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1. I went walking with Hayley at 6:30am and as always we found a flosser (so gross) on the road.
2. I love summer mornings!
3. I'm loving this arrangement on our porch.
4. Some of us went for a walk around the buildings for a break at work so we took a selfie.
5. Roses at work.
6. It feels like I'm always getting gas even though it's really about once a week.
7. My feet at the gas station.
8. I can barely make it two months between hair appointments because the grays are taking over!
9. What I'm reading.
10. Randy through the kitchen window as I was walking to the front door.
11. He made us spaghetti for dinner.
12. Our current bedroom set up, I'm not loving this duvet cover but it will do for now.

12 on the 12th--May 2019 Edition

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1. Sunday mornings are especially rough for Whitney, she is dead to the world even with her room being bright and me making lots of noise.
2. Mother's day goodies on the counter.
3. Alium in bloom.
4. The lilacs did great this year, we can smell them from the front yard.
5. Mother's Day photos with the kids, always interesting
6. Ditto
7. Ditto
8. We had Randy and Ferris join us for this one.
9. I found this in my photos and thought it was kind of cool.
10. Gift cards from the family.
11. The books I'm reading, one for book club and one for fun.
12. Hunkering at the end of the day enjoying my cute toes.

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.

Tidbits

Really?! Flip flops and no jacket? But she went out there to shovel of her own accord, what was I to do?

Whitney's episode made Landon's shoveling in shorts seem positively bundled!

It's another new year so I set the goal to read 40 more books. It always seems like I read more than that, but I'm not a very fast reader so I really don't.

Plus, I stupidly started this 692 page book last week...this is going to take forever!

Here's my latest pedicure, January and gray seem to go together.

The book club girls got together for a birthday lunch to celebrate Jenn's 40th.

Being the Primary Secretary is a full-time job in the week leading up to the new year. I had no idea what I was in for and seriously spent more than 40 hours working on stuff that week. Fortunately most of it could be done at home in the comfort of my pajamas, but I kept thinking that it's a good thing I like doing this stuff (organizing and typing and such) or I would be bugged.

I've been pinning lots of gift tags on Pinterest and have downloaded and printed them (at our local copy store so I don't use all my ink) and am tickled. I love having cute tags at the ready, and was very happy with this birthday gift for my Secret Pal.

Amie and I got together for a long lunch to catch up on Christmas.

Jenn sent me this cute thank you note and reminded me how much I miss getting good mail regularly. I still send notes all the time, but there was a time when there was something good in my mailbox several times a week and now I don't get anything unless I order it online!

I came across this vignette in Whitney's area of the bedroom and just had to laugh. 

Randy designed these Article of Faith punch cards based on a design I found on Sugardoodle so we're using them in our primary this year. I kind of love them!

Tuesday Tidbits

It wouldn't kill you to comment...I'm just saying.

Last Tuesday Michelle and I were able to meet up for pedicures at almost the last minute (i.e., arranged by text an hour before). We got there 15 minutes after the place opened so the scent of incense was overpowering! I was mouth-breathing immediately and feared I'd get a headache, but I ended up being fine. It must have been strongest by the front doors where we stood for a long time choosing our polish colors. 

After our pedicures I had to go to the Scout Store to get all the awards for the biggest Court of Honor of the year. Technically I was released a month ago from being the Advancement Chair Person but they hadn't called anyone else yet and I told them I'd do this last one. It ended up being quite the run around getting everything taken care of though so what normally takes 10 minutes at the store took 30. 

The lengthy visit at the store made me late for Lori's birthday lunch at Kneader's, but I texted them my order so it was waiting for me when I arrived.

Whitney made this for Lori's birthday.

I spent much of the evening organizing, labeling and prepping the merit badges for the Court of Honor.

We had deliciously Fall-like weather all week with cool temperatures and rain off and on. I absolutely loved it!

Whitney made a Barbie washer and dryer out of Pop Tart boxes (which I bought especially so she could make these). The shelf is an iPhone box. I wish I looked this cute doing laundry!

I finished reading Revolutionary Road and just loved it. Lori had been raving about it for so long that I finally borrowed her book and gave it a whirl. Now I'm bummed that I didn't have my own copy because there were so many poignant passages I would have marked. I think this is one I'll be rereading. I loved all the delicate nuances going on in the marriages portrayed and I felt comforted to know I'm not alone in some of my less than kind thoughts sometimes. Marriage relationships are complicated and we are all such flawed beings that often what's happening in a conversation is not really what's happening at all; this book beautifully illustrated this complicated dynamic.

"Both the Campbells made conscientious little clucks of amusement, and Shep discreetly inspected his watch. But the worst part--the worst part of the whole weekend, if not of his life to date--was the way April was looking at him. He had never seen such a stare of pitying boredom in her eyes.

It haunted him all night, while he slept alone; it was still there in the morning, when he swallowed his coffee and backed down the driveway in the crumpled old Ford he used for a station car. And riding to work, one of the youngest and healthiest passengers on the train, he sat with the look of a man condemned to a very slow, painless death. He felt middle-aged."
 page 71

Landon's "girl friend" Kassidy was sick on Sunday so he made her some Muddy Buddies (his favorite treat), wrote her a card and gave her a bottle of Powerade as well. We dropped it off after church. What a sweet guy he is! She was giddy about it and posted a picture of it on Instagram and then came into the office at school yesterday to thank me for dropping it off.

Miscellany

Hello...is this thing on? Where is everyone? Comment people comment!

I went over to Michelle's house last week to help her paint Eva's bedroom. It's hard to believe that it's time for an update, but it's over 8 years since I helped her paint that room the first time!

We never know what wackiness Whitney will come up with! She made a mustache out of duct tape one night and then played the part a little too well, it was creepy!

Whitney has been making more fun Barbie creations and totally wowed us with this flute! It is made of toothpicks and eyelets!

 

 She also made this patio table, drinks, nachos and a taco out of paper.

I took Landon for his 4th and final meeting with the guy from the city who worked with us on Landon's Eagle Project...the paperwork is almost all done now!

One of my favorite things about summer is watching "So You Think You Can Dance", this season is looking good so far.

Amie and I got together for a long lunch and some bonus shopping (we ended up having way more time than we thought we'd have), so it felt like we got away with something.

Amy M. was kind enough to have Whitney over for a couple night sleepover (hooray) so we drove up there Friday night to hang out with Adam, Amy and Lori  and to pick Whitney up. It's always fun to see what chalk art will be on their wall.

 Michelle and I got together yesterday for lunch and pedicures. We got our toes done in the same color OPI "Fly" which we're both loving right now (apparently Eva is too). I was sporting my new glittery Rocket Dogs, yeah summer!

I spent a couple hours cleaning out Whitney's side of the closet, this was half the stuff she had shoved on the floor in there! It's best for everyone if I do this while she's at camp otherwise we'd all be crying! I fear she'll be a hoarder when she grows up.

I spent 3 glorious hours sitting under our big shade trees reading (taking small breaks to move the sprinkler) and enjoying our gloriously cool (68 degrees) weather today!! I would love doing this any time, but felt particularly grateful not to be sweaty and miserable at camp in St. George!