Thursday, July 28, 2016

Food 4 Thought Friday

GET YOUR APPETITE ON and PLAY ALONG! Just copy and paste the questions to your blog and PLEASE leave a comment that you played along so others can go and check out your answers. These are so much fun to go back and read later!

*SPECIAL REQUEST:  Please add the link of this post on your Food 4 Thought Friday post so others can find it And please be sure and check out the answers of those who left a comment and spread the love!  

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Food 4 Thought Friday!

A little feast without the calories!!

Feel free to play along for some yummy fun! I will post a new one each Thursday night. JOIN IN!!!

Food 4 Thought Friday ~ This week's questions:


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Breakfast ~ What are three staples you always have in your fridge?  Pantry?
Lunch ~ What is one dinner you remember most from you childhood and why?
Dinner ~ What is one thing you like to know about someone else?
Midnight Snack ~ What was the best and worst thing of your week?
Recipe for the Week ~ (instead of your recipe for life, what is it just for the week?)

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MY ANSWERS
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Breakfast ~ What are three staples you always have in your fridge? Yogurt (Greek now), eggs, milk. Pantry? Cereal, brownie mix, pasta.
Lunch ~ What is one dinner you remember most from you childhood and why? Creamed tuna on toast.  BLEH!  I hated it with a passion!  But my mom always made it for dinner.  When I got older, I loved this frozen thing you could buy called chipped beef gravy and I would eat that over toast. Strange I know since I hated the other.
Dinner ~ What is one thing you like to know about someone else? I am not sure I can choose one thing....but I love to know how they live their everyday life...how they run their home.  I like to know traditions they have, how they spend their time, what their priorities are etc.
Midnight Snack ~ What was the best and worst thing of your week? Best thing was I got a lot done.  Worst thing was I am still burning the candle at both ends to get everything done I need to!  It has been a busy week!
Recipe for the Week ~ (instead of your recipe for life, what is it just for the week?)
“One lives in the naïve notion that later there will be more room than in the entire past.”
–Elias Canetti
I seem to always say to myself, "I'll get around to this when I have more time in the...summer/fall/winter/spring...etc.  Or "Things will slow down soon and then I can get to this." Or "Next year will be much better."  But NOW is the time to do things. There won't be more time in the future than there is right now.  So just do it NOW.

Monday, July 25, 2016

*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   
 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!

dear monday, I got out on my run early today because it is just so hot.  I even die when I leave at 6:30 a.m.  This week is going to be a scorcher!  


I had a very long list of places to go today mostly to get things for the shower I am giving my niece on Wednesday.  I wanted to get more plants and a Rose of Sharon tree for an empty spot in my backyard and I needed to get more decors for the shower and a gift for the bride.  I left my house at 9 a.m. and returned home around 6 p.m.  That did include my harp lesson and about a two hour lunch with friends and of course, a two hour commute.  Actually more because from Kaysville I went back to Layton and then back to Bountiful.  If I would have had time after my lesson before the lunch, I would have gone to Bountiful before Layton and saved me at least 30 minutes driving time, but I didn't have the time so I had to go back.  I wasn't planning on going to Bountiful but my harp teacher told me about an amazing place to get planters and flowers that is really cheap.  I was amazed at the selection they had this late in the year.  I had already gone to Home Depot and Lowe's and a couple other places to find some plants, but this place was the best.  It is called Rockin' Country Store I think.  I got some really nice and large planters for $9!  They were 30% off, but even full price they were a killer deal.  I was grateful she told me about them.  

I met my pals at The Red Robin for lunch to celebrate Dawn's birthday.  I was so happy to see Robin there.  And Kathy even showed up late and stayed for a few photos.  We had a great time.  Carla brought bunny ears and Kathy brought ribbon.  We have no shame as far as dressing up in public.  At our age, you just don't care if people are thinking you are crazy or strange.  We know how to have fun and we know life is too short to care what others think and so we don't allow that to thwart our fun!
Okay, for these we made sure no one was around to witness. :)
I am so grateful for these Sistas.  Not having any sisters of my own, makes me even more grateful for their friendship.  They get to hang out a lot more with each other than I do since they live so close to each other, but in some ways that is good because I am not sure where I would find more friend time than I already do.  And Dave isn't real keen on the idea of me heading down south more often than I already am.  I often wonder how my life can seem more busy now than when I had five little boys running around, but it does!  I am not sure how I did it all back then because now I don't have that challenge of young children and I still feel like I run around like a chicken with it's head cut off half of the time.  It feels to me like life is speeding up and an hour no longer lasts as long as it used to.  

It was a very busy day but I got a lot done for the shower.  I even found a cute bench for my backyard at Tai Pan.  Dave will probably never want me to throw a shower in our yard again because I have really been working hard (and making them work hard) to get it ready, and spending more $ on it than I probably should have.  But it's a good thing we have things like this so it gets done, since most of it just needed to be done anyway but there was no real pressure or motivation to get it done.  I like my yard to look nice and we do have a beautiful yard with the setting right against the mountain.  It's not as nice as some, but we love it and enjoy it even more when we put the time into it to get it looking really nice.  

For FHE, we all planted flowers and the boys spread bark.  The wind really picked up but we were out there until after dark.  I am so glad I haven't seen a snake (eek!)  because there are apparently a lot more this year than usual.  

dear tuesday,  I ran pretty early this morning. It was hot even early.  I got a few good pictures.  I am loving my new phone's camera!  It really takes some great photos.
 The wind was really blowing hard today.  A VERY warm, actually HOT wind.

After my run, I spent the rest of the day cleaning my house.  I even cleaned the garage fridge.  It needed it!  Even though the shower is being held outside, I wanted my house to be perfect inside...at least the main level.  It needed a good cleaning.  I have a lot of square footage to keep clean at all times and so it is hard to get it all done at the same time.  That usually takes a week if I do it by myself, which I usually do. Not having any daughters really has its drawbacks when it comes to cleaning the house.  When the boys were younger, I made sure they helped me, but now that they are older, Dave seems to corner the market on their time and they help out more outdoors.  I really wish I had someone to come in and clean for me.  And I really wish Dave would agree to let me redo the kitchen.  He has a hard time with that because he made the cabinets himself and knows he doesn't have that kind of time anymore to make new ones and it would be hard to watch something you worked so hard on be ripped out.  I get that, but we still need to update it as well as the rest of our house.  It seems everything is either falling apart or needs to be replaced. I ran a few errands while Dave had meetings.  

dear wednesday, I headed to the track to do my speedwork, but the cheerleaders were already there at 6:30 a.m.  and then the football team showed up and since I refuse to run around the track when they are on the field unless I have someone with me, I just ran around the school and a bit north until I reached five miles.  But I did find some pennies! 

dear bridal shower, I came home from my run and hurried and got ready and spent the rest of the day cleaning and getting ready for the shower. I wasn't sure I was going to get it all done because I still had a long list of things to do. 


Some of my new additions

Somehow I managed and got everything checked off my list and then my sister in law showed up surprisingly early to help me but I had everything already done.  The guests started to arrive before my niece (the bride) did because they got stuck at Walmart trying to pick up the balloons. I felt so bad I had asked them to get them.  But it all turned out great.  My niece's Aunt's from her other side helped with the food and brought chicken salad.  That was very nice of them.  I was very stressed out where I was going to fit 45 people because she invited over 60 and I figured we would get about 40 but I wanted to be safe just in case. I should have gone with the "expect half of what you invite" rule because we ended up with about 35.  But we had enough food for at least 45.  It all turned out great and we had a good time.  However, we couldn't have picked a hotter day of the year!  The high was 100° and by the time the guests arrived it was still 97°.  Luckily, we had enough shade and it all worked out okay.  
What happens when I try to take a picture of my Mommy
 I would have set the chairs up differently if I had known only this many would come.  But then it was too late.
The little cousins (and the big ones) love Taylor.  He's a favorite among them. Kylah and Nikki skyped from Oregon and they wanted to talk to him.  It was so cute. 
The bride (and groom!)
 We did a selfie and then we had more who wanted to join...
 We decided to have someone take a real one of us.
Then we had to take another one of us standing straight.  It really bugs Dave when girls squat down in photos.  I am not sure why we do that either, but we always do!
Someone asked me why a head was missing on one of the little children on the statue. I didn't know one was!  Yep, sure enough!  My first thought was it had to be Jonathan.  I asked him if he did it, but he denied it.  So then I figured it had to be one of MY boys.  Taylor knew nothing.  So I text Bryce and asked him and he just sent back an LOL.  This is normal life living with so many boys.  Everyone else got a kick out of it, but to me it was just another day.  Sigh.....  But we all got a serious GOOD laugh out of it all.  I had Dave repair the angel wings that were also broke.  Nothing that is breakable will survive in my backyard.  Ever.  Too many boys with toys.  Even big boys!
I think it all turned out nice.  It was a lot of work to get everything ready for it and of course no one knows but you how much time and effort goes into it, but hopefully it was appreciated.  I love parties, just not throwing them at my house!  hah  But I am glad our yard is finally ready for the summer.  It already looked nice, but still needed some work.  Now if it would only last.  But like housework, it will all need to be done again soon.  "By the sweat of they brow shalt thy work ALL the days of thy life..."  Okay, so I paraphrased just a bit! :)

dear hill repeats, I was so not in the mood to do hills today, but since I didn't get in my track speedwork yesterday, I knew I had to do them. I only had time to do 10 repeats, but I felt good about it considering the heat.  I didn't have much energy because I didn't eat much yesterday because I was so busy with the shower, and the heat was a killer... but I survived!
This is what my thermometer gauge said when I returned.  It really wasn't THAT hot, but probably 99 or 100.  However, it did feel like it was! 
When I got home, I started making breakfast and heard a tap on the back deck door window.  I looked and saw a mama turkey tapping my door with her beak.  I grabbed my camera but she was walking away before I could get her at the door.  Hilarious.  I guess she smelled me making breakfast and was hungry.  I love these guys!  We haven't even seen a single Box Elder bug in a couple years since they arrived! 

dear new running shoes, I am in need of new running shoes in the worst way.  I usually have  reserve pair for when my others are done but not this time.  Since I have a 16 mile run on Saturday, I knew my feet would not survive in the shoes I have no because all three pair have broken down.  It's easy to tell when they have and if I run 16 with any pair of them, I will be in so much pain by mile 8 that it's not worth it.  I ran to O town to find me a pair because I ordered some Altra's through Grant but they won't be here for a while and so I was hoping I could find me some Kinvaras.  I checked at three running stores in O town and Layton but nobody had them!  That is rare!  So I ended up going clear to Centerville to a running store there that did have them. 
My new shoes!  I LOVE THE COLORS!

Then I found out after that the Kinvara's makes a pair that has Boston on them!  I would love those, but I also have a purple pair with run shield on them that I want too.  At over $100 a pair, I need to choose which one I want the most. 

dear keith urban concert, I was so excited for this!  Karen invited me to go with her and Aubrey (and her friend Hadley) and Natalie.  Julie is in town so her and Sarah also came.  I was going to meet them in Kaysville at her house but since I had to run to Centerville for shoes, they met me in Bountiful.  We ate at Paradise Bakery first and then headed to Usana.  We had quite the fun trying to get there because Julie navigated us to Provo!  Luckily we knew better and got there without her mad navigation skills.  It was another hot day, but once the sun went down, it was nice.  It was packed!  Our seats were on the grass but it was still fun.  

Everyone was taking lots of pictures and we all drop-boxed them and so we each ended up with a ton!  It took me a while to sort through so I apologize in advance of how many I added.

 Oh my!  We were having so much fun taking selfies with everyone's phones.  We got laughing so hard and then it was even more fun.
The above are with Karen's phone and these ↓ are with Julie's.  We were having more fun than the girls I think!

 I added all these ↓ IDENTICAL pictures because of the PHOTO BOMBER behind us!  The guy right behind me in the pinkish shirt was having a hay day with us!  You will have to click to enlarge this one.  We had no idea.  I LOVE to go back and look at the people in the background in photos and this time, I got a super surprise.  Too funny!


Keith is a really good performer and such a nice guy!  He had this 15 year old girl come up on stage because she had a poster that said she been there since 7 a.m.  He asked her questions and told her to take a selfie of them together and told us her screen saver was of him.  Then he held up her arm and then he put his right next to it and she had the exact same tattoo that he did in the exact same spot!  I guess you could say she was a fan!  hah  He made her day!  Then he took her phone and turned her around with him and took a selfie with the crowd in the back.  It was so cute. About halfway into the concert, Natalie (my niece) suggested we go down to the front of the fence that divides the chair seats with the grass seats.  I was totally game.  We had to talk most of the others into it, but everyone finally came.  We were all SO glad we did!  They had a small stage set up only 20 yards from us and they started to take the covers off of the mics and other things and then suddenly we were getting squished like sardines because everyone knew that meant that Keith was going to come on that stage and perform.  Lady A did that also when we went to their concert.  Sure enough, he announced that he was going to go and sing on that stage and the spotlight followed him there.  It was exciting!  The next thing we know, there he is!  Only 20 yards a away from us!   We could see him so well!  


He gave his electric guitar to a girl who was about 13!  What!!!  Nat kept saying that could have been her because she kept suggesting we head down to the front of the small stage, but at the time we didn't think it was allowed.  Dang!  Next time we will know!  It was a great night with fun people!  


On the ride home, Julie was driving because Karen had to leave early to go see Barry who was in the ER because he got hurt playing ball.  She was not sure where to go and so I was on my phone calling Siri but I call him Suri and my nieces were laughing at me.  I asked him (my Siri is an Australian guy) what my name was.  He said, "Your name is Jodi but you asked me to call you Sexy Mama."  Everyone got a good laugh out of that.  It was so late by the time I got home and I was totally beat.
Part of the video of me she added on Snapchat
SO MUCH FUN!
(Before Mr. Photo Bomber went to work)


dear taylor's birthday, holy cow this kid is 23! He went to Logan to do his volunteer work at the hospital and then hung out for a bit at home.  We took him to Maddox for dinner and then he had a date to the REAL game in SLC and the fireworks after.  Bryce was also going to the game.
 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROUZE!

He is such an amazing kid.  I guess I can't really call him a kid anymore!  I love having him around because he is always so fun and upbeat.  Let's see, what can I tell you about Taylor? He loves to tease me (and everyone) and is really a joy to have around. He is just a pleasant person.  He also is easy to talk to and likes to do fun and exciting and adventurous things.  He is smart and driven and has a lot of goals.  He is very laid back, but yet always on top of things.  Everyone loves him and he has always had tons of friends. He is VERY talented athletically and there is nothing that is sports related that doesn't come naturally to him.  Taylor's always been pretty much a "jock" but very respected by all.  He is kind of quiet around most people until you get to know him and then you discover that he is just so funny.  He definitely has a great sense of humor.  He never complains about anything but just goes with the flow.  He is an all around likeable and happy guy. I am so proud of him!  Right now he is studying to be a PA (Physician's Assistant) but hasn't ruled out going to medical school yet.  He really studies hard and gets amazing grades.  He dates a ton of girls and I can never keep track of them all.  Right now he is dating one of the six sisters which I found out from a friend.  He doesn't say much to me about his love life!  hah  HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUD!

dear ac quit working in july!  Yeah, just in time for the hottest week of the year our AC decided to take a vacay.  Must be that time of year because the guy who always repairs our AC also decided to take a vacay until Aug. 8th.  Somehow we lucked out and he got our message when he came home from his vacay for one day to pick up some things.  He had time to run over and fix it.  Whew! 

 This was taken about 9 pm at night.  It was hotter inside than outside.  That's bad.
Taylor knew the best place to sleep!  Outside!

dear long run, I got up at the crack of insanity (5 a.m.) to do my long run on Saturday.  Dave took us (me, Robin and Grant) up to the sheds and it was surprisingly a bit chilly.  Well, comparatively speaking!  It was still 57.  That is a heat wave in the winter.  But after having days in the high 90's, it seemed a little chilly.  Not for long though.  Once we got running, we were sweating.  
 The canyon was loaded with crazy sights today.  I decided to start taking photos after we kept seeing crazy things.  Finding a coin in the canyon is really crazy!  HOW do they get there? 

We ran to Mantua and then around the dam and through the campgrounds and back down to town.  Grant headed home but Robin and I headed west because we wanted more downhill.  Grant called us lazy, haha.  Robin let him know in no uncertain terms that we were NOT lazy!  He got the message!  lol  We called him when we got to mile 16 to come and get us.  I was amazed at how much better today's long run was compared to last weeks!  Most likely due to the time of day.  Last week we didn't finish our last 8 until after 10 or so due to the dam race.  My new shoes also made a huge difference.  I was surprised how good my feet felt compared to last week.  Last week we only ran 13 miles and I felt so much more beat up than after this week's 16 miles.  Last week felt like 20 and this week felt like 13. 

dear shopping with taylor, after my long run, I took Taylor to O town to do some birthday shopping.  We hit the usual stores and the mall and then ate at a little drive thru on 12th called the LoLo Hawaiian BBQ Grill.  


It was really good!  I only got a small salad but I tasted his fried rice and orange and sweet and sour chicken.  I can't wait for Sky to get here so I can take him there. They also serve Loco Moco that looked really good!  McKay would love it too.  The fried rice is even better than Panda's. 

dear canyon cookout, while we were shopping, I was texting and calling Dave's sister Julie trying to plan a boating excursion or a cook out.  We decided to bag the boating since we had no driver and decided to do a cookout in MantuaWe needed to get someone to go up and reserve us a spot but no one was around and so I said we could do it in my backyard but it will be 15 degrees hotter than in the canyon.  So that was plan B.  Unbeknownst to me, it was really plan A because she hadn't asked anyone to go find us a spot.  Our AC was out and so it was going to be hot INSIDE and OUT.  I called Dave and since he was getting off work, he offered to go see what was available. He was able to get us a spot and we were very grateful!  I ran to the store and got us some stuff to take up to eat and Dave took a bunch of stuff as well.  He stayed up there for a few hours so we would have a spot.  Sky called me when I had left the house and so I talked to him and got caught up a bit.  He is coming home for a few weeks in the middle of August.  I can't wait to see him.  He filled me in a bit on the scoop of his job and his gf. 
 FAMILY FUN!
Emily found me some purple rock chips!  She brought them to me in a big leaf!
Dave let Mickey drive our Escalade just around the camp!  Whaaaat?!!  Yep he did.  Then he let Sara!  At least Sara is closer to getting her license than Mickey!  They will remember that forever.

I made a cake for Taylor's birthday and we celebrated it at the party.  Everyone brought there own main meal and a side to share.  After we ate, some of us went on a hike to the girl's home.  It was a riot.  Aubrey was taking videos of us and distorting them with her Snapchat app.  It was crazy! 


I was screaming.  She got a great video of me freaking out at my freak out faces!  We saw a skunk at the girl's home.  It was fun.  
Hike to the girl's home!  It was a good 2 miles up there....


Then we got back and sang Happy Bday to Taylor and had cake.  He wanted a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting cake.  It was really good if I do say so myself.  I have been really good to not eat so many sweets lately, but I had to have a little of that cake.  I OD'd on it a bit the next day for breakfast because I just love cake!  It's probably my favorite treat!

It was a lot of fun and we need to go up there more often.  We were there until dark.  Some cooked S'mores and marshmallows. I smelled like a bonfire.  Eeeek!
COUSINS



Love that all the cousins are so close.

dear pioneer day, in honor of the holiday I am posting our trek picture from four years ago.  
#fouryearsago #yeehaw!
This is of Dave this year.
In sacrament meeting today the talks were from those who went on trek this year.  It was good.  I felt unprepared really for my lesson today, but it ended up being one of the best I've taught.  I think sometimes when you just go with the spirit instead of being so caught up in getting the info in, things go better.

My parents came over tonight for Taylor's birthday.  We have decided to buy their razor from them.  Hmmm.....  There goes my pedal harp!  


Sunday dinner that Dave made!  It was so good!



dear mr. cat, I love this picture of you even if you are in my bed before it was made.  

This happens every morning... ↓

Love this....  so perfectly depicts reality.

dear randomness,  Dave's brother's friend sent this picture to him to send to us.  He took it at the fireworks on the 4th.  It's one of my favorite pictures now.
Taylor chillin' on the deck in the cool breeze.
My cute purple polka dotted shoes that I got for $7!
A few of Taylor's snaps
A few of Bryce's
Yard goals..... I really want a fairy garden next year!
I have always loved miniatures.  I have quite the collection of them.  These are so much like a miniature dollhouse.  I really need to get started on one for next year.  Hopefully the cute houses and accessories will go on sale now that summer is winding up. 
I actually did another quiz!  I said I was not going to keep doing these!  Okay, last one!  My friend talked me into this one.  Her result was "crazy".  Figured I would get that too.  Crazy for doing these silly things!

I may have added this one ↓ before but it deserves repeating:



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