Creative Friday--Sinus Infection Edition

Michelle and I almost had to cancel Creative Friday (on Monday) again because she'd been sick all weekend and was going to the doctor on Monday morning. I was on standby, but was pretty sure she'd end up not feeling well enough to get together. She surprised me by wanting to get together despite her Sinus Infection Diagnosis. It's amazing what a shower and antibiotics can do!

I noticed this self-portrait Eva had drawn and had to laugh at her Hollywood-sized lips!

I brought us big drinks and some food from Taco Amigo.

Michelle's first dose of antibiotics!

I love it that Michelle sets out books to loan me, they always feel like gifts. We recently split the cost of a couple spools of baker's twine and this is my half of the stash!

Michelle printed some vintage designs on this funky shrinky dink paper, so she spent a long time cutting them out.

Eva was at a friend's house for a lot of the time, but joined us at the table for awhile so she could continue to work on a bunch of Valentines...she's ahead of the game on those.

This is the one she made for Whitney, they're riding a horse together.

The boys were in and out, but spent some time playing a video game together.

Michelle's super cute shrinky dinks!

I spent the day writing Christmas thank you notes and a few other just-because type notes. I really love it when envelopes are cute!

**What did you on Monday (MLK Day?)

Have you thought about Valentine's Day yet?

Do you enjoy cute envelopes?

Comment Window Tidbit: Even though this is only a 4 day week of school it's feeling long to me.

Comedy

We had school off for Martin Luther King day yesterday (which was glorious) and I planned to go for a walk in the morning before heading to Michelle's house for Creative Friday. But it was super windy and cold outside so I couldn't go. Instead I chose to do the kids' new "Just Dance" game on the wii! Oh my goodness, it was so funny. Luckily Landon was at Physical Therapy, Randy was in the shower, and Whitney was having a sleepover at my parents' house, otherwise there would have been witnesses to the humiliation of seeing my large, uncoordinated self "dancing" in the family room. (I have lost a lot of the rhythm I used to have.)

I was able to appreciate the humor of this sight even when there was no one there to see it! I kept looking over to make sure Randy wasn't peeking around the corner! It was so funny and proved to be a good workout for me. My heart was going, I was sweating and smiling, plus I got 5476 steps on my pedometer. Good times.

**Have you played a game like this?

Was it embarrassingly fun for you?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Today is the first day of the new term at school, which means tons of kids will have lost their schedules and won't know where to go. Aargh! Plus, I stayed up until midnight (unheard of!) to finish my bookclub book so I'm tired today!

Sunday Thoughts

I'm a day late on my Sunday Thoughts' post because my Sunday ended up being too dang busy! (That is NOT how I like my Sundays to be!) Even though I'm loving the extra 2.5 hours we have in the morning because of our new 11:30 schedule, I'm finding that my day feels way shorter because of this huge chunk of time taken out of the middle. Mathematically it should all work out the same, but somehow it doesn't.

I mentioned last week that I am really feeling motivated to change the way I read the scriptures and that I want to spend more time doing that this year. Last Sunday after church I was asked to teach Relief Society on the 22nd on one of the General Conference talks, but she didn't know which one it would be. I thought about this for the next day or so until she got back to me and said I was to teach Elder Scott's talk The Power of Scripture! (Chills!)

I've listened to this talk several times throughout the week and then was reading it yesterday morning. I started to write down all the things Elder Scott said about the scriptures and came up with this great list.

• They are packets of light
• They are pure truth
• Key to open the channel to communion with our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
• Provide Strength
• Stalwart friends
• Always available
• Foundation for truth that can be awakened by the Holy Ghost
• There is great power through memorizing scriptures.
• We forge a new friendship when we memorize them.
• They give help, inspiration and comfort.
• They are a source of motivation.
• Give great direction.
• Foundation of support.
• They are a large resource of willing friends.
• They are an enduring friend.
• Key to unlocking revelation
• Calm the soul
• Give peace, hope and restore confidence
• They have the power to heal emotional challenges
• Accelerate physical healing (!)
• Communicate different meanings at different times in our lives.

Isn't this a great list? I think it's interesting that he referred to them as our friends so many times. It made me think about how I can teach my kids to feel that way about them so that they will always think to turn to their scriptures in times of need. I'm excited for more insights to come as I continue to study this talk this week.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Oh how I love a 3-day weekend!

12 on the 12th--January Edition

Michelle has started the new year off by saving my bacon once again by making this grid for me!

{click to enlarge}

1. My morning started like every morning with my Instant Breakfast, a Feverfew pill, 2 Vitamin D pills, and a Super B Complex pill.
2. I played several of the Words With Friends games I have going on.
3. Family Scripture Reading, we started The Book of Mormon again.
4. My phone at work...I answer this 100s of times a day (though usually with the ear piece I wear).
5. A crazy student who visits me several times a day, was at school early so she chose to "delight" me with her conversation while she used all the pens on my desk to write me a note...her grammar is atrocious! It was all I could do not to circle all the mistakes in red!
6. I came home from work to find Randy (who is newly unemployed...we had warning) doing some leaf blowing! What is up with our "winter" weather?!
7. Whitney holding up the flyer for the upcoming Maturation Program at school. She said, "Bella went to this last year and said it was horrifying! She almost passed out!"
8. I got my Mammogram results in the mail--no cancer!! That gives new meaning to Good Mail!
9. Landon was thrilled (as am I) that Randy figured out why our internet has been torturing us by timing out and being slow, now it's super fast and doesn't kick us off anymore. Hooray!
10. I started a Jazz class the hour before my weekly Tap class! Oh Nelly, it kicked my butt so hard. I am so sore I am moving like an old lady, but I'm excited to wake up my dormant muscles!
11. I worked on a fun quiz for our Office Aides at work for the next day's party we were having for them because it is the end of the term.
12. Reading in bed before crashing for the day. I've only been getting 3-5 pages read before falling asleep, so this has slowed my reading progress down substantially.

**Did you document your 12th?

Were you horrified by your Maturation program?

Is your internet fast?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I must tackle my office today or I am going to go crazy!!

Five for Friday

1. Cathy and I have been braving the cold to go walking on Saturday mornings for the past couple of months. We haven't had to deal with any snow or ice since we haven't had any this winter (so weird!) but it has been really cold so our bundling has been quite comical.

2. I put this photo on Facebook but it bears documentation here as well. What in the world?! These are the shoes of a 7th grade girl (who looks 17)! She brought both pairs to school and wore one of them and then complained about her back hurting! I was flabbergasted by this on so many levels.

3. Randy brought me a medicinal Coke at work on Wednesday when I felt a doozy of a headache coming on, and Landon happened to pop into the office during his lunch break at the very same time! He didn't know Randy was coming, so he was surprised by the little reunion.

4. I picked Whitney up from school the other day and found her wearing this ensemble! Clearly Randy is on the morning shift before school! He thought her outfit was creative and coherent, but for me it was a head shaker for sure.

5. I got a nice thank you note from Amie this week but was surprised by the damage done to it. It looks like a shark got to it! There weren't any protrusions so it's weird that it was damaged in the mail, it must have gotten stuck in one of the machines.

**How was your week?

Thoughts on Whitney's outfit?

Would you wear those heels?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I started another dance class last night and feared I'd be too sore to walk today, but I'm only slightly sore (more aware of my muscles than anything else). I'm very grateful for this!

12 on the 12th--Year in Review

I successfully accomplished another year of 12 on the 12th grids, thanks to my bacon-saver Michelle who made 10 of my 12 grids because of my technology woes. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having these snapshots of my days and feel like they capture my life (and my family's life) so well. There are so many repeat things going on, but really aren't most of our days variations of the same day anyway? I'm okay with that and am excited to participate in another year's worth of memorable grids! Check out my sister-in-law Amy's post about this idea and how to do it...you should do it too!

 Wednesday January 12, 2011

Saturday February 12, 2011

Saturday March 12, 2011

Tuesday April 12, 2011

 Thursday May 12, 2011

Sunday June 12, 2011

Tuesday July 12, 2011

Friday August 12, 2011

Monday September 12, 2011

Wednesday October 12, 2011

Saturday November 12, 2011 (a day I will NEVER forget).

Monday December 12, 2011

Some Observations

• I'm a little preoccupied about what time I start my day.
• I really like to read.
• I take various kinds of pills.
• I like to end the day with a TV show and then a book.
• Cafe Rio is a fixture in my life.
• Work became a bigger deal since August.

**Will you participate this year?

Did you make any other observations?

Comment Window Tidbit: I woke up on my own at 4:30 this morning! Of course I didn't get up until my alarm went off at 5:00, but still!

First Dance Recital

Landon has been taking a Men's Dance class at school this semester and they had their performance the other night. I was super curious about this because I'm familiar with many of the boys in the class (because of working at the junior high) and knew it was a huge class (50 kids). I have no idea how the teacher is able to wrangle that many crazy boys in one class!

They performed "The Evolution of Dance" which was highly amusing! They were going every which way and had a wide range of skills and enthusiasm. The kid in front of Landon (in the stripes) had us howling with laughter. He was a good dancer, but his intensity, wardrobe and pelvic gyrations were hysterical! We were wiping tears from our eyes!

It was hard to take pictures in there because of all the heads in the way (there a broad shouldered woman with a wide puff of hair sitting right in front of me), but luckily Landon was on the sides and not the middle so we were able to see him.

We had a random stranger take our picture afterward and while she was taking it her little boy said, "Who are they!?" As if she was just taking our picture for her own use--I found this funny.

We went to JCW's for a celebratory ice cream cone...the boy was pleased.

Olivia, Robyn, Austin and Landon were on one side of our Mormon-family sized booth.

Randy, Me, Whitney and Ashley were on the other (don't worry, I didn't purposely pair the scarf with my jacket, I'd worn the scarf all day and only put that jacket on at night. (My mom didn't come to JCW's.)

**Do they offer a Men's Dance class at your Jr. high?

Would you have gotten vanilla, chocolate or a twist cone?

Isn't Whitney super photogenic?**

Comment Window Tidbit: My sporadic blogging has been driving me crazy! I have been so busy that I'm too pooped to fuss with it at night, plus I need to do a bunch of rewind-type posts and that feels overwhelming. I'll do what I can do.

Sunday Thoughts

I'm so excited to be studying The Book of Mormon this year. One of my BIG intentions for the year is to change the way I read the scriptures. I want to shift from my usual surface-style reading to more of a study-type, insightful way of reading...I'm just not sure how to do this.

I have been very inspired by the amazing scripture study style of The Red Headed Hostess and just bought myself one of her great scripture journals and some gel pens so I can do what she does. Even with all her great posts I'm still feeling slightly daunted and inadequate, but also highly motivated and excited to learn.

Today was week number two of attending Gospel Doctrine and other than the extreme heat in the room (seriously coma-inducing) I really enjoyed the class. Here are my notes...

• It is up to us to determine whether we think The Book of Mormon is true. So do what it takes to find out!
• 1 Nephi is a journal where Nephi records the things of God.
• Why is it important to keep a journal and what should we put in it?
• What do we write in our journals? We should write the things we do, think, say, and believe.
• We should include the things of God. (This made me so happy that I have hundreds of Sunday Thoughts posts recorded!)
• We do it to instruct and teach and to connect with our posterity.
• Lehi instructed Laman and Lemuel to be firm and steadfast, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness, we should be like this too.

• Laman and Lemuel's issues stemmed from being worldly, not knowing the things of God, not listening to the prophet, and murmuring continually which drives the Spirit away.
• What are we teaching our kids? Do they have faith? Do they know the things of the Lord?
• Nephi really believed his father had spoken to the Lord, he didn't think that was crazy.
• The Lord is more willing to give us further light and knowledge when we share the knowledge he has already given us (our beliefs/our testimony).
• The Lamanites were not the Nephites' problem, they were just a reminder to them to remember the Lord and trust in Him.
• Do we have the attitude of "however" or "therefore"?
• Do we value our scriptures? How important are they in our lives?
• We don't know why we have to do the things we've been asked to do, but we can move forward one step at a time in faith.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Though I'm enjoying the new 11:30 church schedule I'm feeling like there's not enough time in my Sunday and that is the opposite of how Sundays usually feel to me. Uh oh.

Five for Friday--It's a New Year Edition!

 

1. I started the new year out just how I wanted to by getting up early(ish) and going for a walk. I am determined to get at least 11,000 steps a  day on my pedometer (I love that thing) and since we don't have any snow or ice it was easy to go. Hooray!

2. After our Yadies Yunch with Michelle and Eva, Adam and Amy and the girls came over to play games. I was very happy about this because we hadn't been able to get together for awhile. We played Quiddler and finally figured out Dominion, which ended up being very fun. Too bad it was a school night otherwise they would have stayed later.

3. On Tuesday evening I was about to drop Whitney off at dance when I realized I needed about 3000 more steps for the day so I quickly changed my clothes, dropped her off, then went up to the pond to walk 4 laps as the sun went down. It was beautiful and I had the place to myself.

4. On Wednesday afternoon I had my first ever Mammogram! I was pretty nervous about it and my co-worker had said "it hurts!" which didn't ease my mind at all. But maybe it was good that I was prepared for torture because it ended up being super quick and not bad at all. It felt like a big, grown-up milestone for me.

5. I had another doctor's appointment on Thursday! I went back to Provo to the Women's Center (I had gone on December 21st--happy anniversary) for some necessary unpleasantness. Sometimes it's tricky being a woman! I'm just thankful for a great female PA who is thorough and who "pushed" me into getting my mammogram.

**How was your first week of the new year?

Have you had any women's doctor appointments lately?

Do you ever wear a pedometer?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Wow it's Friday already! I was so busy yesterday that I was moving from 5:10am-9:20pm!

New Year's Yadies Yunch

Since we had 2 full weeks of Christmas Vacation to enjoy, Michelle and I were confident that we would be able to get together for Creative Friday twice. We were successful the first week, but when our second week came along we ran into a few snags. First Eva was sick, so our Wednesday plan moved to a Thursday or Friday plan but by Friday Lucas was sick so we moved to a Monday plan. But then on Monday (January 2nd) morning Michelle texted me to say Lucas was sick again!

Aargh!! I would think she's trying to uninvite me except that she was equally crushed by this latest blow. We had to formulate a new plan quickly so this is what we came up with...a Ladies Lunch (i.e., Yadies Yunch) at Los Hermanos for the 4 girls so we could still get together and exchange Christmas presents.

This was a first for our little foursome and it ended up being quite fun (possibly a new tradition). Whitney and took this self-portrait in the car (while parked)...check out the disco ball-like reflection on my forehead from her hat!

Our table was so covered in gifts we hardly fit!

Eva cracked us up with her continual lip gloss applications, she was loving it.

The perfectly primped pair!

Eva opened her gift from Whitney first, it was a box full of horses!

Whitney was cautiously excited (i.e., rude) when she opened her gift of 6 new books! Whitney doesn't think she's a reader, but Michelle wisely and thoughtfully found this series about a classroom hamster named Humphrey, so I'm really hoping this is the series that will light the reading fire under Whitney.

One of Whitney's Christmas presents was a Los Hermanos t-shirt which serves as an "Eternal Coupon" for a free $5 fancy drink when we go there. Michelle ordered Eva a fancy drink as well and this was her first dreamy sip (she later decided it wasn't her favorite).

Michelle gave me 3 new shirts! She has never bought clothes for me before and I was excited because I always need clothes and she has better style than I do, woohoo!! She was so nervous about her choices that she'd purchased a back-up gift just in case...no need.

 

My gifts to Michelle were a hodge podge of things I knew she'd like. I got her a book and a set of knitting needles from her Amazon Wish List (everyone should have one of those) and then a scripture journal and some gel pens to use with it (and for scripture markings) ala The Red Headed Hostess. (I bought the last 2 items for myself as well and am very excited for a year of fruitful scripture study!)

After all the gift giving we got to enjoy a table full of food!

Eva was finished eating first and kept trying to entice Whitney into playing with some of the toys she'd brought with her. Whitney wasn't super keen on this, but eventually consented to go outside (it was nice weather) to play for a few minutes (which ended up being 45 minutes!). Michelle and I were able to have serious conversations about our goals for the New Year.

I think it's funny that the receipt actually says "Eternal Coupon" on it. Two more visits and her shirt will have paid for itself.

Our group self-portrait upon leaving.

Then I grabbed Michelle for what would have been our Creative Friday self-portrait and first one of the New Year.

It ended up being a really fun outing and a great way to cushion the blow of not being able to have our regular Creative Friday!

**Have you had a Yadies Yunch recently?

Have you seen those scripture journals?

Do you have big plans for the New Year?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm having my first ever Mammogram this afternoon and am feeling a bit anxious about it.

Sunday Thoughts

On Christmas Sunday our Bishop spoke and then the ward choir and the congregation sang Christmas hymns together as part of a planned program. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas (I love it when it falls on a Sunday)! I was rather surprised when our Bishop started giving his talk because he wasn't talking about the Christmas story or anything I expected him to talk about. Instead he talked about forgiveness. I loved what he said and felt like it was exactly what I needed to hear!

• Christ asks us to follow Him on the path of discipleship.
• We offer a broken heart and contrite spirit.
• No contention!
• Don't allow anger and frustration into your heart!
• Desire to always have love and harmony in your relationships.
• Give away your hard feelings and resentments.
• Resolve today to forgive others and move forward.
• Daily worship Jesus and follow His path.

I realized that these apply to me in a lot of different ways and that I have a tendency to think that forgiveness involves really big situations, but that in my life the things I need to forgive and forget are lots of little things that I tend to pile up into a large list of grievances. These weigh me down and make life unpleasant much of the time, but this is something I really want to change.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Today was my first Sunday in over 10 years that I went to Gospel Doctrine class because I no longer have a Sunday calling! It was a strange feeling, but I'm very excited to study the Book of Mormon this year.