Miscellaneous Monday--Phone Edition

We've been having some deliciously mild, beautiful summer weather which facilitated some hours of outdoor reading for me. I was reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I ended up loving.

While Whitney was at Girl's Camp I was on Junie duty. I played with her each morning and night and one morning watched a movie in the kids' room while she purred like crazy and slept on me.

Later in the day we hung outside together, she's just happy to be with me.

I had some Zen moments lying under these trees.

It's been delightful having Michelle back home.

Whitney got home from Girl's Camp on Friday the 20th. I had been praying all week she'd have a good experience and strengthen her testimony.

She talked for 2 hours straight telling me all about it!

She was full of sass and silly.

It was a great week!

I am still making lots of tags. I can get 35-40 tags from one sheet of cardstock.

Landon's floor naps continue.

I took Whitney to meet Adam for a ride back to his house to stay with the cousins for a few days and he surprised us by picking her up in this 1957 convertible.

Landon has been having football practice in the evenings so I've been shuttling him to the high school in the mornings for driver's ed and in the evening for football. Good times.

I love, love, love it that Whitney can take the train back from Adam and Amy's house! She spent 3 days and nights with the girls playing and swimming in their pool.

Amie and I met up for lunch and a visit to Wal-Mart, where she stocked up on hair gel.

I had to work on Friday from 8-12 and it was so weird to be there with no students or administrators. I only saw 4 teachers and a couple custodians. I worked on a master key list and listened to some TED talks. Not too shabby.

Landon's hair is officially LARGE these days. He can style it down to a normal size for church and what-not, but he enjoys bulking it up when he's just hanging out...it's highly amusing.

Bookclub--June Edition

We didn't get together during May because Collette and Amy had both had surgeries, Michelle was in Paris and we were all crazy busy with the end of the school year.

Collette had this delightful bowl of cherries to keep us occupied while we waited for everyone to arrive.

We all brought our dinner (Kneaders for me and Michelle this time).

Michelle gave us these darling gift bags she bought at a flea market in Paris full of goodies.

 Inside the bags were a notebook, a magnet, a huge Roche truffle and a roll of Washi tape. 

Since we were also celebrating Jana's birthday (which was back in May) she had requested something CHOCOLATE for dessert. Michelle made a very rich, brownie pudding dessert with whipped cream which was scrumptious.

 Collette showed us the book of Women's Conference talks she's in, very exciting!

 We gave Jana a $100 gift card for IKEA.

I've totally slacked on making us take self-portraits so we did one this time, but sadly it was at the end of the night (11:30pm) so we were all weary.

Miscellany--Phone Style

Landon got home 36 hours earlier than expected from his High Adventure canoe trip in Oregon which meant he got to go to Lagoon on Friday with Lori, Robyn, my mom, Amy, Whitney and most of the cousins (I hate amusement parks and was super happy to be home alone).

I gave my visiting teaching partner (her name is Jill too) a copy of The Screwtape Letters for her birthday and was pleased with this wrapping job which incorporated washi tape, tag and ribbon I'd purchased from Pick Your Plum.

Randy and I caught a matinee Friday afternoon which is a rare treat (I usually see movies with Lori).

Saturday was spent trying to get Whitney packed for Girl's Camp. I don't know why it was so difficult (oh wait, yes I do it was because she kept zoning out, dancing, and generally not packing) but it took all afternoon. She had a wicked sunburn on her shoulders (hence the tank top) and kept pausing to sigh about them and at one point lick them! I actually had to say, "Stop licking your shoulder and pack!" What in the world?

2.5 hours later I was still checking things off her list. Good grief.

We're trying a new incentive to help the kids in primary be more reverent so I was up late Saturday night creating these little tickets for us to use.

Whitney actually went outside to write a few thank you notes on Sunday afternoon, I could not have been more pleased. It's the combination of having a table and chairs out there and having Junie (the cat) wandering around the yard.

Whitney left for Girl's Camp on Monday morning (yeeha!).

Landon and a friend from church have Driver's Ed for 3 hours every morning this week and next week, so I've been dropping them off by 8:00 and enjoying having the house to myself for 3 hours.

I finished reading the 5th Flavia de Luce Mystery and had to take a picture of this page because this why I enjoy these books so much. "Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig." Plus I love it that her bike's name is Gladys.

Landon frequently texts me when we're both home...this conversation happened.

Michelle and family returned home from 2 months in Paris on Monday afternoon! We met for lunch at Los Hermanos yesterday and spent almost 3 hours catching up.

It's been cold this week, which is highly unusual for June and has thrown me for a bit of a loop despite my disdain for hot weather (I'm hard to please).

Our thermostat got down to 64 degrees which was chilly even though I was wearing a sweatshirt. I finally caved and turned on the heat to get us back up to 70 and then turned it off for the night. Weird.

I am totally loving Junie Cat. I'm taking care of her since Whitney is at camp which means playing with her in addition to the feeding and such. This morning I sat on the steps teasing her with this little fishing pole Whitney sewed one of the catnip fishies Shannon sent her last week.

I don't know why I have a hard time making myself go for a walk sometimes because I always enjoy it. This morning I saw this gorgeous view just down the street from my house. I also saw a deer in a field, a dead bird, lots of horses, llamas, cows and was startled by some ducks who'd been startled by me (it must have been hilarious to see me jump and swear the way I did when they jumped into the water next to the road I was walking on).

Father's Day

This looks pretty nubby, but I made some fabulous scratch biscuits and sausage (which I don't like) for Randy's Father's Day breakfast. He had just enough time to finish before heading to church at 8:00 (he and the deacons go early to set up chairs and have presidency meeting).

Landon stayed home sick from church (hence his attire).

Whitney really wanted a photo with Junie in it.

Later in the day (after naps were had) we went to Robyn's new place for dinner. Adam and Amy and girls weren't there and Robyn's kids didn't come home from their dad's until later so it was a small crowd.

Good times.

12 on the 12th--June Edition

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1. Whitney is hard to wake up in the morning.
2. I brought Junie in to help coax Whitney out of bed (it worked).
3. I made a new blog banner and changed the background color on my blog.
4. Book of Mormon reading for the day.
5. Shot of the stuff on my dresser as seen from my spot on the bed.
6. My friend Shannon sent Whitney a good mail package with goodies for Junie (Whitney has a bad sunburn on her shoulders, hence her attire). 
7. I got my hair cut and colored (it's getting harder and harder to keep up on the gray).
8. Quick stop at the grocery store to get taco fixins for dinner.
9. It was pouring rain as I left the store (of course my car windows were partially down).
10. The big bottle of aloe gel I bought to help Whitney's shoulders.
11. Catching up on So You Think You Can Dance.
12. I'm currently reading the 5th Flavia de Luce Mystery, which is a treat.

Our Summer So Far

I had a very successful DI run to kick off, I love finding books for $1 or $1.50.

We've had mostly pleasant, window-open weather but the house has gotten up in the high 70's a couple times and we've had to turn on the air conditioning. I really prefer having the windows open, but I'm not a fan of sweating.

I started reading The Book of Mormon again and have a schedule that has me finishing on Christmas Eve.

Whitney and I have gone walking around the pond a couple times.

Adam invited me to lunch, which was delightful and emotionally draining (it's never small talk).

I got my first pedicure of the summer, woohoo!

I moved the bistro table and chairs to the front yard (since it was basically a bird pooping place in the back yard) and we have really liked it so far. Whitney actually got out of the house to draw while listening to The Book Thief.

It's official, Whitney is in full teen mode!

I read in the shade while Whitney baked in the sun...the shade is way better.

Lori and I saw "Fault In Our Stars" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I expected to sob more than I did so that was a relief.

Kale hired Landon to sand and paint the trip on the house. 

It's a big job and is currently on hold while he is on a Canoe trip in Oregon with the 16-17 year olds from church.

Randy and I helped Robyn move last weekend.

I am currently reading the 5th Flavia de Luce mystery, "well bust my buttons".

I have wanted to put a flag on the house for years, but knew we couldn't drill into the brick. I thought I'd figured out a way around it but it didn't work so we ended up hanging like this, which I love!

The Waffle Luv truck was down the street this week so Whitney and each got a Biscoff and Cream waffle (so good) and took it home to eat on our bistro table under the trees.

We let Junie have some whipped cream when we were done.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these trees in our front yard.