summer and post more frequently since I'll have more than work to post about!

1. Whitney had her first dance recital last Saturday! It bums me out that she never got to take dance when she was little but it we either had money, car, or interest issues keeping us from signing her up. We only did now because my tap teacher is in our ward and runs a low-key studio out of her house which makes it convenient, affordable and no pressure. Whitney performed in a tap number and a jazz number and did quite well.

2. My mom has saved our bacon and sewn a darling poodle skirt for the school dance festival today. If Whitney had to rely on me she would have been wearing capris and a t-shirt, instead she has a super cute poodle skirt in fabric she got to pick out herself.

3. This week has been insane at work. My patience is almost gone, routines have been blown apart with end-of-the-year changes (locker clean out, Lagoon day, book returns) so I've been feeling a bit frazzled. But on Wednesday afternoon the grandmother to 4 of our students stopped by and gave me a handful of roses from her yard and 3 of the lip glosses I use!! Months ago she had come into the office for something and had complimented my lipstick color. It turns out we use the same brand of lipstick but she doesn't use the lip gloss that comes with it (which would be impossible for me). Somehow she remembered this conversation and brought me 3 new lip glosses (they're $4 each). I was so surprised by this highly random gift from an almost stranger (I don't even know her name). It was so nice and such a bright spot in my very crazy day. I really must pay this forward and delight a near stranger soon!

4. Whitney drew the right half of this picture, isn't it amazing? She thinks she messed up, but I can't even imagine being able to draw a wolf that actually looks like a wolf even when copying the other half of the face.

5. Landon had his last soccer game of the season this week (I'm always sad when soccer season ends) and did great. He has gotten so good the last couple years and has grown so much. It's fun to watch his team because most of the boys know what they're doing.

The weather was windy and cold and my mom was one of the few dressed appropriately. The rest of us thought we could get by with hoodies and blankets, but we were still cold. Never mind that I'd turned the air conditioning on for the first time just the day before!

Five for Friday

1. Amie texted me last week to see if I wanted to have a car lunch while I was at work...um yes please! I usually eat at my desk so getting out of the building to spend time with her and to eat gourmet grilled cheese rather than a peanut butter sandwich was a great treat!

2. Every Friday at work the office staff (administrators, secretaries, head custodians and the tech guy) rotate taking turns making lunch for each other. I enjoy getting lunch each Friday but really hate having to take my turn making food for everyone (it's stressful). It was my turn last week and I made 3 pans of chicken enchiladas and a big pan of sugar cookie bars. It was a ton of work and was successful, but left me feeling like it wasn't worth the effort and added stress to my life, ugh.

3. The Primary Presidency and Activity Day Leaders put on a very elaborate Mad Hatter Themed Tea Party for the mothers and daughters last Friday. I was blown away by the effort and cuteness involved. I prefer substance over style though so big activities like these always leave me wondering if it was worth all the time and effort. I'm glad I got to enjoy it though.

4. What is up with the return of the mullet?? Didn't we learn that painful lesson the first time around? The back of this boy looks disturbingly similar to a boy I dated in high school!

5. A 9th grade girl at school brought Wendy and I each a box of turtles to thank us for being so nice to her the other day when she came into the office with a migraine. I have such empathy for people who suffer with those that I immediately put her in the nurse's office with the lights off, got her some Tylenol and a Mountain Dew (her choice) and let her rest. Migraines are the worst, but a migraine at the junior high is unbearable!

Five for Friday

1. On Monday my mom came over after school to teach Whitney how to sew a drawstring bag. They had started it at her house a little while ago but Whitney was super anxious to finish it.

2. Landon actually joined me to read in the cozy...the peanut butter M&Ms I had with me may have helped seal the deal.

3. Whitney started soccer practice on Wednesday. Her schedule looked like this...

3:35--I picked her up from school
Home for a quick snack
4:00--Activity Days
4:45--Randy picked her up to go to art class
5:00--Art class
6:00--I picked her up to go to soccer (which started at 5:30)
6:15-6:30--Soccer practice
6:45--Pick up pizza for dinner

And it's important to me NOT to overschedule her...Activity Days used to be on Monday but they changed it and soccer practice just started on that day...what am I supposed to do? Aargh!

4. I did some texting during the time I was waiting for Whitney. It was a nice option since I forgot (what the?!) my book!

5. I came home yesterday to some good mail from Jane! After reading about my Wookie-like eyebrows she sent me the wax she used to maintain a nice brow. I hope I've got the skills to make use this, I'm excited!

6. Last night was the 5th grade's "Traveling Show" (it used to travel). I can't believe it's been 3 years since we watched Landon perform in it! Whitney had a speaking part and totally nailed it. It was a very patriotic show that had my mom and I in tears.

Our self-portrait after the show.

**How was your week?

Don't you hate overscheduled days?**

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?**