2016! Week 43

My friend SueAnne sent me a text this week with a picture of her daughter wearing her wonder woman costume from the picture below.  We joked she should try it on and see if it still fit.  This is a picture of the Hello Week assembly the SBO's put on the first week of school 1995.  We all dressed up as characters that represented friendship, perseverance, loyalty, etc.  

I was Annie(on the left). I miss these days. It was fun reminiscing.

Our ward held our annual Trunk or Treat.  I was in charge of the children's parade.  I dressed up like Olive Oil, only I lost the wig so I was a blond Olive Oil.  There was a grandpa there with his grand daughter who was scared to get in the parade with out him so I offered to hold her hand and let her walk with me.  He said I should get a job as a Disney Princess at Disneyland because I was so great with kids- ha ha. Little does he know that would be my dream job but you can't be older then 27 or taller than 5' 7" so it's never going to happen. 

Ethan never had a birthday party so I promised him we would do a party some other time.  He decided he wanted to do a Halloween party on Saturday.  It was so last minute that I didn't think anyone would come but ten kids showed up.  They ate pizza, played night games, played trick or treat(you put slips of paper in balloons that have either a trick- something you have to do, or a treat on them), played ping pong of death, mafia-led by Ashtyn and then we had a spooky dessert bar where they had to choose one of four spooky desserts off the menu and it corresponded to a real dessert- so they didn't know what they were going to get. 

I tried to stay out of the way and let Ethan run the party.  They had a blast. 

 Whipped Snail Slime= ice cream, Fried Intestines= Donut, Scrambled Brains= Rice Krispy Treat & Werewolf Droppings= Chocolate Chip Cookie

 Here is a shot of a few of them.  He has such great friends.

Sunday was our Primary Program.  It turned out so so cute! We had the kids color the front of the programs.  We have a pretty big Primary.  There were 116 kids in the program all with speaking parts and we sang 14 songs.  I was so proud of them.  We had slips of paper in the program for people to writ the kids a note and we got back so many beautiful notes.  I love this calling. 

Sundays are my least favorite days because by the time we get back from church everyone is tired and just wants to lounge around.  I always have these visions of us sitting together playing games, visiting our grandparents, singing songs around the piano and reading scriptures all snuggled up on the couch.  The reality is the TV usually gets turned on for way too long, everyone fights over which games to play, no one but me wants to visit the grandparents and the scripture reading happens at the table with no one listening.  It makes me feel really defeated.  Our family has such vast likes and dislikes that it's hard to find something we all want to do.  I always wanted to be the family that....(insert whatever activity you love here).  We would all love to do it together and it would be a great way to foster unity and loyalty.  Unfortunately there is nothing that we all like and so trying to get us all together is frustrating and hard and if you can't envision what I mean click on this LINK. It is all too accurate for me right now.

2016! Week 42

 I have been using the Walmart groceries online service all year and I love it.  Or at least I did until I have had problems on my last three orders.  There have been items missing or time delays every time lately  and it's frustrating(these are my angry eyes).  This week my order was delayed by three hours.  They don't bother to call and tell you there is a delay and when I called to check on the order there was no answer.  I ended up driving to the store only to be told they hadn't even processed my order. It was very frustrating but the convenience of not having to shop in store keeps me coming back.

 Here is the pillow I found to go with the chair.  It's from Home Goods.

 Our neighbors have a sweet theater room at their house and they invited us to come watch the BYU game.  I had to go to a scout meeting first so by the time we started the game it was after nine and I was so so tired I could barely keep my eyes open.  We lost but it was fun to hang out with friends. The scout meeting ended up being really good too.  They shared the scripture in Alma 4:3&4 "...therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty. And they began to establish the church more fully" I love that because I believe that scouting does just that for young men.  It helps them remember who they are and it trains them to be leaders. I don't always have the best attitude about all that scouts requires but I know it is a good program.

 Malia and the kids are in town and they invited us to go with them to Tracy Aviary. Ruby has changed so much since we saw her last.  She is so darn cute!

 Corban is still as cute as ever and his cousin Willow came along as well.

 Malia'a mom and her brother Isaac came too.  Isaac is the one that got us the tickets.  He knows everything there is to know about birds so it was like having our own little tour guide with us.  

It was awesome!

 The bird show was so fun and we got to see several birds up close.

 Malia was brave enough to be a volunteer.

 The pigeons were eating right out of the kids hands. 

I don't think the pigeons are actually part of the aviary and have just taken it over for the free food.

 

 

 

  We had a blast hanging out with these guys. 

It was also a perfect day weather wise so 

it made for a nice trip.

 Saturday night we went out to dinner as a family to Applebee's. Having teenagers is a lot like wearing a back pack filled with rocks while walking up hill in a river of mud.  It's a challenge 99% of the time but the views from the top are amazing. They never agree on anything so finding something our whole family likes to do has been tough.  It's nice when we can all come together.  

 The Shaw's came over Sunday night for homemade Cafe Rio pork salads.  

These cousins adore eachother.  It's always a good time.

2016! Week 41

 Still working on the chair. Here it is with three coats of paint. 

Here is the chair almost finished. I still need to do some touch up on the cushion and  

I am going to get a different pillow- that one is off our bed and maybe add some nailhead.  

I think it looks way better than before. However it is pretty stiff.  I knew it would be, especially the type of fabric it was but it's definitely not really a chair for lounging in.  

 Brooklyn discovered my UCAM Makeup app.  She was a big fan of the pink hair.  We had made a trip to Lowes to get some sand paper so I could finish the chair and 

Melinda could get some wood for another project she is working on. 

 This week was Reality Town for Whitney.  This is a work based learning program I have talked about before that helps to teach kids about the real world.  They are assigned a job and a family senerios and then have to go around to different booths and use their monthly income to pay bills.  The higher your G.P.A. the better job you get to have.  Whitney was a physical theripist.  She was divorced with two kids.  Her monthly income was $3417.  They had to buy health insurance, a house, visit the doctor, buy a phone, buy a car, pay for daycare, buy groceries, pay utilities, etc. and stay within their budget. I got to help at the communications booth selling phone, cable and internet service.  It was pretty funny how many kids only wanted to buy a land line and dial up internet service just so they could save their money.  We of course had to ask them to consider their jobs and 

what kinds of things they would realisically need.  It was so fun.

I love this yogurt.  I love that it doesn't taste too sweet like most yogurt.  I also love the flavor combinations and this is one of my very favorites.  It has such a subtle pumpkin flavor and the topping flavors blend perfectly with it.  I'd better get it while I can because it's only a seasonal flavor.

 Election time just got real. Jeff and I got our mail in ballots.  

Now if only we had any idea about who to vote for.

 We had plans to go to Lagoon one more time this weekend before it closes.  We have loved having season passes.  Jeff had to mow the lawn before we left and that turned into a five hour affair doing yard work.  Only Ashtyn wanted to go so by the time we left we didn't get there until 3 PM.  It was so crowded.  More than I have ever seen even in the summer.  We always ride Cannibal first and the line was triple what I have seen.  Luckily it moves fast and we only had to wait about 40 minutes start to finish.  But that proved to be the shortest line we would wait in.  Next we rode the rocket and the nice, kind, teenage worker running the ride was completely oblivious to how long the line was and decided to make small talk with every single person getting on the ride along with not utilizing the que at all so we waited for over an hour.  I do love this ride though.  It is such a rush. In total we only rode four rides.  It was fun to see Lagoon all decorated for Halloween.  Afterward we went to dinner at Cafe Rio.  It was so fun to just get to hang out with Ashtyn one on one.

We stopped to watch this dance show that was pretty awesome.  They came out with chainsaws and the girl sitting next to me almost jumped in my lap she was so scared.  

We are preparing for our Primary Program right now so we had planned to have all of the children and teachers stay in the chapel for a few minutes so we could go over the flow and seating chart. Unfortunately there was a missionary homecoming that day so the meeting went over by almost fifteen minutes.  I hate the way our Stake does these and maybe that is how it is in all wards but they always schedule a musical number and another speaker so the poor missionary is left with ten minutes if he is lucky to speak.  It doesn't help that due to the huge number of people who come to hear the missionary the sacrament takes double the time as well.  I personally think they should let the missionary go first because that is who everyone came to see.  The other girl speakind did give an awesome talk and they ended up just doing the musical number in place of the closing hymn.  So by the time everyone cleared out of the chapel and we got started it was a ridiculous mess with kids all over the place, teachers just standing around not helping and us trying to direct people where to go.  At first all I could do was laugh because it felt like a bad dream but then someone who was using the third overflow for a class came in and told us we were being too loud.  We tried turning down the microphone but it was still too loud so we just decided to end early and go back to the primary room.  I had a little bit of a melt down and started bawling.  I felt no support from half of the teachers, my secretary and one counselor weren't there that day to help and we just have a massive amount of kids so everything is harder.  It also didn't help that three teachers told me they can't be there for the program and a famlily with three kids, one of which had a main part, also will be unable to be in the program so we have to change their parts around.  I know the program will turn out great but boy is it way more work then I ever imagined.

2016! Week 40

I completely forgot to post about a cute new restaurant my friend and I tried.  It is right next to the Herriman Rec Center so I discovered it while waiting for the swim team to end one day.  It is called Knots On Main and it is French so my other french loving friend Aubrey and I tried it for lunch at the end of September.  It was started by two French siblings.  It was decorated so cute and the food was great.  We also grabbed some pastries on the way out.  Profiteroles are my favorite.  It's basically just a chocolate covered cream puff. It was great preparation for Aubrey too because she is actually in Paris right now as I type this.  

To say I am jealous is an understatement.

I had a head of cauliflower that needed to be used so I tried a low carb cauliflower bread stick.  It was pretty good but not a good substitute for real bread sticks.  

I guess I just love carbs way too much. 

While I was making the cauliflower into rice in my blender I stuck my 

favorite spoon in to far and it broke.

One of the things on my "Live Big List" that I have always wanted to do is to try painting a piece of furniture.  Jeff's family had this pink chair in their front room for years and every time one of them went to a dance they had to take a picture with the pink chair so it's pretty special.  Jeff's sister inherited it when his parents moved and had intended to reupholster it but never had time so it just sat in a corner and got dirty.  She asked me if I wanted to have it and I grabbed it up.  I am going to put it in my bedroom if it turns out well.

You have to mix the paint with a fabric medium so that it doesn't crack and so that it will not cause the fabric to go hard and crunchy.
It ends up feeling like canvas when you are done.
 I have heard it can take up to four coats so we will see.

 Here it is after two coats of paint.  

This week was Young Women's in Excellence.  They honored the girls that received their medallions this year.  I got to go up and talk about Ashtyn and what an incredible girl she is.  

Then I got to crown her with a flower wreath.  

It was such an awesome night.  

We have an amazing group of young women in our ward.

They had all of the girls wear white and it looked so awesome!  

These are the girls that were honored. Lydia, Emma, Makayla, Jacilyn(in the photo) and Ashtyn

Ashtyn with two of her friends Rylee and Beverly

When my grandma Betty moved I got this old apron from her.  It is one that she had started to sew but never finished.  I packed it away in a drawer and forgot all about it until this week when I was looking for an apron to wear.  I got out my sewing machine and finished it off so I could wear it. It makes is all the more special to me that my grandma and I both worked on it.

I really really love the magazine section at the library.  I need a room like this in my house.

Our neighbors got together and went on a date.  I know I have said this before but we live on the best street ever!!  One of the couples ended up not being able to go so I invited  the Seim's that live over by our church who are also great friends. The other couples were the Russell's, Barney's and Poulters. The Barney's. Russell's and us went to dinner first at the Tin Roof Grill that was featured on Diners, Drive In's and Dives.  The food was pretty good.  Then we all met the others at Conquer The Chamber which is an escape room.  This was the most fun I have ever had.  We had to all work together to find and figure out clues that lead to keys and locks that took us to other rooms where there were more clues.  We had one hour to escape.  They told us when we started that only 30-40% of people escape.  We did it with six minutes to spare.  It seriously was awesome!  I totally want to find another one and try it again.  

Saturday was our annual hike up Y mountain.  This year we invited Ian, my neighbor Chris and our old friends the Leflers and their daughter.  Chris and the Leflers ended up not being able to go so it was just us and Ian.  They have completely remodled the trail and all the signage and fences. They also put in a trail to the middle of the Y in addition to the trail to the bottom and top.  It is really nice.  It started out chilly but warmed up on our way down. 

 I love that we do this hike and have this tradition.  

 Jeff and I agreed that it was a lot harder this year then in the past.  Maybe because it was longer or maybe because we are getting older. So it made us happy to see this sign.

They installed lights in the Y to make it easier to light up.

As you can see they do not allow you to get on the Y any more.  There are signs like these everywhere.  You can also see Jeff in the background taking the picture below on the Y.  Yeah rules don't apply to Shaw's ha ha.

Afterward we went to the park and had lunch and played baseball like we always do.  We played adults agains kids and after all of the adults got home runs on the first try we gave the kids a few extra turns.  The trees were so gorgeous and so full of color still.

Ian had to head home afterward because he had a date later that day so our family headed over to the campus.  They have also redone the book store.  Ashtyn found a new boyfriend. Ha Ha.

Now she's cheating on her boyfriend with Cosmo.

I really wanted to go to the art museum but started feeling too tired so we just headed to the creamery and grabbed some ice cream to go.  What a fun day. 

This weekend was also our Stake Conference.  There were some wonderful messages that I definitely needed to hear. They held a special youth session with Elder Hansen from the 70.  He asked for volunteers to come up and ask any questions they might have.  We weren't there obviously but some parents told me that Ashtyn went up and asked "How do we know if we are ready to meet God and can we still get ready in the Millenium?" I was so impressed that she had the courage to do that. She told us that she wants to get her patriachal blessing.  Ashtyn and Whitney also both sang in the choir at the youth session and regular session.  It was a special young women's choir.  They sang the song Firm in the Faith in the youth session and Elder Hansen loved it so much that he asked them to sing it again twice in the regular session.  I am so proud of the people my children are becoming.  It was a very much needed tender mercy after some very hard days we have had lately.