Week in Review--Phone Style

 I love listening to podcasts when I work in the yard.

We had the most perfect day of weather on Tuesday.

 I do A LOT of updating records and printing for primary.

Whitney and I saw a stunning sunrise on the way to school.

A trip to Costco to stock up on some essentials since Adam and Amy's girls are coming to stay for the weekend.

 Fabric shopping with Michelle.

 

This is what I bought to make fabric coasters for some co-workers.

We froze our nards off at Landon's game on Thursday.

 

I passed a pumpkin patch and saw this pumpkin on a chair so I flipped a U-turn so I could take a picture of it.

 I saw these too.

One of my visiting teachers felt badly that they hadn't been able to come see me this month so she printed a message and brought me a cinnamon braid, she even delivered it to me at school!

I had a delightfully rainy car lunch on Friday. (I don't usually work on Fridays but one of the other secretaries needed to switch this week.)

JCWs with some of the cousins.

Andrew LOVES going to JCWs. He always eats fries and a Cookies and Cream shake.

My dad at JCWs.

I took this self-portrait at a red light on the way home. It was a pretty funny car ride with all of us (except Andrew) singing "Roar" by Katy Perry.

My mom gave Lori and I a little sewing lesson...Lori and I have no skills.

Lori, Andrew and Suki.

 

 They look so cute together.

I enjoy fabric, and like the idea of sewing. But even this very basic project has me flustered.

This is a text exchange with Michelle about the sewing.

We set our sewing aside to take the girls to the AFHS Fall Festival and we finally got to try the goodness of the Waffle Luv truck.

Bella and Tess braved the Sumo suits and provided some comedy.

I spied Landon and Kassidy from a distance and he caught me.

Changing Things Up

Randy flew to California last Thursday to attend a Conference. He hardly ever travels so it's kind of nice when he does. I think I just like to change things up around here, even though having him gone means I actually have more to do.

For example, I made the kids' lunches on Friday and this is the lovely artwork I came up with for their sacks.

This was Whitney's reaction to my attempts.

I also had to stay up later than usual to go pick up Landon from a friend's house on Saturday night. It's so nice that Randy always does this since he doesn't mind staying up late. I'm usually dead asleep when Landon gets home.

I don't know why having Randy gone made me want to clean the office, but it did. My never-ending goal is to thoroughly clean and organize the office/studio, but it is an overwhelming job because there is so much good stuff  that I don't know what to do with. I don't use a lot of it anymore but don't want to just get rid of it. I keep thinking I'll list stuff on KSL or ebay, but that's a whole other task to tackle. Blah.

I did manage to rearrange and clean the work table in an attempt to free up more work space since Landon does most of his homework in here. Just having this area cleaned up a bit has been a big boost to me.

Whitney's addition to our shopping list cracked me up; she's a phonetic speller.

Here's the sign Whitney made for Randy. He returned home Monday evening and was greeted us standing at the door to welcome him plus we had dinner ready for him. Not too shabby.

Mother/Daughter Night

Last Wednesday for a Young Women's Activity they had a Mother/Daughter Garden Party.

Whitney wanted us to dress alike and surprisingly we had something similar to wear. 

The YW leaders did an amazing job (as usual) to make the event beautiful and fun. 

Everything was ridiculously cute.

Everyone brought a salad to contribute...so Whitney pretty much ate rolls (this is my plate).

We had homemade Oreos for dessert, which were very good. I've never made these but I'm a fan.

We had to move inside for the guest speaker because it was too chilly outside (it was deliciously Fall-like) and most of the girls were freezing. It made for a cozier setting and more focused attention though. Emily Freeman is a great speaker! She talked about each of the Young Women's Values (Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity and Virtue) and how they have influenced her life through women who have been good examples to her. After each story/value she would ask the girls to think of someone they know who emulates that value, this made me think of all the great women who serve as good examples to me.

After the event was over I went up to thank Emily and to tell her how much her talk at our Stake Relief Society Women's Conference a couple years ago meant to me and how I still remember what she talked about (which is amazing since I forget everything). Of course I got all weepy while talking to her and made sort of a mess of things, but I'm still glad I told her.

37?!

Lori turned 37 on September 8th! She still looks so young that it's hard to wrap my mind around her being that age.

She actually had to host her own party so Randy and Adam could install a peep hole and a storm door for her.

Apparently it's amazingly easy to install a peep hole...who knew?

Even though the Home Depot video I watched said the storm door was only a 2 out of 5 scale of difficulty it still took about 2.5 hours to do and Randy had to go back the next day to finalize the fit.

Lori requested super nachos for her party food and I must say this was a great choice. My mom made some fabulous shredded pork to go with them. I made quesadillas for those who wanted them, but had to wonder why I would decide to make something that involved me standing over a hot griddle for a long time. The simplicity of the task is opposite of the sweatiness of the task.

Andrew kept a low profile upstairs in Lori's room away from the crowd, but did surface for some pizza and ice cream.

Sunday Thoughts

I LOVE Primary!!

Apparently primary is the place I need to be at church in order to feel the Spirit most strongly. Even though I like being in Relief Society too, I really love the more active, energetic feeling of being in primary and I especially love the music. Not being able to sing well is one of my greatest sorrows in life, but in primary I belt out the songs and am often moved to tears while doing so (and not just because my voice is cracking and making unexpected changes from alto to soprano). 

We have a fantastic music leader who is able to teach the kids the words to the songs and the meaning behind them. Somehow she is able to hold the attention of a room packed with squirmy kids and adults who end up doing exactly what she wants them to do. We sang so loudly today that I'm sure the sisters in Relief Society could hear us in their room (I always loved it when I could hear the primary kids singing, it was like a soundtrack to the lesson we were having).

I love the truthfulness of the doctrine we sing in primary and feel like it gets to the heart of the gospel. I have many favorite songs but I lose it every time we sing "We'll Bring The World His Truth" especially during the chorus. Our music leader always has the kids stand up as the kids sing...

We are as the army of Helaman.
We have been taught in our youth.
And we will be the Lord’s missionaries
To bring the world his truth.

Seeing the room full of kids standing and singing these words makes me picture them as future missionaries and makes everything we do in primary seem vital. It's the best place to be!

Scenes from the Week

Landon cut the sleeves off a couple of his workout shirts so now Randy and I are trying to adjust to this new look around the house...it's not our favorite. Apparently all the football players do this for weight lifting and such, despite their farmer tans and hairy armpits.

I found Landon dead asleep in the middle of the afternoon last Saturday. Whitney had music blasting, the lights on and was "cleaning" their room. Of course, he had his music playing directly into his brain so he didn't hear anything else but I was still surprised he could zonk out this soundly. When I went to wake him up I lifted his eyelid and his pupil didn't even dilate.

I thought it was funny that Randy had most of the lunch stuff out on the counter the night before. He is so good to make all of our lunches each morning before school.

 I met up with Jenn for lunch on Tuesday this week, good times.

After lunch with Jenn I let myself into Lori's place (it was very close to where we had lunch) because I had to pee so badly I didn't think I could handle driving home! I ended up hanging out with her kitties for 2 hours. They're not usually super affectionate, but they were literally all over me. I loved it. I watched TV on her big screen while getting some lovin from the cats, it was good for my soul.

 Seriously, how sweet is this?

The moon was ginormous yesterday morning as I drove to work. It was almost disturbingly large. I was driving and staring at it and muttering "wow" over and over again.

Whitney has a teacher she just loves so she asked him his what his favorite candies are and had me take her to the store to buy them herself!

She also wrote this super sweet letter to give him. Who wouldn't love to get such a letter?

Edited to add: I got this email from Mr. Carter...

"Jill,

So I walk down to get cavetime slips this morning and found the most awesome things ever in my box.  The treats were great, but the letter Whitney wrote to me was amazing!  She is a fantastic student (you already know that) and I want to thank both you and her for making my life easier here.  Thanks again and happy Friday!"

I got this message on my computer at work while trying to load a document. I love it that it says "Aw, Snap!".

I dragged Whitney to Landon's football game in an effort to get her out of the house. It was a gorgeous day and she had already been watching TV for too long...I think this picture really captures her feelings about this.

But if you need further evidence, here is the picture she drew. She claims she doesn't like football and doesn't understand it, but I have never seen her actually make an attempt to watch a game.

Landon was positioned perfectly for my camera, he's #84.