12 on the 12th--January 2020 Edition

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1. We woke up to snow, ugh.
2. Whitney and I upon leaving church.
3. I've had this quote on the message board for almost a year, I just love it.
4. I unwrapped an entire bag of Kisses so Whitney would make cookies with them.
5. Whitney booked her ticket to see Lori in April.
6. Cookie making!
7. My new, super pleasing bookcase.
8. I had Landon send me a selfie from USU.
9. I found Randy zonked out on the couch after a long day at church.
10. I updated my Ministering Profile Sheet while watching The Great British Bake Off.
11. Dinner.
12. Randy and I watched Brittany Runs A Marathon.

12 on the 12th--August Edition

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1. Beautiful Sunday morning.
2. Four of our six primary class members were there, I love them.
3. Golden brought his Kindness challenge paper back for a treat.
4. Landon taking a power nap.
5. The romantic comedy book I'm reading. It's enjoyable, but not my normal style.
6. Ferris likes to join me for my Sunday naps.
7. Whitney painted some shoes to make them look like Gucci shoes, she's amazing.
8. Randy prepping salad stuff for dinner.
9. Notes on my dresser about Whitney's upcoming doctor's appointment, yikes.
10. Corn on the cob for dinner.
11. Current letterboard quote.
12. I love The Great British Baking Show.

12 on the 12th--November 2017

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1. Whitney struggles to get up at a decent time for church, I have to wake her.
2. Ferris hanging out on his favorite bar stool.
3. A beautiful day for church.
4. My teaching partner Tifani and I after class.
5. What I'm reading.
6. Whitney's weird, miscellaneous crap on the table.
7. Randy napping on the couch.
8. The Four Agreements on our letter board.
9. I love watching The Great British Bake Off.
10. My very pleasing drawer of envelopes.
11. I painted my toes.
12. Delightful.

12 on the 12th--February Edition

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1. Randy scraping the ice off our cars before church...we hate winter.
2. Whitney really didn't want to wake up.
3. This is how Whitney's closet/floor look every day.
4. The made a welcome appearance.
5. I've been listening to a Conference talk every morning while getting ready.
6. The handout from our Visiting Teaching Conference at church.
7. Randy and Ferris in the cozy for our Sunday nap.
8. The book I'm reading right now.
9. Ferris snuggled up with me to read and sleep.
10. Rolls for dinner.
11. We watched a documentary on Minimalism.
12. My list of goals for the next week.

12 on the 12th--June Edition

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1. Landon ironing his shirt for church.
2. Randy's breakfast of champions.
3. Whitney checking in on Instagram first thing in the morning.
4. Reviewing my accountability goals from the previous week and setting new ones.
5. Whitney writing her goals for the week.
6. I sneaked this photo of Whitney drawing in church.
7. The disappointing book I'm reading.
8. Our new kitten Phoebe loves to snuggle in the cozy with me.
9. Landon spontaneously decided to clean out his closet.
10. Whitney made cookies.
11. Hanging out on our bed before saying prayer.
12. We all love watching the compilation of my 1 second a day videos.

12 on the 12th--April Edition (super late)

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1. Landon went to Mission Prep and got butter on his favorite tie.
2. Another batch of Randy's perfect biscuits.
3. On our way to church (Randy was already there for a meeting).
4. A beautiful day at church.
5. Landon's notes and a picture of my dad as part of the lesson he was teaching in Priests Quorum.
6. Our new faux wicker Adirondack chairs.
7. My supplies for the Stake primary teacher auxiliary class I was teaching.
8. Sunny tulips in our yard.
9. Sweet baby Peep snuggling on me in the cozy (almost 3 weeks old).
10. Stake primary presidency meeting.
11. Randy and I watched Masterpiece Mysteries: Case Histories.
12. Night time reading.

12 on the 12th--October Edition

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1. I was up early to get the balloons out of my car and to hang decorations for Randy's birthday.
2. Randy's "corner presents".
3. He requested Raspberry Muffins and chocolate milk for his birthday breakfast.
4. He's easy to please.
5. Whitney giving Junie some loves.
6. It was rainy and dark when we went to church at 8:45am.
7. I got released as Primary Secretary (and am now serving as 2nd Counselor in the Stake Primary).
8. Landon checking game footage.
9. I got a couple hours to read and nap before having to go visit another ward's primary.
10. The day ended up being beautiful and sunny.
11. Birthday kisses for Randy.
12. Lori joined us for dinner and dessert.

12 on the 12th--January Edition

1. I was up early to get ready for church and to do some last minute adjustments on the chair set up instructions.
2. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Primary singing time!
3. These are the pencils we're giving the primary kids on their birthdays this year.
4. Family hang out time on our bed after church.
5. Visiting teaching with my partner Jill B., I knew she'd have cozy boots on.
6. Landon doing homework next to Whitney's Lego set up.
7. Dinner rolls rising.
8. I spent an hour in the cozy reading and dozing.
9. I got a thank you note delivery while we were eating dinner, very sweet.
10. Post dinner wrestling.
11. Brownies and ice cream while we watched Psych together.
12. Downton Abbey for me and Randy is a great way to end the day.

12 on the 12th--May Edition

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1. Landon working on his Eagle Project paper work.
2. Our lilacs are in bloom and smelling wonderful!
3. Whitney reading by choice!
4. Randy putting cinnamon rolls and bacon in the oven.
5. Perusing the Conference issue of the Ensign.
6. Counting the money from our Camp Fundraiser (we sold corsages).
7. Landon wrote about on Facebook.
8. Church.
9. I changed my blog banner and background color.
10. Mother's Day photos.
11. Reading in the cozy.
12. Surivor finale!

12 on the 12th--August Edition

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1. Randy brought me biscuits in bed!
2. Whitney has been watching My Little Pony movies and drawing the ponies.
3. Landon showing Whitney some love.
4. We started hand washing our dishes this summer because our dishwasher is so lame...I hate the mess on the counter!
5. Church for 3 hours, plus Landon was ordained a Teacher, we can't believe he's 14 already!
6. My parents came for Landon's ordination so we invited them to stay for dinner.
7. Landon's birthday cake has gone the distance.
8. We had an impromptu Family Home Evening and talked about Landon's new responsibilities.
9. I took a bunch of photos of Landon as a new 14 year old man child.
10. We watched Rat Race together, ridiculous but so funny.
11. Later Randy and I had some very tasty nachos while we watched Inspector Lewis.
12. My night ops headlight setting as I read myself to sleep.

Sunday Thoughts

Landon gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting today and did a fantastic job! He prepared it completely on his own, practiced it for me once this morning and then gave it today in front of 400 people. He is light years ahead of where I was at age (13.5). 

He used Elder Bednar's talk from the October 2009 General Conference entitled More Diligent and Concerned at Home as material for his talk about "love in the family". He highlighted Elder Bednar's 3 suggestions for strengthening the love in our homes.

1. Express love and show it

2. Bear testimony

3. Be Consistent

But the most touching part of the talk for me was this personal story he shared. 
 

"I can remember a time when I was about five years old and I was playing with action figures on my mom and dad’s bed when my dad came in the room.  He took me in his arms and told me that he loved me.  He hugged me for a while until, being a five year old concentrated on nothing but my action figure; I told my dad that I already knew that he loved me.  He then explained to me that he wanted to make sure that I really knew it. I think it is in times like these that we find that we really do love each other as a family."

He is currently serving as the President of the Deacon's Quorum (for about 2 months now) and takes his responsibilities seriously. He never complains about going to BYC or his weekly presidency meetings before church. He calls the rest of his presidency to remind them of their responsibilities and he sets a good example for them. I am humbled and amazed by his character and spirit.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Goodness, I had an unexpected meeting at 3:00 then a visiting teaching appointment at 4:00 and now we have a fireside at 7:00.

Sunday Thoughts

Our new bishop shared a cool experience he had this summer while in Wyoming with the Young Men. They were doing mission preparedness stuff and were teaching the boys to "Armor Up" each morning by praying and reading their scriptures before facing the day. He talked about how all his life he has read his scriptures before going to bed, but how that's illogical if you think about reading the scriptures as putting on the whole armor of God...because who needs to put on armor before going to bed? (Of course it's good to read the scriptures any time, but even better to start the day with them!)

I absolutely love the visual of  putting on the armor of God as a family each morning before we head out into the world to face the day. I know we are better prepared to face the challenges of the day because we start the day together reading the words of God and kneeling in prayer together. It's a simple thing that provides great strength!

Ephesians 6:11-18

 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Today on the back of our ward bulletin was a new thing, it said...

Bishopric Admonition

"Armor up!" Put on the full Armor of God each day with Prayer and Scripture study every morning. Read seven or more chapters a week in the scriptures.

I loved it and thought it was interesting that this new bishopric felt the need to put an admonishment on the program. It was at the very bottom on the back, but I think it caught all of our attention. 

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I think it would be cool to have "Armor Up!" in vinyl lettering above our front door.

Subdued Partying....An OxyMoron?

This is what our New Year's Eve and New Year's Day have looked like.


Our family went to Rib City Grill for a carnivore-delight type lunch.


We all left happy, though I could have eaten a few more pieces of their garlic toast.


We came home and played a game of Qwirkle (which we borrowed from my mom). Our game had alternate endings...Ending #1 Landon supposedly won by 5 points, Ending #2 I won (of course I am going with ending #2).


Randy cracked us up and baffled us at the same time by using this little throw (given to me years ago by Missy Claudia) as a shawl to help keep him warm...what the? He's a ginormous man, this seems like it couldn't possibly help.

We finally got to see the movie "Tangled" and were very happy with it.

After a stop at Costco, we came home to eat mozzarella sticks (our nod to party food) and to have a Qwirkle rematch. At one point Landon realized he was keeping score with a "Girls Rule" pencil.


We were all shocked when Whitney beat us all (by a lot). We don't want to discount her victory, but since she was surprised every time she scored big points we don't think it was a keen strategy that helped her win, but possibly the lack thereof.

After hanging out for awhile longer, I decided to end the year by treating myself to a book and an early bedtime (9:22pm)...what can I say, I had a headache and was tired?


We woke up to our windows frozen shut and some seriously cold weather.


We spent a couple hours taking down all the Christmas stuff, and of course I found the advent stockings and the ribbon I'd been looking for all month long! They were both in this box (with a stocking on it...hello!) which had been in a clear container I had checked multiple times; apparently it never occurred to me that those items (or anything else really) were in that box. Duh!


I don't see how I could ever forget where I put them, but I wrote a note and positioned the container facing out on the shelf in the garage (most likely this will mock me all year long).


I gotta text from my mom inviting us to join them (and everyone else it turns out) at JCW's for lunch. That place is crazy on a good day, so to be there with a party of 18 was kind of a joke.


We ended up having a girls' booth and a boys' booth and then had the kids scattered around at other tables. We were there for so long that the crowd thinned out and the little kids ran around obnoxiously for a bit.


While stopped at a red light a group of people on 5 horses crossed the street...I hadn't seen that before!

I have spent the rest of the day doing laundry, preparing a lesson for tomorrow (for my new calling) and jotting ideas for my other new calling (are you intrigued?). I am seriously bummed out that we are switching to 9:00am church tomorrow and am panicked that I have to have everything ready the night before; I have loved having the cushion that 2:00 church has given us.

**What did you do for New Year's Eve and Day?
Ever seen horses cross at a stop light?
Did you take down your Christmas stuff?
What time is your church tomorrow?**

Comment Window Tidbit: As if it wasn't sad enough that I have to go back to work on Monday, it turns out that Randy gets Monday off because New Year's fell on Saturday. $#@!

12 on the 12th--December Edition

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01. I woke up at 7:40 this morning and found Landon showered and ready for the day. He's got a good thing going with his early-rising ways.
02. Our yard looks strangely Fall-like for December 12th!
03. I dropped Landon off at the Bishop's house for a Morningside with all the Youth from our ward.
04. I'm not always keen on the sight of 4 huge Sunday papers waiting for me to sort through them for their coupony goodness. (It can be overwhelming.)
05. I had a bunch of white-chocolate encrusted dishes to wash because I made this for our family gathering Saturday night.
06. Whitney and I "made" cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
07. I spent some quality time on the computer loading photos into Smugmug and doing some blogging.
08. The kids spent some time looking at photos on the computer. They love being able to look back on years of photos and videos.
09. I sorted through the newspapers and pulled out all the stuff I need to look through and cut out.
10. I spent some time in the cozy reading this great article from the December Ensign.
11. We had a good afternoon at church.
12. We watched part of the First Presidency's Christmas Fireside for Family Home Evening, and later watched the finale of The Amazing Race.

**How was your 12th?
Will you be joining the
12 on the 12th project in January?
Do you get the Sunday paper?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I needed another Saturday this weekend, dang it!

Miscellaneous Monday

I seem to be over run with miscellany lately, and it's a good thing because otherwise I'd be at a loss for what to post about today.


Landon and Lucas recruited Randy to play football with them on Saturday even though it was cold with blowing snow flurries. The three of them played for over an hour before them came inside pink-cheeked and happy...and one of them was a little sore.


Whitney got a good mail package from her pen pal Luci and was very happy about it.


This is one of the very few photos in existence of me doing Sharing Time since I'm the one who usually takes the pictures. But this time I was having 7 boys dress up and act out the story of Alma the Younger, so I handed my camera to one of the other leaders. Even after doing this every month for 2 years I still find it kind of amazing that I can get up in front of so many people without anxiety.

Whitney strikes again!

We had a great Family Home Evening lesson (if I do say so myself) and talked to the kids about how being their parents is our responsibility and that we want them to be safe and happy and to succeed in life. I love how our lessons end up becoming family discussions where everyone contributes and we can speak openly. Landon was in charge of the game for the night and we played "Killer Bunnies" which really should be called "Much Ado About Nothing".

**What's your miscellany?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I just spent 45 minutes outside playing catch and then soccer (with minimal gimpy running on my part) with Landon, then Whitney and her friends, and it was so windy and cold that I have brain freeze from the outside in!

Five for Friday

1. This was on the back of Whitney's spelling test last week. Pledge, edge and stage were all words from her list, but I think she added the blah, blah herself.


2. This picture of Andrew's recent graduation from "school" is hilarious to me because...

A. Whoever took it had no zooming skills whatsoever
B. His hat is slightly askew, which is just too perfect.
C. I can't believe they got him to wear the cap and gown at all.

3. A couple weeks ago during Sharing Time I had the kids draw pictures of things that let them know Heavenly Father and Jesus love them. The kids drew their families, nature, scriptures, and one little 8 year old girl drew Target! I thought that was hilarious and oh so true!


4. It was Whitney's teacher's birthday this week so I brought balloons and donuts, and the room mom made a video of all the kids answering questions about the teacher and put it together as a little movie. I thought it was a very cool gift.


5. Amie and I went to lunch at La Dolce Vida yesterday on a spontaneous outing to Provo because Amie had to deposit a check.

Good times and good lunch.

**Who knew spelling test art could be funny?
What do you think of the Target incident?
Do you have movie making skills?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm having a bizarre case of left nostril itchiness. It's driving me crazy!

Randomalicious

I really have to give up my Sunday nap for good. I thought I'd done so successfully a couple months ago, but it crept back in under the guise of reading in the cozy. It's just so hard to say no to something so wonderful, but really there's hell to pay later so I should be grown-up enough to foresee the sleepless consequences and make good choices. Our church meeting schedule moves to 2:00 (as opposed to our current 11:30) so I will be able to sleep in and read in the cozy guilt-free, woohoo for that.

{Our yard yesterday}

So pretty much what I'm saying is that I couldn't fall asleep until around 2:00am and now am tired today and fighting the urge to flee to the cozy again. I have done 3 loads of laundry this morning, vacuumed the whole house, done some dusting, picked up a lot of Whitney's crap (I can't take it, she's trying to kill me with her messes) but have yet to exercise or shower. I'm cold, so I want to move directly into a hot shower.

I haven't seen any further evidence of our little mouse guest (get it, sounds like house guest?) but think I heard rustling and nibbling in the pantry. Why can't it just leave of his own free will and spare us from becoming rodent murderers? I had mice, hamsters and rats as pets as a child, so I am a softy when it comes to their cuteness, not so much when it comes to their turds. What to do, what to do?

This week I've got 3 visiting teaching appointments, a presidency meeting, a ward youth talent night, Envision Your Mission, Whitney's art class, and Tithing settlement, sheesh--all but 2 of those things are on Wednesday!

Also, Whitney fought me about wearing shorts to school this morning. Hello the high today is 41 degrees and it was only 18 degrees when the kids left for school, am I a beasty mom or what?

**Do you have a busy week ahead?
Can you sleep at night if you take a nap?
Do you ever have to fight the urge to go back to bed?
Do you make your kids dress for the weather?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Have you guys checked out the show "Modern Family" yet? It's hilarious. I keep rewatching the episodes online at ABC.com.

A Different Kind of Holy

Michelle tried to give me an out so that I wouldn't have to go to church in Paris again, but that was just craziness, especially since Max was giving his first talk in church.

The stairs in the apartment building.

I'm so bummed out that our self-portrait in the Metro is blurry, but I'd left my camera on manual focus and we were hurrying to get on that train.


I really like this picture (notice Max holding his talk in the window's reflection).

The view during our power walk down the street to church.

One of the cafes we passed.

These are the big blue doors they have to go through to get to the church parking lot. How's that for style?


I went to Relief Society with Michelle and hardly understood anything. My ears heard, French, French, French, Love, French, French, French, Mother, French, French, French, Frere Monson, French, French, French, Father.

I was very thankful for the hymns chosen that day, Because I Have Been Given Much (one of my great favorites), Press Forward Saints and We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet, even though I struggled pronouncing the French translations I still felt the Spirit while I was singing.

I understood even less during Gospel Doctrine, and ended up reading the Conference issue of the Ensign I'd brought with me and managed to read 3 talks before dozing.

Pretty much the only thing I understood during church that day was Max's talk. He did a great job, especially considering the Bishop had to translate on the fly for him after each paragraph. That meant Max had to stand up there twice as long.

I finally got a picture of Lucas' face!

Eva entertained herself by hopping on the stones of the parking lot. (Even the parking lot has character.)

The view of the other side of the big, blue doors.

One of the scenes on the way back to the Metro.

The Hôtel de Ville is right next to their Metro stop.

Eva didn't want to ride in the stroller on the way home and looked so cute holding onto the pole in the train.

We read and napped after church and relaxed for awhile before heading out in the late afternoon to the Jardin du Luxembourg for my last Paris outing and Sunday-friendly activity.

This was the beautiful view from the bus stop.

A man at the bus stop.

Two cute old ladies at the bus stop,
so bundled up though it wasn't cold at all.


We passed this cafe on our way after getting off the bus.

Do I even need to say how beautiful the Jardin du Luxembourg was? Oh my goodness, it was such a perfect day.


There were tons of people there enjoying the park and this girl seemed to have the right idea.

You're speechless right?

Michelle and Eva (in their cute scarves) fed the ducks and the fish.

{photo by Michelle}

After walking around enjoying everything, I sat down to write a bunch of my postcards.

Of course we had to have a self-portrait there.

This is where I was sitting.

I love it that they have boat rentals there.

Michelle took this picture of me and I'm including it because I feel like it captures the radiance of Jardin du Luxembourg and my happiness at being there.

Wow.

I love the outdoor cafes in the parks, this one had just closed.

I love this shot of Eva standing next to The Medici Fountain.

We had just sat down to enjoy the sunset when an annoying whistle blowing started. It was at a distance but got closer and turned out to be a man/officer? announcing that the park was closing. What the?

One last look back as we left the park.

We had some bus issues getting back home and did a lot of walking before finally conceding defeat and taking the Metro back to the apartment.

The rest of the evening was spent packing my suitcase and reading while Michelle made dinner (which I failed to take a picture of), then Michelle, Marc and I watched a couple episodes of The Closer (which is what we did every night of the trip, I'm officially hooked) before going to bed around 1:00am.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I've been out of my B-Complex vitamins for 2 days and have gotten a headache 2 days in a row...coincidence? I think not!