12 on the 12th--October Edition

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1. Cathy is in town from Saudi Arabia (!) so we planned for an early morning walk but I only had a half hour so we sat at McDonald's and talked.
2. Whitney's illustrated birthday card for Randy.
3. Randy's box of birthday Raisin Bran...he can have this any time of course but I bought it special for his birthday since no one else will eat it.
4. Family photo in the car before heading up to help Adam and Amy move.
5. Lori and I boxed up stuff from the kitchen...moving is overwhelming even when it isn't my own move!
6. Lori and I stopped at Einsteins for a snack before heading over to the help unpack at the rental house. We don't have an Einsteins close to us so this was a treat.
7. Adam and Amy's "new" house has a pool!!
8. Upon arriving home Whitney immediately drew this picture of a cat using her water bottle...she's got skills.
9. I started a new book in the cozy (A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons).
10. Randy took a birthday nap.
11. The four of us went to Chili's for Randy's birthday dinner.
12. We stopped at the church to pick up all the primary teacher bags so I could clean them out and put the new class rolls in them (it took me 3 hours!).

Six for Saturday--iPhone Edition

1. I had to set my alarm for 3:40am so I could get up to see Landon out the door for Scout Camp on Monday, he had to be at the church at 4:00am. I'm so glad this isn't my normal wake-up time!

2. We've been wanting to get loft beds for the kids' room for years and finally found some on KSL, they were delivered in pieces on Monday, woohoo.

3. Whitney bought herself another squishy dinosaur to add to her collection. She loves these and plays with them all the time. We had a scare with 4 of them at the pool this week because she thought they'd been stolen. Luckily when we went back later that night to see if anyone had turned them in we found two on at a life guard station and the other two back in the guard room where the teenage life guards were playing with them!

4. Now that the loft beds are in the kids' room we had to move the futon out. We put it out front with a sign that said "FREE" on it. I watched these people struggle to fit it in their car for about 10 minutes before they gave up. Another guy in a truck came a few minutes later and took it.

5. Whitney and I tried out a New York style pizza place before going to IKEA for bedroom stuff, this is their cheese slice!

6. While driving Cathy and I home from the trail we walked on this morning we got stuck in some race traffic, it was kind of funny.

Quick

Cathy dropped this off last week as a thank you for giving her a bottle of ketchup last month when she ran out of it while making dinner for someone. I had forgotten all about it, so this ended up being an especially cute and unexpected thank you.

We're on the countdown until Spring Break next week and are excited for our 2 night staycation in a hotel in Salt Lake. We're going to be tourists in our own town (we never go there) and see the sites, go out to eat a lot, and swim at the hotel. I am ready for a break from work!

Speaking of work, yesterday was Randy's first day at the new job! This is good news, but having him on a set schedule after 3 months of his help is already cramping my style! It was so nice to have him around to help shuttle kids.

Interesting Week Rewind

On Monday evening after returning from Michelle's house, I picked up some super cute 40th birthday balloons to take to my friend Cathy. I texted her to make sure she was at home (and not out on the town) only to find out that she was deathly ill at home with a 103 fever and her husband had to work late! 

After some texting we established that she needed some Powerade for herself, and cheeseburgers for her kids. I got to her house to deliver the balloons, a gift, the Powerade, the cheeseburgers and the cutest mini cake you ever did see and found her in a state of great woe. I tried to help with her two kids (ages 4 and 6) until her husband got home at 9:00. He then took over and I ended up taking her to the ER to rule out Meningitis! 

Two rather hilarious (she's a character) hours later we found out she has a new strain of the flu brought in from California and that it lasts for 7-10 days! It was a super memorable 40th birthday for sure!

I ended up getting to bed about 3 hours past my desired bedtime and woke up with a migraine! I have never called-in sick to work before, so I texted my boss and went back to bed. I slept until 10:45 and woke up feeling much, much better. When I woke up the second time, the house was empty and it was actually snowing outside!

We were having our Scout Court of Honor that night and I needed to organize and label all the awards for it (which I would have done the previous night if I'd been home), so it worked out nicely that I was able to stay home and get all of that stuff ready. It was my first time and I was clueless about what I was doing, but felt pretty good about things by the end.

The Court of Honor went really well and now I think I'm starting to understand Scout stuff (I never really paid attention before) and am feeling more motivated and less daunted than I had been feeling just days before. (Landon took this picture of me, I have no idea what I was saying.)

They had a slide show with photos from last summer's 50-miler, this is a shot of Landon.

They had some of the boys and leaders share some details from the week-long adventure (which are quite incredible to hear) and Landon was one of the participants. I'm so glad he got to go on that amazing adventure, and feel so grateful that they all made it home safely (the stories they tell are clear evidence of the Divine intervention involved to keep them safe!). He's one merit badge away from being ready to work on his Eagle project!!! I need to put his badges on his sash (we just bought it this week) so he can be outfitted like Nick!

After the Court of Honor I dashed over to Amy's house (I got there at 9:00!) for book club. They had started at 7:30, but were kind enough to move it to Amy's house so it would be closer for me to get there late. We discussed the book for a bit (I gave it 3.5 stars on Goodreads) but as always, the personal conversations are the best part of the night.

It snowed again for real (not just a skiff) on Friday and it was the first time of the entire winter there was enough snow to play in! Whitney invited her friend Sally over for snow fun and hot chocolate.

**How was your week?

Did you get any snow?

Ever had an ER adventure with a friend?**

Comment Window Tidbit: This has been a good Saturday so far.

Odds and Ends

I'm hurting for stuff to post about because my days are so much the same thanks work. If I could post pictures or tell stories about work I'd have some entertaining (and disturbing) stuff to share, but I can't.

We missed Whitney's penpal Luci's birthday somehow but sent something a couple weeks late. Whitney drew all over the envelope while her fancy lemur watched.

Cathy texted me this mistake-filled message a few weeks ago and it keeps cracking me up.

This is NOT winter weather?! I've got daffodil leaves poking up already!

Michelle sent me this cute Valentine.

Patsy sent me a cute Valentine too!

I don't have a picture of this, but I went to get my eyebrows waxed today because they were so out of control. I pluck them regularly, but somehow overnight I wake up looking like a Wookie! I think my stylist was a bit disturbed by the situation and went at them with a vengeance. She did a good job, but took more than she usually does (I only get them done a couple times a year) so now I feel like there's a lot more of my face...not necessarily in a good way. I'll probably just need to get used to them, but for today I am in hiding.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Birthday alley is officially upon us and I'm ill-prepared yet again. I wish I was chock full of good gift ideas, then I don't think I'd mind it so much.

Happy Saturday!!

I was up at 6:30 this morning to take Whitney back to Space Camp (she went from 7-11 last night), then I got donuts for the family (a very rare treat), filled my car with gas and had an hour at home before Cathy came to get me for our walk. We've been driving to various trails (all new to me) and then walking for an hour. We went on one close by today, but totally new to me...I'm giddy about it. It felt surreal to have such a nice trail with a gorgeous view just 2 miles up the road from my house! We had a great walk and talk, which I'm finding to be the perfect way to start each Saturday. I feel so accomplished getting the majority of my day's steps in before 9:30am, plus I get to socialize and breathe fresh air so I end up with a "life is good" feeling before I've even set out to be productive. As much as I adore sleeping in and lounging in bed reading, this new plan is way better for me.

**What are your plans today?

Do you have good trails near you?

Can you believe how snowless we are?**

Comment Window Tidbit:I LOVE this!!

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” —Mahatma Gandhi

Five for Friday

1. Cathy and I have been braving the cold to go walking on Saturday mornings for the past couple of months. We haven't had to deal with any snow or ice since we haven't had any this winter (so weird!) but it has been really cold so our bundling has been quite comical.

2. I put this photo on Facebook but it bears documentation here as well. What in the world?! These are the shoes of a 7th grade girl (who looks 17)! She brought both pairs to school and wore one of them and then complained about her back hurting! I was flabbergasted by this on so many levels.

3. Randy brought me a medicinal Coke at work on Wednesday when I felt a doozy of a headache coming on, and Landon happened to pop into the office during his lunch break at the very same time! He didn't know Randy was coming, so he was surprised by the little reunion.

4. I picked Whitney up from school the other day and found her wearing this ensemble! Clearly Randy is on the morning shift before school! He thought her outfit was creative and coherent, but for me it was a head shaker for sure.

5. I got a nice thank you note from Amie this week but was surprised by the damage done to it. It looks like a shark got to it! There weren't any protrusions so it's weird that it was damaged in the mail, it must have gotten stuck in one of the machines.

**How was your week?

Thoughts on Whitney's outfit?

Would you wear those heels?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I started another dance class last night and feared I'd be too sore to walk today, but I'm only slightly sore (more aware of my muscles than anything else). I'm very grateful for this!

When Did My Life Get This Busy?

I'm not sure when my life got this crazy (oh wait, I guess it was when school started again) but I am barely keeping my head above water. If I have a productive yet restful weekend then I can usually trick myself into thinking I'm on top of things during the week. But since I was out of town last weekend and didn't have that time at home, this week has seriously kicked my butt. It's a good thing we're off school next Thursday and Friday for Fall Break, but that means I still have to make it through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Aargh.

My big girl tap shoes with stripey socks. They were a little slippery on the dance floor and at one point my lunge got away from me and I'm lucky that it didn't end in a 911 call...it wasn't pretty. Thank heaven there are only 2 of us in the class along with the teacher (what happens in tap class stays in tap class).

I dropped Landon off at the church yesterday for a Scout Camp Out but then ended up staying and talking to one of the other moms for over an hour (it was delightful), so I got to see our former Bishop (who is now their scout leader) get the boys in formation complete with vintage scout hats. (Click on the photo to enlarge. Landon is the 4th in from the right.)

Adam, Amy and the girls came over for game night last night and mocked us with their new iPhones.

 Bella slept over so Whitney could NOT have been happier.

This morning I met up with my friend Cathy to go walking around the temple grounds (it's a .75 mile loop) and we just kept going and going. Every time we got around to the starting point we'd say "one more time" because we just wanted to keep talking. It was great, but I've been paying for it all day. By the time I got home I had 13, 775 steps on my pedometer (my daily goal is 10,000). That little white item on the ground near Cathy's foot is a mini marshmallow. She had found a bunch of them in her coat pocket and even mashed one on her toe to act as a blister barrier, so she put one on the ground as part of our photo...cute.

This tree looked so pretty with the early morning sun shining through it, plus the temple is in the background (though you can't really see it in this picture).

There is major construction happening on our street directly in front of our house, so every time I return home from somewhere I have to wait for several minutes until it's clear for me to go. This afternoon I was returning home from Costco when the orange-vested worker person (who makes double what I make at the school by the way) told me it was going to be a 10 minute wait. I informed her that I live at the house with the cement mixer in front of it, so she worked some magic with her walkie talkie and got me through in about 2 minutes instead. I've got connections.

Both Landon and Whitney have been talking about wanting a job like this because the money is good, so I've had to explain to them how it's important to factor more than just the dollar amount of a job when choosing one's employment.

**How was your Saturday?

Are you exhausted?

Has a lunge every gotten away from you?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I visited with both Robyn and Lori at different times today. Viva familia!