Car Lunch A Go Go

My mom texted me this morning at work to say she could pick up some Cafe Rio for me and meet at school for a car lunch.  This was a nice surprise both for the company and the good food. Randy had packed a lunch for me this morning so I ended up giving it to a boy who often comes into the office in need of food. I sometimes give him a small snack (from home) so he was surprised and happy to get an entire lunch today. His situation makes me sad, and giving him that lunch today felt heart-burstingly good (I just don't know what to do about all the future days though).

My mom brought her own plate of grilled chicken, brown rice and green beans for lunch, while I had a Cafe Rio kids meal ($3.50 and delightful) of a pork quesadilla, chips and salsa and beans.  

This is the snowy mess I had to trudge through to get to her car! The sidewalk was clear but the street is buried from all the plows. I had to step in the footprints that were already there and hope for the best...ugh!

Totally Tuesday

I saw this on the marquee this morning and it has been cracking me up all day...whoever put the letters up is a non native English speaker right?

It snowed like crazy today (we really should have had snow day, it was insane at work) so we came home to a buried sidewalk and driveway (and Randy had shoveled this morning already!).

I was out shoveling our sidewalk when my 80 year old neighbor came over and plowed our driveway! It took him 5 minutes to do what would have taken me 1.5 hours and a sore back!

It's supposed to snow tonight so I'm really hoping for a snow day tomorrow, but none of the teachers at school can recall ever having one so chances are very slim.

A Home Improvement

A couple Saturdays ago (12 on the 12th to be exact) I posted my 12 on the 12th year in review and ended up ordering all of last year's grids in an 8x10 size. I also used an Amazon gift card my parents had given me for Christmas to order a set of 12 clip frames, woohoo.

The frames arrived in the mail last Tuesday and I had high hopes that Randy would do the all the work framing and hanging the prints on Saturday. When I mentioned it he said, "Do I want to do hang the pictures? No, but I will." Yeeha!

This is the lovely sight I see on the way to our bedroom and when coming out of the bathroom; I study the photos while drying my hair in the morning too. I love how these grids capture the minutia of our lives and are such a great year-in-review for us.

Sunday Thoughts

Yesterday was our annual Stake Relief Society Women's Conference and our special guest speaker was Brad Wilcox. This was my first time hearing him speak and it was a treat. Our book club read his book The Continuous Atonement so I was familiar with his writing style and knowledge of the subject, but hearing him speak added even more dimension and clarity. Here are my notes...

• Remember that the Atonement isn't just a miracle because it means we will be resurrected and can receive comfort during our trials; it is a miracle because it means we can be transformed!
• Why do we have to face trials in the first place if it's only about being comforted? We can be transformed through our trials and be better than we were before because of having gone through them.
• Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him means to come unto Christ and be like Him.
• Our goal is to become more like Christ, not just to get to Him.
• We don't have to make our burdens presentable to the Lord, He is with us all along the way.
• Christ's light surrounds us and moves us forward as we strive to be like Him.
• Come unto me, come as you are, right here, right now...not when you're finally worthy but while you're still struggling.
• There is purpose in bearing your burdens in the first place.
• You're not a hypocrite, you're a disciple. You're not perfect but are struggling and trying to be better every day.
• 2 Nephi 25:23, "after" is a preposition of separation rather than time.
• We do all we do because we love God, but we need to remember He loves us. He doesn't care about the offering, He cares about the offerer!
• One of Satan's strategies is to whisper in our ears that if we're not perfect we're failing.
• Our consistent offerings (of service and sacrifice) to the Lord help us to transform ourselves.
• We forget who is making all we do possible (like a jockey thinking he won the race).
• Nothing doesn't mean worthless, it means powerless. (We are nothing without God.)
• We focus so much on our to-do lists we forget why God gave them to us in the first place. Everything we do is to help us become more like Him.
• No unclean thing can dwell with God but no unchanged thing will want to because they won't feel comfortable being with Him.
• It's not about height it's about growth.
• A covenant is not a cold contract but a warm relationship between two hearts.

Creative Friday--MLK Day Edition

We had school off for Martin Luther King Day (woohoo) on Monday so Landon and I went to Michelle's house for Creative Friday, and Whitney got to have a sleepover and spend the day with the cousins.

I picked up some Cafe Rio and McDonald's drinks for lunch.

Michelle's first project was to finish a stuffed animal sleeping bag for Whitney.

I don't have these skills!

Project number two was to hot glue an African Mask (more like Mardi Gras mask) for one of Lucas' costumes for his upcoming performance in "Suessical."

Lucas and Landon played chess in-between video games.

I always like seeing the creative messes on the table.

I wrote a bunch of thank you notes.

I finished working on our 2012 photo ornaments.

At one point Michelle played Sudoku on her iPad.

She also worked on this hat.

Max spent some time on the computer doing homework and filling out some scholarship applications!

12 on the 12th--January Edition

{Click to Enlarge}

1. I slept in from my late-night at bookclub and woke to find McDonald's Breakfast from Randy.
2. I started a new book (An Impartial Witness) in the cozy.
3. Landon was on bathrooms and Whitney was on dusting and vacuuming.
4. I posted my 12 on the 12th year in review.
5. I did a little shopping with one of my Christmas Giftcards.
6. Some family romping while I read in the cozy.
7. We met up with Lori for a long lunch at Which Wich.
8. Our self-portrait after lunch.
9. Our snowy view and new stop light at our recently remodeled street.
10. I ordered 8x10 print outs of all of last years 12 on the 12th grids.
11. We spent 3 hours at JCWs with Adam.
12. Whitney and the girls had 3 hours of play time at our house.

Book Club on it's New Night!

After years of struggling to all gather on a Tuesday or Thursday night we finally got smart and scheduled bookclub on the 2nd Friday of the month! This is especially wonderful for Collette and I because it means we don't have to wake up early the next day for work!

This time we were celebrating Jenn's 39th birthday (which was on Dec. 31st) so Collette hung this darling birthday banner.

Jenn arrived in style with her cute pajama pants (the ones Collette gave each of us for Christmas), yellow coat and yellow boots.

Collette always sets a lovely table.

For dinner Collette made the roast, I made fingerling potatoes, Amy made salad, and Jana brought rolls.

Michelle made this amazing Butterscotch cake for dessert!

All but Michelle wore their polka-dotted jammies (hers were in the wash) which may be our new, very comfy tradition.

We gave Jenn a $100 gift card to Amazon. (In this picture she's saying 11, because that's what her card says.)

And then there was cake!

We all really liked this book (a solid 4 stars) and had one of our longest discussions to date.

Jenn brought us a couple souvenirs from her trip to Greece and these M&Ms because they're a new flavor...I love having generous friends!

I didn't get home until 12:28am! It's a mighty good thing I didn't have to go to work the next day!!

12 on the 12th--2012 in Review

Ahhh it's time for another 12 on the 12th year in review, I love these!! I can't properly explain the giddiness I feel as I look at these grids. They are such an accurate representation of our family's daily life and such a fun way to capture the random details. I sometimes feel like I should have grander plans when I find myself documenting the 12th in a similar way to the month before, but really we are creatures of habit with small fluctuations in-between and when I see these pictures I feel fondness for these days even though they weren't super exciting or grand.

Thursday January 12, 2012

Sunday February 12, 2012

Monday March 12, 2012

 Thursday April 12, 2012

Saturday May 12, 2012

Tuesday June 12, 2012

 

Thursday July 12, 2012

Sunday August 12, 2012

 Wednesday September 12, 2012

 Friday October 12, 2012

Monday November 12, 2012

Wednesday December 12, 2012

Creative Friday--Barely Squeaked It In Edition

We barely squeaked in a Creative Friday--Christmas Edition on January 2nd because Michelle's parents had been in town for the rest of the break.

We started out with Cafe Rio Pork Tostadas (pinto beans, flour tortilla, house dressing) and drinks (Coke for me and Coke Zero with Lime for her).

Lucas and Landon were very kind to let Eva play with them for quite awhile (Whitney had gone out with my mom that day).

Eva painted this picture of her stuffed animal Cinder and the new one Whitney gave her for Christmas (Tundra). Not too shabby.

Michelle gave me a cute new scarf, Anne of Green Gables dvd (I've never seen it!) and a book I wanted (plus a J magnet she forgot to give me a long time ago).

I gave Michelle 2 shirts and a skirt.

Landon gave Lucas $20 and Lucas gave Landon an itunes gift card...both were delighted.

After writing several thank-you notes I spent the rest of the day working on photo-cube ornaments. These are our family's favorite ornaments, but I'm 3 years behind on them so I started with 2012 and will have to work my way back.

There's painting, the punching and the Mod Podging of the photos, the drying and then a top coat of Mod Podge involved so though it isn't difficult it's kind of time consuming.

Some almost-finished blocks.

 

Michelle was a thank-you note writing machine and got a ton done.