Funny

Since I work at the junior high, I serve as a 2nd mom to many of the kids there, especially the ones from my ward. If they miss the bus the usually come to ask me for a ride home (which means they have to hang out at school for another 40 minutes until I leave). But last week one of the kids (who has never asked me for anything before) came into the office and asked if I would take his bag home from school for him!

 I said, "for real?!". It turns out he comes to school at 5:45am for basketball practice so in addition to his school backpack he has a big sports bag for clothes. He was going to a friend's house to work on a project after school and didn't want to lug his basketball bag too so he asked me to take it home for him. This struck me as rather funny and I said, "What's in it for me?" He said, "A McDonald's Coke", of course this sealed the deal.

So I drove his bag home (he lives 3 houses away from me) and his mom pulled into the driveway at the same time and saw the bag and started laughing and turned red from embarrassment. She couldn't believe he asked me to bring it home for him.

Fast forward to Sunday evening, Mason showed up on my porch with this 12 pack of Coke and sweet note attached. I think he overpaid me though so now whenever I see him I offer to take his bag for him.

February Bookclub

Since Collette's birthday is in February we wanted to do something fun to celebrate, so we went out to Brick Oven on Friday night. We knew it would be kind of crazy there, but thought we were up for it.

They put us in a big booth for six, and somehow Michelle and I ended up across from each other in the middle; it felt like being on an airplane! The food was pretty good (but rather pricey) and the noise, traffic in the restaurant, and obnoxious children in the booth behind us pretty much did us all in. We left feeling stuffed full, overheated and irritated.

We drove over to Collette's house for a much more comfortable place to gather and to finally discuss The Happiness Project (which I read back in December so had forgotten a lot of it). We ended up having a good discussion and all liked the book.

Jenn brought us each a baggy of funky flavors of M&Ms (Red Velvet, Coconut) and a bookmark from her trip to Germany last month (she also went to Hong Kong and China).

Amy had a good thing going in that chair, I may have to beat her to it next month.

Jenn, Jana, Michelle and I had plenty of room on the couch.

Collette's husband Travis joined us for a little bit to answer a bunch of questions about BYU admissions (he works there and knows all) for Jana, Jenn and I. He's doing so great since his liver and pancreas transplant it's so good to see.

The Eagle Has Landed

We finally had Landon's Eagle Court of Honor on February 9th. He finished his project last May and then had his final Board of Review August 8, 2013 but he wasn't excited about having his Court of Honor until his friends Brenden and Parker were ready to have theirs. It ended up working out great and was way easier to put this on with the help of their mothers (we divided and conquered beautifully).

Randy's dad flew in (he can fly standby) for the event and stayed with us for 4 days.

Did you know Costco does an Eagle cake if you ask for it?

We just love him.

We had these simple display tables with photos of the boys and pages for guests to sign.

Parker's mom borrowed some vintage scouting stuff for the front table display. Nice.

Parker's mom also put the program the together (I took the photo of the boys). 

Lucas and Landon.

During the program Landon explained a little bit about his Eagle Project.

My favorite part is when he awarded 3 mentor pins to great leaders Dave Johnston, Paulo Bangerter and Rocke Hendry. These men have had a great influence on Landon through his scouting/YM years and I am so, so grateful for their positive influence in his life.

Brother Johnston read the Eagle Charge and invited the boys to join the Eagle Nest.

Front row seats in the Eagle Nest.

Power hug from Adam afterward.

Power hug from Randy.

Official photo with his awesome mentors.

Did you know Landon has gone on two 50 mile hikes?!

Official.

He had so much family and friend support, lucky guy!

12 on the 12th--February Edition

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1. Landon texted me from his bed at 6:03am to get out of school for the day (a rare occurrence).
2. Pulling up at the junior high for work after having 5 days off.
3. Whitney stopped by before class started and didn't cooperate for the photo.
4. One of the ladies brought Smart Cookies to share...amazingly delicious.
5. I'm in charge of ordering all the school supplies and they get delivered on Wednesdays.
6. I came home to find Landon face down asleep on the couch.
7. I read over the RS lesson I will be teaching this Sunday while finishing my Zupa's lunch (which I was too busy at work to eat).
8. Jill B. and I went visiting teaching, we have a good time together.
9. Landon got tackled in the snow while sledding and got his face scrapped up so now he has a Chaplin-style scab on his face.
10. Whitney had to conduct an experiment for science and we were her lab rats.
11. We watched the Olympics--the Women's Half Pipe finals.
12. I am officially half way through my ginormous book.

Miscellaneous Monday--Phone Photos

Landon has such a hard time smiling like a normal person in photos.

I found this funny message from Whitney waiting for me when I changed the roll of tp one morning.

My last two Secret Pals have been pretty lame, but we got new assignments last week and it looks like this time around I have a good one.

Whitney is supposed to read a book each month for her English Class but is not very keen on that assignment. Last week she needed to have her 215 page book finished by Thursday, but was only on page 67 on Monday. I tried my best to help motivate her, but she put up a lot of resistance...it was maddening for me.

I met my mom for lunch at a new place in AF called Wild Zucchini. I had a steak wrap with all kinds of tasty things inside it and she had a steak salad.

Our parking lot self-portrait.

I finally washed my car after about 6 weeks of filth, it was delightful and stayed clean for 24 hours before the next rain/snow fell.

This is a screenshot of an Instagram post I did of Whitney's nonreading activities...she is the queen of stalling!

When I pulled into the driveway from work on Thursday I actually said a prayer because I feared I would be fighting her all evening to finish her book. Miraculously though, when I entered the house she was sitting on the couch reading and only had 20 pages left! She ended up finishing the book before dinner. I was elated, thrilled, flabbergasted, delighted, tickled and euphoric!

I didn't go to Michelle's house on Friday because she is sick with bronchitis, so I ran errands instead. I hadn't been to Costco since before Christmas, so I had to pay to renew our membership (never fun) and stock up on a bunch of stuff...ouch!

I experienced a bit of a time warp when I saw this car on my way home...oh the 70's were so ugly!

Landon has been taking practice tests online so he can get ready for his Learner's Permit, so I decided to take one too and failed twice! I've been driving for 26 years, but can't remember how many feet away from train tracks I must be and so on. It was embarrassing.

We are finally having Landon's Eagle Court of Honor next Sunday (along with two other boys from the ward) so I had to go to the Scout Store to buy the Eagle Kit ($30, plus $15 for the bandana and $8 for two extra mentor pins). I am hoping that's the last time I will ever have to go there!!