*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 halloween, this year Halloween was very different in many ways.  

I did my traditional Halloween night dinner but not my dinner the Monday before because it was just Dave and I and it didn't seem worth the work for just the two of us.  He was on call on Halloween and so I was only expecting my parents for dinner. 

BUT...there is no stopping the dry ice and Halloween dishes even if it's just for the few of us that would be there!  I also bought some cute donuts!  Earlier in the day I found a couple treats left on my porch and later I delivered some treats to the peeps I visit teach. (NO, not the same ones!)  I also made up some treat bags and wrapped up some special treats for my annual visitors Jaida and the Stucki kids, but sadly neither came this year!  Waaaa!!!!  Brooke text me and asked if we were still up around 8:30 and I didn't see the text until after 9:00 and she replied that they had already showered and were ready for bed.  Double waaaaaa!!

I passed out full size candy bars this year as well which I haven't done in several years.  I got them on a good sale and since I can no longer find the mini popcorn packets, I decided to do these.  I was really hoping I had enough, but in the end I had almost half left over.  We usually have a lot more trick or treaters than we did this year.  Kind of sad.  I think we only got around 65 or so.

But we still had a good time!  Dave ended up getting home in time for dinner as well.

My cute parents!
The meal ↓  I feel bad I didn't make any SCARY food this year, but like I said I didn't feel it was worth it for just the few of us.  I probably should have, but oh well.

We saw some amazing costumes!  I noticed that a ton of parents were dressed up this year as well.  Pretty cool!

Hard to believe Halloween has come and gone so fast!  Now to get the decorations taken down!  I always dread doing that mainly because I have so much to put away.  It's almost like taking down Christmas, minus the tree! 

This ↓ popped up on my FB memories today!  So fun!

Found this on FB of Sky, Sarah  and Carson as well. ↓
There is no way anyone else could have got him to dress up like that! 

Until next year!!!

This is how I felt this year ↑  :(
I did find some adorable costumes that were posted on FB this year.  I had to collage them because I loved them. 

 I hit some Halloween store's 50% off markdowns the day after.  I got a couple cute ones for Dave and I.  A loofah sponge and bar of soap as well as a Cleopatra one and Caesar soldier.  I also got a Where's Waldo and cool pumpkin sequin dress. I wanted to buy the Poo emoji but resisted.

The manikin was in full costume (isn't it always?) and ready for Halloween.

dear harp lesson and visiting mona, after my harp lesson, I ran to grab Mona a small cake and some flowers and a blanket for her birthday.  She was happy to see me.  I think she always is happy to have visitors!  I feel so bad for her having to stay in her room so much and not being able to go when she wants to.  I think I would go stir crazy, but she handles it well.  Her real birthday was the following day but I wasn't going to be able to go down that day and so we celebrated a bit early.  I hung out and visited with her for quite a while and then ran my errands.

dear relief society program, we had a tri-ward program this week with a local group called Musicality.  They were phenomenal!  I was so glad I went!  Their musical ability was mo-tab quality and the messages they individually shared were very inspiring and uplifting!   I wish I had taken a photo but they performed in the chapel so I resisted!

dear ortho, I had my six week appt. on Wednesday and I still have three months (at least) of aligners to go!  Ugh!  I am so ready to be done!  By the time I finish it will be close to two years!  If I had known that when I began them, I might have changed my mind!  I am happy with the change but still not satisfied with the top front teeth. Hopefully I will be in three months because I am not going to want to keep going!  

dear cleaning, Dave was off on Wednesday and so we cleaned out our other freezer.  I am pretty sure we don't need all the freezers we have because we have a lot of room in them now and no longer five boys to keep fed.  We should probably down size and just go with one.  I wish I had taken a before shot.  Once again we threw away a lot of food that was too old to keep.   

I also cleaned out a storage closet in the basement.  I hadn't planned on doing that, but once I get started there is no stopping me.  I found some gifts for Christmas and reorganized a lot of things.  I also have a huge box for a yard sale that is going to be happening in a couple weeks in our stake for needy families.  I have a lot of other projects to get done before Christmas but I am starting to feel the pressure of the holiday hitting me hard already! 

 I found these quotes and had to laugh!  So true!!!

dear crazy thursday, Thursday was one of those days where you go from one thing to the next with no break in between.  I got up and headed out on a walk, then I rushed to my hair appointment.  While there Dave called and said the fridge repairman was on his way to fix our fridge! YAY!  We weren't planning on him until a couple more weeks!  I rushed home and let him in while I got ready to go to Homemakers.  When Dave was on his way home I ran to Consignology where our meeting was being held.  The owner did a demo on ways to decorate for Christmas.  She did a great job.  The best part was I won a door prize!  A really cute ornament!

She had these purple love seats and an ottoman for only $425 which I though was a great deal considering they are real leather.  They had a few blemishes, but nothing noticeable.  I really wanted them for the basement but realized my walls are the exact same color.  So, I can either repaint (which it needs it anyway) or just find another color.  Aren't they gorgeous though???  If my basement weren't painted this color they would belong to me right now.

 As soon as I left Homemakers, I headed to pick up the sister missionaries.  They invited me to go with them on visits.  I was so excited!  We have two of the cutest and coolest sister missionaries in our stake right now.  One is from Hawaii (Sister Beckwith) and the other one (Sister Davis)  is from Alaska!  It was so much fun going to see if some of the investigators were home and even though we didn't talk to the ones we hoped to, we found others to talk to instead. 

I was very enthralled watching them.  Sister Beckwith has such an incredible story of her past that it really softens people's hearts and many open up when they hear she used to have dreadlocks and was homeless.  We talked to two younger people who were sitting outside (one boy and one girl) who were smoking and just looked like they had a hard life and they were pretty receptive...for a while.  Then as I was waiting to hear where to drive them next, Sister Davis said she felt like they needed to go see Don.  It ended up being my neighbor Don.  He has motorbikes that he promised to show her when he came to our ward party.  So off we went. I parked in my own driveway, haha and we headed over.  He was so nice and showed us all his trophies for so many things...motocross, hunting, rifle marksmanship, the Golden Spike, etc.  He has had an amazing past. He showed us the house and then we just talked for a long time in the kitchen about things and eventually about religion.  Betsy arrived right when we had to leave so they could get to their dinner appointment.  It was fun talking to them though.  

I took them to their appointment and they wanted me to meet Faye who was feeding them and is from Syria.  I went to the door and she invited me to stay for the dinner.  I figured that I could probably work it out and still get to my American Mother's meeting on time and since the sisters didn't have a ride home after the dinner,  I happily stayed.  She had gone ALL out and prepared an incredible authentic Syrian meal.  The table and meal both looked amazing.  She had spent three days preparing.  I was so grateful I was able to stay!

 It was delicious too!  I am not one to eat strange foods but I tried EVERYTHING and actually liked it all with the exception of the grape leaves that had something rolled up inside of them.  They were okay, just not my fave.  But everything else was really tasty.  She has only been here for five years.  She left when the war broke out.  She has a daughter living here and I found out I know her daughter.  She used to come to AMI years ago.  What a small world!

 What a blessing to be able to share this wonderful meal with an incredible lady and two outstanding sister missionaries! I felt so blessed!

As soon as I dropped them off I had to run a quick errand and then grab Julie and head to Logan for Diane's mini conference.  This year it was held in the tabernacle and was much different than usual. 

With Julie in the tabernacle.

 Everything Diane does she does all out and this was no exception.  It was wonderful!  The music, the speakers, everything!

 The speakers were Brittany Frank and Emily Watts.  Brittany fell off a 100 ft. cliff and told us her story and how she has gotten her life back.  It was inspiring. I loved it.  Emily Watts was totally humorous and had us all laughing.  She mostly talked about mother guilt and to let it go!
 The displays were downsized big time, but still nice.  I ran into Skyler's mission's president's wife!  She asked about him and then I had a reunion with so many of my beloved AMI friends!  Lesa Stevenson, Cecelia Benson, Barbara Mason, Lisa Ellis, Lori Hendry, Dixie Clifford, Renae Hawks, and of course Jenneice and Diane...too many to name them all, but I just love being around them all!

 We tried to hit Swigs on the way home for a cookie but it was closed so we went to Arctic Circle and got RB floats.

dear cleaning closets, I got busy cleaning Bryce's closet because we are going to put Sarah in his room when she comes for Christmas. Mr. Cat decided to come and keep me company. 

dear lunch with taylor, Taylor showed up while I was busy cleaning and wanted to go to lunch.  So, of course, I stopped what I was doing and took him.  It's not often I get to see him and so I was happy to be able to have some time to talk.  We went to Old Grist and Dave joined us a bit later.  I love their grilled turkey pesto bacon sandwich.  So good! 

 On the way home I got the scoop on Tayor's love life and gave him a bit of unsolicited advice.  :)

dear early voting, I headed down to vote early because I don't want to wait in the lines on Tuesday.  When I got there Dave was already in line ahead of me!  I also talked to the city recorder and told her I signed up to work the polls on Tuesday but hadn't heard anything.  She said I should have heard by now and if I haven't then they must not have needed me.  Hmm.... alrighty then.

dear date night, we had a very unusual date night because Dave was on call and so worked late and also because we had to go to Salt Lake to his Uncle Glade's viewing. We barely got there before it ended but enjoyed talking to several of Dave's cousins.  It's sad they haven't been very close to each other.  They are great people.  I have always just loved his Uncle Glade.  He is Dave's mom's brother.  I wish we could go to the funeral but Dave has to work and is still on call.  We decided to hit the Mandarin since we were down south.  It is one of our favorite restaurants!  When we lived in Bountiful we rarely went because we were too poor.  Now that we can afford it, it is too far away to become a regular.  Mmmmm..... the food is just SO GOOD! 

We ordered my all time fave Sweet and Sour pressed almond chicken.  We also got Beef and Beans and Mongolian Beef.  All were excellent!  Our fortunes were even good for a change.

dear STILL no running!  Ugh!  I have been a non runner now for five weeks!  And I don't know if the rest has even helped.  Getting a bit frustrated.  But I do love this quote:

This one too!

I headed out on my bike for a long run on Saturday.  Oops..........I meant a long ride!  Hard to switch those two.  This week I found a Reeses laying in the street and then today I also found TWO Kit Kat bars!  Some poor little trick or treater lost some precious loot!    But I will put it to good use for them!

I went out west and I think I got in 15 or 16 miles. 

dear dinner group, my friend Susan has been trying to get a dinner group together for a few months and we finally found a night that worked for everyone!  It ended up being more of a game night than a dinner though which is fine because it's less stress for the host. 

We all took finger food and had so much fun chatting and then playing a game called Code Names.  It was one of the funnest games I have ever played.  However, it might have been the company because these peeps are hilarious!  Especially the Tilley's.  I was laughing so hard at some of the things they said.  We had five couples including us, the Tilley's, the Singleton's, the Braithwaite's, and the Andersen's.

Since it was daylight savings time, we all stayed much later than we normally would have.  We were having so much fun no one wanted to go home.  I think we got home after 1:00 a.m. and when we got home there was a pile of shoes by the door.  Taylor and his buds had brought their dates back to our house for a bonfire and to watch a movie.   They were watching the movie downstairs in the Man Cave and so I stayed up so I could meet them. I didn't get to bed until after 2:00 a.m.   I am too old for that!  LOL

dear sunday, I was so relieved I didn't have to teach or play the piano today!  It was fast Sunday and so when I got home I got some bread going so I could take some to a family in our ward who is struggling with a very sick dad and husband.  I also wanted to take some to my friend Carol who had a birthday today and I sat right by her in sacrament but had no idea it was her birthday until they announced it in RS.  Once I got it made I took a much needed nap while it raised.  I only could sleep for an hour or so, but it felt so nice!

The bread turned out nice and so Dave and I made some deliveries.  We went to The Bott's first and were able to talk to Dave.  He has been given a couple weeks at most to live.  It was good to see him and he looked very strong and actually really good.  I figured that would be the last time I would see him while on this earth, but little did I know that he would pass away only about 19 hours later.

We also took some to Carol and then to Dave's parents.  We stayed and visited with them for a while.  They said the funeral was really good and that Judy and family was so thrilled to see us at the viewing. 

Even though I am sleep deprived now from the time change, I still have a hard time getting and staying asleep!  It's very frustrating but very common I hear too.

dear mckay, more pictures!  Yay!  He also received our packages from Elder Bodily's mom delivery even though some sister missionaries transported them to his area.  He bought a fox pelt!  Why, I am not sure, but Taylor's roommate served in Russia and he also has one.  Mmmm.....K.

He sounds great and is loving serving on the island of Sakhalin. 

dear mr. cat,  don't everyone all "awwwww" at once!

dear random, we have had quite the plentiful harvest this year of peppers.  Hopefully these will freeze well so we can enjoy them all year.

Biggest grape I have ever seen!  It was from Costco and delish!

While cleaning some stuff in the basement, I found this ↓ from high school!  Robin is my friend I call Bonzo and I can't wait to show her this.  Too funny!

A few snapchats...  
When Taylor was here this weekend, he took the four wheeler up to the microwave towers.  He took a hammock as well.  Cool picture.  The other one is from his trip to Texas that I forgot to post.

It was National Chocolate Day last week and I forgot to post these:

A few things that struck a cord with me this week:

Hmm......quite possibly...

Save