Miscellany--Phone Style

It is already time for Whitney to register for her 9th grade classes (how did that happen so fast?!). She applied (along with 110 other kids) to be in the yearbook class. This involved getting two teacher recommendations, submitting 5 photos she'd taken, and filling out the application questions. (I'm happy to report she got in!)

Whitney and her friends were standing outside the office one day during lunch time so I started taking pictures of them.

Amie's daughter Jessica is a senior in high school and is also enrolled in beauty school so I scheduled an appointment to have her give me a manicure. I've known Jessica since she was 4 so it's kind of crazy that she's so grown up now.

Michelle and I met up with Collette for her birthday lunch on February 6th.

Michelle and I went to Pebbles in My Pocket after lunch and found all kinds of cute things (I am addicted to tags) and ended up buying stuff to make Valentines.

 I love coming home to find Landon doing his homework!

Saturday February 7th was so glorious that Whitney and I read outside for an hour!

 Junie basked in the sun next to us.

Randy and I went to dinner at La Costa with Adam and Amy while the girls hung out at home.

My visiting teaching companion and I did a 3 minute stint on visiting our sisters regularly during our Relief Society Visiting Teaching Conference. I had Randy make this poster for me to show how we're all connected through visiting teaching...I love it!

Sometimes you just gotta take a nap horizontally across the bed with your feet hanging off and no blankets or pillow...what the?!

Our Valentine making day was a success! Michelle made treat bags for her visiting teaching people and a bunch of cute Valentines to mail. I made treat bags for my co-workers and book club friends.

I got this funny Valentine in the mail from Natalie S. It's the only one I got.

I read in the cozy every day, this time Landon stopped in and grabbed my phone for a selfie.

We read Man's Search For Meaning last week for Bookclub and all loved it. I'm always reluctant to read non fiction and concentration camp type books because they're so rough on my soul, but this was super inspiring.

I gave this bottle of cuteness to my Secret Pal.

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.

Creative Friday--Minimal Day Edition

Monday was a minimal day at school (so the teachers could have meetings) so Landon and I were able to get to Michelle's house by 2:15 with drinks in hand! Michelle worked on some cute Valentines while I put a few packages together and wrote some cards. (Isn't it weird to see Michelle's newly painted kitchen cabinets in the background?)

Lucas is oh so pleased to be almost taller than Michelle and as tall or taller (the hair made it hard to tell) than Landon. Landon is almost exactly a year older than him and yet Lucas is closing in!

It always feels so good to write the cards I've been intending to write.

Our lovely mess!

We were delightfully kid-free for most of our time, but the last hour or so was spent with Max on the computer, Eva at the table with us working on Valentines and Landon and Lucas in the family room playing Rock Band (until I had to beg them to stop because I couldn't take it anymore).

This is my happy output for the day, 5 cards and 3 packages! I so miss sending and receiving good mail as in days of yore. My mailbox used to be such a fruitful place.

**Did you send any Valentines?

Can you stand listening to someone playing Rock Band?

Have you sent any good mail lately?**

Comment Window Tidbit: The new season of Survivor starts tonight, woohoo! I don't watch much TV these days, but this is one show I really look forward to watching each week.

A Rumbly Game Night

We gathered for game night last night and had a new game to play thanks to Adam's Barnes and Noble gift card. We'd heard that the game Dominion was a fun one, so he splurged and used his gift card for our benefit.


Landon and Tess were buddies and squeezed into the office chair to watch "The Sandlot".


Bella, Whitney and Megan played in our bedroom. Whitney usually invents all kinds of creative games for them to play, but when I took this picture Bella was playing Tetris on Randy's very old Nintendo.


Adam was experiencing a bizarrely rumbly tummy and really wasn't sure how things were going to turn out (if you know what I mean), but he kept it together and still managed to beat us all in Quiddler, Dominion and Bang!


My mom and Robyn showed up at the end of the night (they'd gone to a movie together) bearing Valentine Gifts.


My mom brought bags of treats and little gifts for the kids (Landon gave her "bones").


And she gave me, Robyn, Amy and Lori these cute bags...Adam and Randy got some chocolate-macadamia nut clusters.


After everybody left and I was about to put my camera away Landon said, "Let's take a self-portrait, just for the love of it" how could I resist that?

**Have you ever played Dominion?
Do you use Antacid very often?
Do you celebrate the love of self-portraits?**

Where to start??

Once again I'm totally overwhelmed by the thought of trying to recover from 3 days without posting. I've got Shmalentine's Day pictures, Creative Friday, Gym Status Report, Whitneyisms, Good Mail, Updates to my wall of frames, etc. You can see my dilemma.

These are the goodies Randy gave me for Shmalentine's Day. I enjoyed everything, but my favorite part was his funny explanations for each item.


Randy's amusing card (I cropped out the personal part).

The load of stuff I worked on Creative Friday at Michelle's house. Very satisfying.

I'm loving the gym and have gone Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past 2 weeks! I actually want to go and haven't tried to talk myself out of going, even when my schedule has gotten complicated. This is huge for me!

Whitney made shoes out of empty candy boxes. I had taken the boxes off the table in her room (foolishly thinking they were trash) and the next thing I knew she had transformed them into shoes! Creative genius, I think yes!

This is the awesome, McDreamy Valentine Alison sent me (along with cute stickers for Whitney). Thanks Alison! I have it hanging on my fridge for long-time viewing pleasure.

Jana did a Valentine's Good Mail Express Delivery and gave me this very cute little mailbox, fantastic cookies (I ate 4 of the 6) and some fun Making Memories items. Thanks Jana!

Jenn mailed this great Valentine's package. I love everything! Thanks Jenn.

Penny (one of the sweet ladies I visit teach) dropped off this cute garland for Valentine's day. It doesn't go with my house at all, but I am so touched by her thoughtfulness that I want to find a place for it.

Amy M. sent me this creative genius Valentine and wrote a sweet note. Thanks Amy!


Hannah sent me one of her great Valentine's items. This is such a good idea. I hung it on my bulletin and will be reading it multiple times a day. Thanks Hannah!

I was with Michelle when she was making her darling Valentine's, but it was still a total treat getting one in the mail. Thanks Michelle!

I got this cute thank you note from Amie. It was pleasing on all levels. Thanks Amie!


I got this darling thank-you note from Lisa. Thanks for your kind words!

Crystalyn sent me this great magnetic definition of what it means to be a happiness maker. I love this thing and have it hanging on my fridge. Thanks Crystalyn!

Melinda sent me this cute package and thank you note. Thanks Melinda! (Notice that they stamped the postmark on her good mail label, I think it looks very cool.)

I got this cute card from Natasha. I love her hand-written good mail stamp on the envelope. Thanks Natasha!


I got this cute thank you from Sista #2 (Janae), so nice. Thanks Janae!

Chanel sent me this very cute thank you note on Saturday. This envelope is so pretty.

I finally switched out a few of the photos on my photo wall and added a couple new frames. This delights me to no end. It's one of those little projects I always think I'm going to do, but somehow don't make time to do. I finally did on Friday morning and was giddy about it.

Today is President's Day and Randy has taken the kids to Logan to visit a friend of his (who happens to have 7 kids for ours to play with) so I am having a glorious day of solitude at home, bliss.

**How do you recover from multiple days of not blogging?
What home projects are you wanting to get busy with?
Did you send anything Valentine's Day? I'm bummed
out that I didn't manage my time well enough to do that.**

Note to the Amys--Could you please put your last initial next to your name when commenting? Because if your picture doesn't show up it's hard to figure out who is who. Thanks!