Busy with a Capital "B"

I feel like I've been on a blogging break, but I haven't meant to be. I'm way behind on reading and commenting, and I haven't been posting the stuff that's in my head.

• Amy M. sent me one of her genius etched-glass jars as a thank you gift for watching her girls last weekend. I love it!

Yesterday

• Hair appointment to take care of these nasty roots.

• Ran to mall to buy new sunglasses.
• Picked up 2 dozen Krispy Kremes (ate 2 for lunch).

• Ordered balloons.
• Checked kids out of school early.
• Picked up balloons.
• Drove to freakin Eagle Mountain.
• Vacuumed out car and washed interior of windows.

• Welcomed Home Mom, Robyn and Kids.
• Ran to Costco and then grocery store (so many slow drivers!).
• Book club dinner, 2 book discussions and book planning for 2008 at Michelle's 6:30-midnight.

Today

• Visiting Teaching (it's only the 8th woohoo).

• Got this cute thank-you gift (for the Conference basket) from a girl I visit teach.
• Run to Target, Kohl's, Old Navy and the bank.
• Signed Landon up for basketball (it starts in January, I'm NOT coaching).

• I finally got sucked this pesky spider up with the vacuum. It had the audacity to walk right across my table as I was setting my bags down! I had seen it on the curtains yesterday and then it scared the crap out of me when I reached down to unplug my iHome, but I didn't have time to take care of it then. I HATE SPIDERS! (I am breaking my own rule about not posting pictures of spiders, but it was on my table.)
• Home to prepare for tomorrow's road trip to California.

**What about you??**

SPT--Voting

I'm not into politics at all, so I have mixed feelings about voting. I don't like feeling clueless or cynical, but I do think it's important to take advantage of the right to vote. Before leaving to vote I spent some time online reading both sides of the big Referendum being voted upon. It's very hard to have an opinion on something when both sides make good arguments and when I don't feel personally involved.


I chickened out of taking my self-portrait near the voting machines because I feared invading people's privacy, so I opted to take it outside by the sign pointing the way in. I left the school feeling proud of myself for voting (and for helping in Landon's class) and with a new resolve to be more informed.

**Do you like politics?
How do you stay informed?
Did you vote?
Did you check in with Lelly?**

It's November Right?

I realize that Halloween was last week and that November started the day after that, but is anyone feeling surprised that it's already the 6th? Maybe I'm alone in that, but this time of year goes so quickly that I never seem to catch up.


Here in Utah we've been blessed with a glorious fall so far. It looked like it was going to be short when we had that one weekend of early snow, but it's been nothing but sunshine, falling leaves and cool weather since then so it has been blissful!


I finally took the Halloween decorations down today because they had seriously warn out their welcome. I don't know when it happened, but it's like I woke up today and wanted them O-U-T!! I don't really have any Thanksgiving type stuff though, so I'm making do with the fall-looking stuff I have and calling it good. This sort of makes me a little sad for November because Thanksgiving is a good holiday, with a good reason for having it. It seems like there should be more fanfare involved. I'd like to declare it National Gratitude Month (perhaps I'll do this at home) with all sorts of ways to recognize and share things we're grateful for. Hmm.

This is making me wonder how the rest of the world views November. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, is November a kick-off to Christmas or just another month of fall? I'm mighty curious.

{Gratitude Journal Michelle made for me}

Just off the top of my head...
--Write daily in a gratitude journal (list at least 5 things you're grateful for).
--Send notes to people you're thankful for and tell them why.
--Revel in the things you're thankful for each day (reading in the cozy, eating, exercising, family).
--Take pictures of specific things you're thankful for then scrapbook or blog about them.
--Say more prayers of thanks instead of always asking for things.
--Do your visiting teaching!
--Point out things daily to children and self.
--Choose to be happy.

**Do you do anything special for November?
Any suggestions for celebrating gratitude this month?**

Weekend Recap

Our weekend was way more fun than usual thanks to our house guests James & Jessica. The kids had such a good time together and entertained themselves beautifully so I got a lot of reading done (The Thirteenth Tale needs to be finished by Wednesday). Jessica asked me why I was in bed when I could be up making cookies for the kids?! I told her we had NO shortage of treats here and that I wasn't in bed, I was cold and like to read under my blanket.


The boys built box forts, played video games, rode bikes, shot Nerf dart guns, harassed the girls and laughed like crazy.


The girls did every art project imaginable, played Littlest Pet Shops, ate everything in sight, played games and tortured the boys by not letting them play with Whitney's slinky (don't ask).


They all stayed up super late both nights playing board games, giggling and reading scary stories in bed. It was fun to listen to them laugh. Randy and I didn't care if they stayed up super late because they were in the bedroom and a sleepover is such a rare occurrence that it seemed cruel to make them stop having fun.


On Saturday Randy took Whitney to a birthday party at the Kangaroo Zoo. The invitation made it sound like parents were supposed to stay (*@$!$) so Randy opted for that while I took Jessica, Landon and James to see The Bee Movie. We ordered our tickets online, but it was still crazy at the theater. Jessica's dad had given her money for the movies so she was feeling all powerful about buying the treats. She bought a large popcorn, 2 large drinks and a box of Butterfingers (never mind that she had a bag of candy with her in my purse). But then we weren't able to get 4 seats together, so the boys had the popcorn and drinks, so she went out to get more popcorn. It was crazy. She also bought the boys their own box of Butterfingers so it was a very pricey trip to the movies.


When I checked on the kids before heading to bed late Saturday night this is what I found. I could not believe James, Whitney and Jessica were dead asleep sandwiched so close together like that. Their feet were hanging off the bed! I thought it was so cute. The next morning I asked them if they had slept all night like that and they said "Yes!" They also informed me that the reason for sleeping like that is that they had seen an earwig on James' sleeping bag! Oh dear. Why didn't they call me or Randy to come take care of it? Surely cramming together on a twin bed couldn't have been the best option.


Yesterday meant a morning of 4 kids playing (amusing and fine), Jessica making sandwiches for everybody (she's very helpful) and getting everyone ready for church. We even made it 15 minutes early...nice.


Amie picked the kids up right after church even though I had told her I would bring them home after we ate dinner. They knew we were having roast and were excited for dinner, so it was kind of cruel to drag them away right as we were sitting down to dinner. They were chanting in the car "Hungry, hungry" asthey drove away.


Our house seemed way too quiet after they left. We had Family Home Evening and even got BOOed finally! Someone dropped off a plate of very tasty chocolate cookies and a note that said "Everyone deserves to be BOOed! I just hope it's better late than never!" We were delighted. I had been bugged/bummed that we hadn't been BOOed during October when everyone was doing it. I blame it on where we live since we're not in a neighborhood with everyone else from church, so we're forgotten. So it was nice that someone remembered us! (If it's one of you lovely blog readers, THANKS!!)

**Did you get BOOed?
Do you remember having crazy sleepovers?
Do your kids play well with friends?
Did you see The Bee Movie?**

Sunday Thoughts

"I am only one, But still I am one. I cannot do everything, But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." --Helen Keller

{Jenn showing Ethan a bunny}

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the creative light of altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment.
Life's persistent and most urgent question is
'What are you doing for others?"
--Martin Luther King Jr.

{Michelle helping Eva with her first play-doh}

"Every unselfish act of kindness and
service increases your spirituality."
--Robert J. Whetten

{Jana wiping baby Mason's nose}

"No service in the Church or in the community
transcends that given in the home."
--Boyd K. Packer

Rather than seeing service as yet another thing to add to our long to-do list, it needs to be a part of who we are, so much so that it becomes an automatic response rather than just one of our many good intentions.

{The sleepover with James & Jessica}

I especially love the Helen Keller quote about not refusing to do something we can do. This goes along with my post earlier in the week about The Things We Do. I am pretty good about opening my home to other people's kids because I understand the need to have a break from them and also the problem of having no where else to turn. This isn't hard for me, so I do it without much thought or complaint. But there are plenty of other things that are hard for me and don't even pop up on my radar.

**What kinds of service are you good at?
Is service part of you or are you still working on it?
Any other thoughts??**

Creative Friday--Pie Making Edition

For Creative Friday yesterday Michelle and Eva came over to my house to give me a pie making tutorial. Michelle makes very tasty cream pies from scratch and usually gives me one for my birthday, but I have never attempted to make one on my own. We had a ward Harvest Dinner to go to that night and I signed up to bring a pie. It may seem ridiculous that I don't have the skills for this sort of thing, but I come from more of a graham cracker crust, pudding mix, Cool Whip kind of family.



These pies were rather time intensive, so by the end of the 2 hour process I felt like I needed a nap. My legs always ache after standing in the kitchen for a long time, so I think that's one reason I don't enjoy cooking very much. Whenever the creating part is done I'm weary and am left with a huge mess...not my favorite thing.





By the time Eva and Michelle left both pots of filling were chilling in the fridge and the pie crusts were cooling. I cleaned up the many dishes just in time for James and Jessica to arrive to stay for the weekend. (Jimmy and Amie and all their family were heading to Mesquite, NV for a wedding.)

I finished the pies that evening by myself and took the chocolate-cream pie to the Harvest Dinner at the church. It looked a bit like slop on the plate, but when I asked someone eating it how it was he said "It's amazing." So hooray for that!

Happy Birthday Mique!!!

**Do you make pies from scratch?
Do you get weary standing in the kitchen?
Has a friend ever taught you how to make something?**

Alrighty then...

A few weeks ago I was up late one night blogging (a common thing for me to do) when I was admiring Michelle's cute profile picture. I realized I had never changed mine in the 2 years that I've been blogging, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.


This is the photo I came up with. I know I don't usually smile with my mouth closed, but I thought I looked happy and this is a face I make all the time, so it seemed like it was still very me. Little did I know what a stir it would cause.

Later that week I posted this picture of me and Collette. It's just a grainy self-portrait we took in my car after our afternoon run to Costco. It was raining outside so we just snapped this one quickly. I thought it was cute, but no big whoop.


Fast forward a day or so later...I got an email from Claudia telling me I should make this my profile picture. She even cropped Collette out of it for me! I wasn't in love with the other profile picture, so I thought I'd try this one out. Then everyone started commenting about how much better they liked this one, so much so that I started to feel stupid for having the other one on my blog for a week. What had I done?


I thought the matter was settled until I received this "good mail" from Claudia yesterday. I waited until the end of my busy day to open it, and it's a good thing I did because she wrote

"Also, the photo of your blog I just loved it, it looked so you!
I'm glad everyone concurs, how about you? Do you like it?
I think I love it...the interim one was too...uptight,
constipated looking & kind of Chinese. I didn't want to
tell you, but those 3 things came to mind!
Truly not a big deal, but not Jolly as you really are."

Well, how about that? Uptight, constipated (my favorite) and Chinese. I'm so happy that was on there for a week and I had no idea I looked that way. Good grief!


I guess it's good I didn't choose any of these photos.

This is foxy right?

Now that's constipated.

Not my best angle.

Singing, laughing or giving birth?

Well now that I've been properly humbled and publicly humiliated it's your turn!

**Did you hate that profile picture too?
Is the new one okay?
When was the last time you changed
your profile picture?**

Halloween in Review

Our Halloween ended up being super easy as far as costumes went. Landon wore this jailbird costume my mom made for my brother over 20 years ago, and Whitney had her heart set on being a black cat, so that meant a tail, ears and black lipstick whiskers.


This was the sight of Landon and Whitney decked out for school yesterday. (Randy drew Landon's tattoo on with a Sharpie, and it was a huge hit at school.)


Amie called while she was running errands (her kids were at a K12 Halloween party) so we ended up meeting for some Cafe Rio take-out and to assemble goody bags for my kids' classes. I had done some seriously poor time managing that morning, so Amie saved me by picking up some supplies I needed and by having her kids putting the candy in the bags and the tags on them. It ended up being pretty fun, but I felt like a bit of a chump for not planning so well.


I helped run the craft in Whitney's classroom and then lead a couple of games. It was so fun being there because the kids are thrilled with everything, their energy is contagious.


After Whitney's party I went to Landon's classroom to deliver the goody bags for him to hand out. His party had just started so I ended up staying. I haven't been in his classroom much so far this year, so it was fun. Two of my Activity Day girls are in there, plus another boy from church and one from football so I felt popular in there.


Every year on Halloween all the grown-up grand kids bring their kids over to my grandma's house so she can see their costumes, have a little visit and give them some treats. We had a good visit with her, but I couldn't believe it has already been 9 years of going there on Halloween. When did the kids get big?


It's also tradition for our family to go over to Adam and Amy's house for a tasty beef stew dinner and trick-or-treating with the cousins. The food was so great this year (Amy knows how to get a stew on!) that we stuffed ourselves silly.


Landon took this picture of Me, Lori, Randy, Adam and Amy in their kitchen. It's rare for us to get a group photo, so this will have to do.


Adam had made these sugar cookies over the weekend with the girls. I thought this frosting
design was so clever, and the cookies were so good.


It was the return of the big orange jacket (year 10) for our trick-or-treating outing. This is one of the few times we ever remember to have anyone take our family picture.


We did a whole lot of hiking up the steep hills to do our trick-or-treating, but the weather was nice (not too cold) and the kids were super motivated. Bella was keeping count of the number of houses they visited and last I heard it was 36.


This was the scene as the grown-ups sorted through the candy and the kids surveyed their loot. Landon sorted his candy by kind (i.e, Reese's, suckers, chocolate, starbursts, etc.) and ended up with a huge pile of Reese's (the best of all the candies!).


Whitney crashed before we even hit the freeway. I don't know how she was able to sleep like this, but this was how she looked when we pulled in the driveway. We got home at 10:30pm.


Funnily enough the kids had dentist appointments at 8:00am this morning. There's nothing like waking up extra early to visit the dentist after a late night of candy eating. Good times and no cavities, though Whitney already needs to see an orthodontist (at age 7!) and possibly a speech therapist because of the way she positions her tongue when she swallows. Crap.

**How was your Halloween?
Do you have any Halloween Traditions?**

SPT--Halloween

I enjoy Halloween. I don't know if it's the treats, the costumes, the weather, or just the fact that it's so different from any other day of the year, but I like it. I don't get into anything too spooky or creepy, I see it more of a fun and ridiculous day.

My friend Betsy teaches 1st grade in Michigan and is well-known at her school for her elaborate costumes. One year she was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and even carried a real dog around with her all day. (Regrettably I don't have any photos.) If I were a teacher I would definitely be way in to Halloween, because the kids love it so much. In fact, when Landon was in kindergarten I noticed a few teachers at his school didn't dress up and I thought that was outrageous. If ever there was a chance to be a fun teacher, Halloween is the day to do it.


You'd think that since I feel this way about Halloween that I'd get more into it myself, but I have never dressed up as an adult (except for my big orange jacket). Today I got to go help with the kids' class parties so I wanted to have something to wear. I opted for one of the cat headbands I'd found on clearance for 70% off at Joann's the other night. It wasn't anything major, but the kids still thought it was fun and it was clear that I was a mom willing to be silly.

**What about you??**