Escalante Trip--Day 1

It's ridiculous that it has taken me over 3 weeks to get to these posts, but I am determined to post about my girl's weekend trip to Escalante, so here you go.

It seems like whether I'm packing for 4 days or 4 weeks the amount of stuff I need to bring is the same!

Good grief, the weather was cold, rainy and then snowy for our travels...not my favorite weather to drive in but Amie was driving and we were in her big truck so I didn't fret.

Our self-portrait in the truck after picking up Melinda.

We had to stop at a small town gas station to leave Jimmy's Elk Call so he could pick it up the next morning on his way to Boulder Mountain to hunt with the kids. I wish I could have taken a picture of the freaky guy working at the gas station who was totally confused about this whole operation.

They had a petting zoo with a zebra at this gas station...what in the world?

I was the only one who went over to check out the zebra, then the girls all documented me doing so...kind of funny.

Michelle brought some super tasty, goo-rific stuff for us to munch on in the car.

Melinda caught up on her guilty-pleasure magazines in the back seat.

 Michelle checked out recipes in Everyday Food Magazine.

I did my job as navigator and kept watch on the crazy weather while talking to Amie as she drove.

The turn off to Escalante might as well say, "Going back in time here."

Good heavens, these rocks look color-enhanced!

We had to get a self-portrait with these in the back ground.

I felt all kinds of stupid standing on the side of the road by myself posing with this rock tunnel behind me, but Amie insisted.

This is Escalante!

This is Amie's parents' beautiful vacation home.

Do you think we brought enough treats?

My mom humored me and made a great batch of her tasty caramel popcorn early the morning of our trip so that Amie could pick it up on her way to pick me up. It was so good and lasted up to the ride home.

We went to dinner the first night at one of the 3 restaurants in town.

The food was pretty good, but the inebriated people at the table behind us made for a distracting dinner.

The rest of the evening was spent with Michelle knitting, Melinda putting together treat bags for her son's birthday party, Amie doing her nails and me flipping through magazines. Good times.

Comment Window Tidbit: Halloween at the Junior High is exhausting!

Sunday Thoughts

Today in church the Bishopric spoke about increasing love in our families and marriages, then the bishop spoke during the 5th Sunday meeting about our new ward goal to QUADRUPLE the love at home! Oh my goodness, this is going to be quite the goal.

As the bishop talked to us (he based his talk on Dr. John Lund's teachings) he pointed out that all frustration stems from having unmet expectations and that we must do a better job of communicating and managing our expectations (this is easier said than done of course).

He said it's important to learn to distinguish between goals and wishes.

A goal is something that depends only upon you and is something you can control.


A wish is something that depends upon someone else.

This was interesting for me to hear because I have a very active wish list in my head and not a very long list of goals. Apparently I need to really take charge of me and stop wishing for other people to supply my happiness. Dang it.

Do not confuse Love and Trust. Trust is earned through responsible behavior. Do not confuse unconditional love with enabling behavior. Do not judge. Love, teach, testify.

What if your family and your spouse do not appreciate you?
--You can go to our Heavenly Father in prayer and ask him to accept your offering to your family and your spouse. Ask Him for his acceptance and feel His love.

We learn to love and bless the lives of others, not necessarily because they are good, or they deserve it, but because we are disciples of Christ and He asked us to do it. (I love this!)

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: They announced that they will be realigning most of the wards in our Stake next Sunday which means we'll be losing part of our ward next week...cue the tears!

Six for Saturday

It has been another hectic week, hence very little blogging has gone on, but here are some tidbits from my week.

1. I still haven't conquered the beast that is couponing, but I did actually have some of the coupons I intended to use with me at Wal-Mart on double coupon day, but since all but one were for $1 off and they don't double dollar coupons that meant I really only benefited by saving an extra .45 cents on string cheese. But the joke is on me because I saved $7 total with my coupons and still spent $99 and left there feeling like I wasn't sure what happened to me.

While walking down one of the aisles at the store this darling little girl (maybe 3 years old) was on the phone with someone and said, "Oh just couponing with mom." It was so cute and oh so funny. My 3 year olds never learned the word couponing.

2. Landon is going to be a rock star for Halloween so we really needed to find him some shades with attitude...mission accomplished.

3. We are still enjoying this mess each day as we come and go from home...yes, it's a pleasure.

While sitting in the construction waiting for our turn to go we saw this Pac-Man Pumpkin decoration in somebody's yard, it made us chuckle.

4. Our ward had a Fall Festival this year (we've never had one before) and these are some of the amazing pumpkins submitted for a contest. I was so impressed! I have no vision or patience for pumpkin carving, so whenever "we" do it that means Randy does it and I breathe out of my mouth for an hour. We don't have anything festive in our house at all this year!

5. I had to leave early the other day so Randy wasn't up yet to make my lunch so I ended up buying school lunch for the first time this year. I had to sneak a bite here and there in-between the busyness of the front office and I never got to eat the roll or apple slices that came with it.

6. I had an appointment with the dermatologist this morning to have him check out a suspicious white patch on my cheek. He ended up numbing that part of my face (which affected my eye too) to biopsy (an alarming word) it. I couldn't feel the pain of that but I could hear the scraping...not pleasant. I couldn't believe how weird my face felt afterward (and still does) or how shaky I was. It wasn't as horrible as it appears to be in this picture but was a little scary all the same. It's kind of messing with my Saturday a bit because I don't want to go out in public like this (apparently I'm fine to post it though...go figure).

I found myself flipping through the Botox info pamphlet while waiting for my appointment. I've never been particularly vain, but this fissure on my forehead really bums me out. I heard a woman (maybe 27) at the hair dresser last month talking about how she got it done on her forehead and can't believe how much better it is. We don't really have a Botox budget, but maybe we should start one.

**How was your week?

Have you decorated for Fall/Halloween?

Ever had a skin biopsy?

Do you use coupons?

Botox?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I've been planning on the costume party all week and even got a doable idea but my face is a mess and I don't feel great, so we may not go. Lame.

Wordless Wednesday

Comment Window Tidbit: Randy and I have been invited to a Halloween Party (the 2nd one ever in our marriage) but we need a good costume idea!!!

Creative Friday--Fall Break Edition

Landon and I were excited to have a Creative Friday with Michelle and Lucas on the Friday of our Fall Break! We took this self-portrait while waiting for our big beverages at Sonic (I'm tired of not getting anything so I tried a Cherry Limeade).

We took our self-portrait right away (before we ate or got haggered) but I still look red-faced and not very "made up" looking.

Landon cracked us up by adding his partially eaten apple to the table scape.

I picked up a couple Pork Tostadas for our lunch and was amused yet again by the mistake made with my last initial. Granted, it's always loud at Cafe Rio and "S" does sound like "F" but "S" doesn't sound at all like "A" right?

Oh deliciousness, I never tire of you!

Eva was having a rough day and was feeling quite overwhelmed by the task of cleaning her room. We finally motivated her by timing her with the stopwatch on my phone and she completed her tasks in under 6 minutes! (She had spent far longer than that crying about it.)

Max tried to silently play the piano for a bit before heading out to find a ghost town with some friends.

In a Creative Friday first I brought my laptop (courtesy of Stefanie) to try to get on top of my Escalante Weekend Photos so I can finally post about our trip...it's overwhelming.

Michelle's kitchen is under construction while she's doing the incredibly laborious job of painting all her kitchen cabinets! It's a good thing she had no idea how challenging this project would be!

These are the few she has done and it changes things drastically!

The expression on Eva's face while lamenting something (possibly not having the right noodles for lunch) was classic, I'm so glad I caught it!

It took forever just to load one blog post's worth of Escalante photos onto my blog. Meanwhile Michelle was super productive and wrote many thank you notes.

 

It was a little weird to spend so much time on the computer while at Michelle's but we were still able to talk and catch up on life.

Eva's dreams were crushed when friend cancelled their playdate because she wasn't feeling well. Michelle was neck-deep in smotherhood for sure, but handled it like a champ as always.

Even after so many years of blogging I still get a little thrill when I see my blog on screen.

We didn't see much of the boys, but at one point they stopped in to use the computer and sat on the same chair.

One of my other big tasks for the day was cleaning out my wallet! I had so many coupons, receipts and miscellaneous notes in there that it had gotten quite thick. It felt great to clean so much out!

**When was the last time you cleaned out your wallet?

Have you dealt with any Smotherhood lately?

Do you enjoy Cherry Limeades?

What do you think of Landon's contribution to the tablescape?**

Comment Window Tidbit: The extra hour I get on Early Out Mondays is phenomenal! Today I picked Whitney and Madison up from school, completed my 3rd visiting teaching appointment for the month, did 2 loads of laundry, sorted through all our newspapers and junk mail, emptied the recycling and blogged! However, I did NOT make dinner.

Sunday Thoughts

Our new bishop shared a cool experience he had this summer while in Wyoming with the Young Men. They were doing mission preparedness stuff and were teaching the boys to "Armor Up" each morning by praying and reading their scriptures before facing the day. He talked about how all his life he has read his scriptures before going to bed, but how that's illogical if you think about reading the scriptures as putting on the whole armor of God...because who needs to put on armor before going to bed? (Of course it's good to read the scriptures any time, but even better to start the day with them!)

I absolutely love the visual of  putting on the armor of God as a family each morning before we head out into the world to face the day. I know we are better prepared to face the challenges of the day because we start the day together reading the words of God and kneeling in prayer together. It's a simple thing that provides great strength!

Ephesians 6:11-18

 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Today on the back of our ward bulletin was a new thing, it said...

Bishopric Admonition

"Armor up!" Put on the full Armor of God each day with Prayer and Scripture study every morning. Read seven or more chapters a week in the scriptures.

I loved it and thought it was interesting that this new bishopric felt the need to put an admonishment on the program. It was at the very bottom on the back, but I think it caught all of our attention. 

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I think it would be cool to have "Armor Up!" in vinyl lettering above our front door.

Celebrating Eleven...All Week

Whitney talks about her birthday year-round. She basically pins all her hopes for fun outings and gifts onto her birthday, so by the time it actually rolls around it feels like we need to get it right.

This year she woke up to find the birthday banner hung, the balloons leftover from Randy's birthday (which was 6 days earlier) and her "corner presents". She had a box of her favorite cereal, a pack of cute socks (she has sock issues), 2 pairs of earrings and a cartoon cat made by Randy. She was thrilled with all of these items.

Apparently when Randy took her to school they brought "Rino" our new hamster (our other one died a few months ago) in his exercise ball to show her class. He also brought her some Arby's for lunch and ate in the cafeteria with her and her friends.

I picked Whitney and Madison up from school for a fun outing of Krispy Kreme donuts (I had a coupon). We NEVER go there so this was a major treat for all of us.

We got a dozen since I had a coupon for a half dozen free, but our bill was still $11! Apparently I need to remember that it's the 21st century because I still think a dozen donuts she cost $4.

We spent a "fun" hour at Toys-R-Us shopping for the ultimate birthday gift from my parents and siblings. They originally planned to go in on a bike for her (since the one she has looks toddler sized when she's on it) but she wasn't excited about that so she had birthday cash instead. Luckily Madison was with her and could share in  her excitement and help discuss the pros and cons of each toy. I leaned on the shopping cart (and really wished I could sit down) and played "Words With Friends" on my phone.

She was elated with her purchases!

Later that night we went to dinner at Los Hermanos as a family (I used another coupon...they're going to expire on November 1st so I'm on a mission to use as many as I can).

Good times.

I never get tired of their food.

It was Whitney's first time being sung to at a restaurant and she handled it well. I never enjoy that when it's my birthday and always want to crawl under the table to hide.

The birthday continued on Thursday when she started the morning by opening a present from Amie and her kids. They gave her homemade hair flower clips (including the orange one in her hair), which Whitney loved!

Then we drove to Adam and Amy's house to pick up Bella and Tess for a day at the zoo (oh joy). It's rather great that our Fall Break from school fell on the week of Whitney's birthday!

I had a coupon that saved us $8 so it cost $22 for the 4 of us to get in. (This outing was in lieu of a birthday party, but I never spend much on her birthday parties, so the joke was on me.)

Mapping out our route was very important.

About an hour after getting there we were all hungry. I had originally planned to stop at Wendy's to get food to bring with us, but we didn't pass any fast food on the way to the zoo so we got hosed and paid for zoo food so it was $27 for lunch!!

Tess had a stare-down with her hot dog.

I don't enjoy the zoo, but did enjoy the fall leaves and the perfect weather (65 degrees and sunny with a breeze).

They have a gorgeous Merry-Go-Round there now but of course it costs $2 per ride. The rides seemed oh so short to me so I timed it...less than 3 minutes! I figured out (with my 7th grade math skills) that they make $96 every 3 minutes if the Carousel is full. Outrageous!

Of course we had to have some ice cream for $8 ($2 each). I know I sound like I'm ridiculously cheap (I'm not) but it was like I had a cash register in my head dinging each time we did something.

Later we road the train (4 minute ride) for $1.50 each and that was fun and it was nice to sit down, but good grief already with the expenses. Also is it wrong that I wish the ride lasted longer and went around the whole park? I know it's not Disneyland, but the wait in line is way longer than the train ride.

Our train self-portrait.

Our final stop was the play area, so the girls could run free and I could sit on a shady bench for awhile.

I had my book with me, but only got a couple pages read because it was hard to keep my eye on the girls, plus I was sitting next to a weird couple that made me wonder about humanity.

After 4.5 long hours at the zoo we headed out to freakin Eagle Mountain so the girls could have a sleepover at my parents' house. My mom wasn't home yet so we went to Amie's house to hang out, but Amie wasn't home yet either but I talked to her on the phone and decided we'd hang out in her backyard. The girls jumped on the trampoline while I enjoyed the sunshine and breeze and read a few more pages in my book (this book is taking me forever even though I like it).

Later we had dinner with my parents and I visited with them for an hour or so then left the girls with my mom (my dad was getting ready for bed...it was 8:15) then headed back over to Amie's house until 11:00pm.

It was a marathon day but everyone was happy. Landon had stayed home and ended up playing with several friends from church and got to see Monty Python's Holy Grail for the first time. It's a quotable classic so it was time.

**Do you enjoy the zoo?

Do the costs of outings like this bug you?

Do you enjoy Krispy Kreme donuts? (What kind of question is that?!)

Comment Window Tidbit: I really need to catch up on blogging, I'm drowning in pictures!