Sunday Thoughts

Seven for Saturday

I got a cozy new Track sweatshirt from work and apparently wore it 3 times in the last week and in all my pictures.

 1. Last Friday my mom came to my work for a car lunch...delightful.

2. We had Stake Girl's Camp Certification last Saturday and this is how Whitney cooperated for our self-portrait.

3. I came across this lovely bit of grammar at IFA last week.

4. My secret pal finally gave me another gift, which proved to be so potent that we could only keep it in the office for 2 days before it overpowered the place with spring. We moved it to the teacher's lounge, then to the copy room, then to the ledge of the financial window and then finally to a trash can out in front of the school.

5. Amie brought some tasty Kneader's food for a car lunch this week. I love that we get to catch up during these visits.

6. I took pictures at the junior high track meet for a couple hours this week. It was fun to be there with so many of the kids from school. It made me flash back to my days running track oh so long ago, which created a strange combination of anxiety and nostalgia.

7. Neighbor Jane Payne sent me a cute thank you note for a little something I sent her recently.

The postmarks from Jane's cards are always super clear, I love that.

4 More Days Until Spring Break

I'm baby stepping my way to Friday because that means Spring Break will be here! It doesn't matter how much I like my job, I need time at home to do a whole lot of nothing as needed.

And now for some miscellany...

My long-lost blogging friend Shannon sent me a nice card and this fancy tea towel. I have sent a couple good mail items recently and so appreciate the pick-me-ups that come my way.

Landon fell asleep on my bed one evening last week. I had just been in there hanging up laundry minutes earlier but he experienced some extreme relaxation and fell asleep.

I thought he may be faking it, but he wasn't.

We had our Scout banquet and Court of Honor last week and I managed to organize, purchase, label and arrange all the awards without incident...woohoo what a difference a year makes.

Randy and Landon have a 50 miler coming up this summer...no comment.

Our crocuses are in bloom!

The daffodils are getting ready to bloom and we have lots of tulip leaves showing up...ah spring!

Sunday Thoughts

While sitting in the movie theater watching "Admission" with Lori and Whitney yesterday (it wasn't really a kid show) I leaned over to Whitney and said, "Usually something bad has to happen before something good can". I was explaining a basic theme in story telling, but really for life as well.

Fast forward to today's Sacrament Meeting where one of our much-beloved youth was speaking because he is about to leave for a mission to Atlanta, GA. He told a amazing story of a kayaking trip the 16-18 year old Young Men took a couple years in Oregon. The river was dangerously high and fast, and they all had some near-death experiences. After one particularly terrifying experience he found himself on the shore scared out of his mind and asking God where He'd gone?! He was angry about his near-death experience and scared that more were to come since they still had 70 miles of river to traverse before finishing the trip. He told us how this experience had humbled him greatly and made him rethink his relationship with the Lord.

But here he is two years later giving a farewell talk weeping and saying that Jesus Christ is one of his best friends and that he is grateful he had that awful experience. It was powerful and thought provoking. It has got me thinking about life-altering experiences that have changed me, and what part I play in the lives of others. Needless to say I'm a weepy mess.

Bumpy Ride

We took Whitney to the 6th grade open house at the junior this week. Randy and I were excited for her but found out right away that she was not. As soon as we got out of the car and I asked her to pose for a picture in front of the sign things got weird. I didn't fight it, I just got her to agree that we could take a photo on the way out instead.

It was really well organized, and I've been seeing these signs around the school for a month so it was nice to finally have the event here.

They had student council members greeting the kids and giving them these papers as they walked in; Whitney immediately handed them to me (what the?!)

 I chalked up her hesitation to junior high jitters and moved forward with a perplexed look on my face.

She got to try opening a locker, which proved tricky for her left-handed ways (she naturally wanted to start by going left instead of right) but she got it on her 3rd try.

Despite the smile on her face in this picture she was NOT keen on having to get her TDAP booster shot. I was thrilled though because it means one less thing to do later.

After a little bit more wandering around and some visiting with some of my co-workers (aka her future teachers) there were some tears (on her part) and dismay (on mine and Randy's) we decided we were done.

She reluctantly posed for this photo on the way out, then suggested we pick up something for dinner, then made a miraculous recovery and was pleasant the rest of the night. Good Hell!

Trying Something Different

After pinning job charts for months on Pinterest I finally got fed up that I hadn't been able to find what I was looking for so I Googled "Free Download Job Chart" and found one that I can alter each week. It's still not the perfect solution for us, but it's working so far.

This is Whitney's chart from last week. The kids have the possibility of earning $5.00 (which is I think may be too generous) depending on the percentage of job completion they do. Some of the jobs are daily but others are only one-time deals. We've decided that opting completely out of a job is NOT a possibility and that they will lose screen time the next week if that occurs.

Landon is a money guru so he always fairs better than Whitney. It has been a challenge to come up with different jobs on top of the main cleaning jobs, but I've gotten creative and whenever I see something different that needs doing I save it up for next week's job chart.

 Landon has had daily Indexing on his chart multiple times.

Whitney had to real out loud to me for 15 minutes a day for a week.

One of Whitney's job was to take all the cushions off the couch to vacuum everything...obviously she loved doing it.

Landon got to dust our heinous light fixture and take down and wash all the glass parts...that was a first for him.

Whitney learned how to wash out the fridge (I think she actually enjoyed this job).

Landon made quesadillas for dinner.

Whitney made mostacciolli (which involved making a tasty white sauce) for dinner.

We've been getting the wheels in motion for Landon's Eagle Project, so getting a signature from a guy at the city offices was one of Landon's jobs, the job chart definitely helped to move things along.

Birthday Alley--March Edition

 It was a beautiful day to celebrate Adam, our dad and Bella's birthdays.

 We had pulled pork sandwiches, 7 layer dip and fruit.

The chalkboard wall in the kitchen was all decked out for Bella's birthday.

Lola puppy is getting big and oh so cute.

 The girls entertained themselves outside.

 While the adults hung out inside.

I know this is unfocused but I still think it's a super cute photo of Lori.

We always joke that Adam and Amy have too much seating.

The birthday kids.

Michelle's Birthday Outing

Michelle's birthday was last Thursday, so I took the day off work so we could go out on the town.

She choose Pizzeria Seven Twelve for lunch, which was a first for me.

She recommended the Braised Beef Panini, so that's what I got (minus the mushrooms) and it was divine!

We barely made it to our movie on time and enjoyed a huge popcorn and tankers of Coke and Diet Coke.

Michelle had seen the movie before but loved it and wanted to see it again, I loved it too.

I'm happy to report that Utah now has it's very own Paper Source store! Michelle had a gift card there so we just had to make an hour-long stop.

 We both left with some happy purchases.

Obviously we needed to replenish our bodies after such rigorous shopping. We only ordered cheesecake, but the waitress brought bread for us too...we love carbs.

After that we went to Barnes and Noble (a birthday tradition) and perused the self-help section...I just happen to be reading The Anatomy of Peace right now.

 It's sort of silly, but we always end up doing the gift opening in the car.

I gave Michelle the world's softest blanket (like the ones Jenn gave us for Christmas) and a gift certificate for a pedicure.

We both wore striped skirts.

Michelle's happy box of goodies at the end of the day.