*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 woke up around 5:30 thanks to Daylight Saving's Time. Not a fan! I hit the gym and got in 3 miles on the dreadmill. All my ankle exercises were extremely tough. I only went once last week and I was stunned at the difference.  When I came out, two ladies stopped me and called my by name and told me how great my class at the Women's Forum was on Saturday and how much they learned and enjoyed it. One told me how cute my Halloween decors were and I wasn't sure how she would have seen them and then I realized it was our neighbor that moved into Betsy's home. I didn't recognize her at first. Hah  They were so nice. I came home and got my Norwex order in.  Get this...I earned $188 dollars to spend on whatever I want and my total free stuff is $575!  Wow!  I had no idea that would happen. I got some fun stuff. Robin was happy too because she made a killing as well. It was hard to know what to order. I got some good stuff including the mop. I am excited to try it.  

I then tackled my Halloween. OH. MY. GOSH.  It was like putting away Christmas only maybe worse!  It didn't use to be so hard. Maybe it's because I now have SO much that it takes so long. But I LOVE my Halloween!  I organized the totes and got rid of a lot but it still doesn't fit very well.  I guess it's cause I get new. I should be more ruthless and just get rid of a ton more. But I only have one tote that I have stuff that I don't use all of it. Most of the rest are empty when it's out.  I loved this ghost this year.  He looked so real.

Then I put up my Thanksgiving decors. Everyone is posting on social media that they are putting up their Christmas already. I think Thanksgiving deserves it's time and place BEFORE Christmas.  I will never do that. Actually, I WAS tempted today to just NOT put up Thanksgiving because when I take it down then it will be so cray cray with the holiday upon us. I am already in a panic wondering how I will get it done. I had planned on having the calendars done by now, but I have only put a tiny dent in them. I need to stay home all day every day so I can get those done.  But my Thanksgiving turned out pretty cute. Sarah loved it.  I was exhausted. I keep saying I need to simplify, but I keep not doing it.  Sigh....

This ↑ was in my tote. The kids made if for McKay when he was sick.  It was when he had Mrs. Simpson in 1st grade I think. SO cute!

THIS....

Already...

I'm NOT ready!

dear tuesday, today I got out on a walk and got in five miles! Yippee! I haven't gone that far in a very long time.  I also did my PT exercises at the track. I am having a hard time keeping my balance and two weeks ago it was a piece of cake, but my limp is getting much improved when I first wake up.  So that's good. I came home and got busy organizing my baking center and the cupboard next to it. They needed some help and then I put labels on a few things that didn't already have them. I worked on this for a bit. My goal was to get my shoes and winter/summer running clothes switched out but ran out of time. I did practice the harp though.  And the piano because I have to play at RS tonight. I wasn't planning on going to RS but since they asked me to play the piano I went. I didn't really love the activity but made one anyway. It was a tree we drew and cut out leaves to put on with what our family members are thankful for. I was just not mentally able to do it. Hah I chatted with Janet for a very long time about her life and eyes and kids. They have really had some struggles this year and I don't know how she is still standing.  But she is.  Brought tears to my eyes. The dessert was a pumpkin roll that was divine. 

And then there's this....

Don't even question it,

Not for a second-

Don't even question me-

I'm your Purple Royalty.

dear wednesday, today I had to be to harp at 9 a.m.  I got up early to practice and I hope I can pull off Sunday with the Primary program. I am actually kind of excited.  My lesson went well. She was very happy with O Holy Night.  It still needs work though. I then hit the boutique in Farmington that I love. The line was a million miles long to get in.  It is a good one. I spent way too much money but mostly on Christmas stuff. I found a door prize which was a hidden treasure chest and then I found another one!  So I won two bottles of this...

I did a bunch of shopping looking for a costume for Mama Mia on Saturday and for a dress for Sunday. I hit a bunch of places including the mall where I got succored in to buying this wrinkle eraser stuff and paid way too much $$$ for it. Dave will not be thrilled.  I am not usually a succor for those kind of things but for some reason I was today.  I think it's because I am desperately trying to get rid of the wrinkles but I am sure only drastic measures can do that!  I hit Costco as well and got my chicken that I left in my shopping cart last week. Well, hopefully not the same one, but they told me to bring in my receipt when I called them after I realized I left it and they would replace it.  I came home and cute Carson was happy to see me. He is adorbs!  Love that boy!  I took him with me to Robin's to get some Norwex and we visited with her for a long time. He was so cute and so grown up in his conversations. Dave made us pork ribs for dinner and they were so good.  He had meetings. I was beat and dead.

 My free product just for hosting the party!

 The above is what I had to pay for.

Everything I got!  And it only cost me $70 or so. There is over $500 worth of product!

 Robin gave me these for having such a great party.
I made out like a bandit!

dear thursday, at 3:30 a.m. our TV went on in the family room blasting very loudly. We have no idea how this happened because the cabinet was shut and the remote was inside the cabinet. Ooooooo........creepy!  Kinda freaked me out especially since a little girl in our ward had an experience saying she saw me in ghost form walking down her stairs and talking to her. Yeah.  I had to get out of dodge this morning by 8 to get to the Huntsman for my diagnostic mammo.  

Traffic wasn't great but I made it on time. All was good until they took me back in the room where I was given the news that I needed to have a biopsy almost a year ago. Not good memories there.  A lot of emotions that day. I went in knowing I had a lump but I was pretty sure it was going to be benign.  After the mammo they wanted to do an ultrasound immediately and then a biopsy right after that.  I started to get concerned and then when the ultrasound tech said "Hmmm...." I knew it wasn't good and when I asked what that meant she said that they like to see the tumors smooth and round and mine was not.  It was wicked looking with jagged edges everywhere.  So glad that's all in the past, but just a little PTSD this morning.  The mammo went great (well great if you like having tender body parts smashed as thin as a piece of paper great).  It wasn't fun per say, especially where my still very tender scar is...but it wasn't as bad as some of my exams have been after the surgery. They had me wait while the Dr. looked at my images. Happily, she came in (the same room I got the bad news in a year ago) and gave me good news this time. She said everything looked good and she would see me in a year. Whew!!!  I got dressed and headed to Park Station for a few while I waited for the boutique to open since I needed to go back and get one more pair of palm tree socks for the boys.  It wasn't near as packed as yesterday.  Great boutique though.  I then headed to O town to find some shoes for my dress and hit a couple stores. I had to get some baby gifts for the Homemaker's shower today. I had very little time but managed to get back just after Homemaker's started. Linda was conducting for me. It was a baby shower for the United Way. Beth had arranged fun games and Angie did a light luncheon. It was a lot of fun. 

I came home and cleaned and then McKay arrived. He is heading to Las Vegas with some friends who won a trip there. I picked up Carson and we came home and did his homework and reading. He worked hard. Smart little guy.  I ran to Smiths and then to Logan to the AMI mini conference in Logan. 

 These next two photos are from the news clip they ran on Aggie TV.

When it was over one of my most favorite people in the whole world came over and gave me a hug!

 I adore her! (Lesa Stevenson)  Her life is so busy and crazy now with all the traveling and speaking she does with Gary aka Elder Stevenson.

 With Jennie Taylor.
With Julie and Lynda

With some of the American Mother's state board. We had a hard time getting a good photo. I added some of the bad ones because the candidness is hilarious.

Carson's artwork he made for me. Those are me and him.

 Carson drew this in his book he made at school...ahhh  He told me he made it purple for me.

dear friday, today I hit the gym before 7 a.m.  I got in my workout. It was such a nice (and not freezing) day today.  Loved it. I had to hurry and get to my Women's Forum eval meeting at the Chamber of Commerce.  We had a great meeting and read all of the surveys. I was actually a bit nervous since I was one of the presenters and I had no idea what they would say about my class.  I am happy to report there were a lot that listed my class as one of their favorites. Whew!!!  

We are going to try to get Jennie Taylor for our keynote next year. I hope she will be a draw. I guess we will see if she even can first.  I came home and practiced the harp for a while. The program is Sunday!  Getting nervous but excited kind of.  Dave helped me get my harp to the church and then I practiced for a bit. Ruth and Shawna arrived and we went through it. Shawna wants me to play the introduction instead of Ruth (piano). YIKES!  That means I will be doing a solo for the first notes!  I am not sure I can do it. It will take a lot of practice. It's all new to me!  I tried it during practice and miffed it terribly. The rest of the song sounded good I think. Stella came up to me and told me I did a good job. She is so sweet!  I hope it all turns out!  I helped with the kids. It's like herding cats!  Carson is so cute. He did a great job on his part.  We got through it all.  I hope it will all come together.  It always does.  We came home and I visited with Carson and he is sweet. Dave got home and we went on a date for the first time in a while. We grabbed mini burgers at Maddox and then went to see Midway. It was almost sold out. We ended up on the 4th row from the front. It was an intense movie but very good. 
Other shenanigans at home...

dear saturday, this morning I woke up about 5 and so listened to a podcast in hopes of it putting me back to sleep. LOL  No such luck. I finally got up and figured out my costume for today's Mama Mia play. I did some other things and then came downstairs to find THIS ↓

YES!  

Taylor is home!  He surprised us!  He arrived about 1:00 a.m. last night. He drove straight through. He has off Monday and decided to come home for a short visit. He actually rented a car instead of driving his own.  We visited over breakfast and then Carson came up and was so happy to see him. We had a good chat.

He wouldn't quit hugging him and tight!  It was so sweet. So sweet.  I headed off on my walk and got in 4 miles. I found a few coins...

I came home and visited more with Taylor, practiced the harp, cleaned, etc. 

I then headed to Mama Mia at Weber High with the sis in laws and nieces. Sarah also came. It was SO much fun!  

We took TONS of pix!  Imagine that!!!  We got some before and some after.

The audience was singing a long and a couple ladies were hilarious. They had tambourines and a bubble gun and stood up dancing for every song. We stood and danced on several ourselves. So much fun! Seriously so much fun! I would love to be in this play and sing and dance and eat it up. So fun!

 With the cast!

Sarah and I stopped for a minute at my parents and said hi.  Dave was so nice to have hamburger soup made when we got home. So good.  Hung out for a bit. Practiced the harp some more and then Taylor left to surprise Mary Kate.

dear sunday, today was the Primary Program!  I got up early and practiced a bit and then got ready. I wore my new lace teal dress. It's the perfect harp dress.

I was pretty nervous. Sky helped me get my harp and stuff to the church. I was the only one in the chapel after Sky left. I have it down really well, the part that makes me nervous is that I get nervous when all eyes are on me and it's a solo!  I was not planning on doing the intro alone but that all changed.  People started to arrive.  I went and sat down with my parents, Taylor and Mary Kate, and Sky and crew.  Dave's parents also showed up. No pressure.  The program went really smooth. It always amazes me how that happens when the practices are always chaos and a disaster. The spirit was there. It was packed!  They had to open it up to the gym.  I snuck back to my harp during the song the older girls sang called "I Know Jesus Loves Me".  Then I played the intro. All went well but one little triplet.  The rest of the song came off without a hitch!  I loved playing.  It sounded great up on the stage but I heard that you couldn't even hear the harp on the back row of the chapel.  I guess I should have had a mic up there. Live and learn. I was relieved it was over and went well. I had several people tell me that they enjoyed it. Whew... glad that's over.  We didn't have lessons today but the presidency planned some fun games with the bishopric and Dave.  It was fun. Then they got ice cream sundaes. They were a bit wound up. 

When I got home Taylor was playing the piano and Mary Kate was talking to Sarah. Then Carson and Taylor had some fun and shenanigans.

 Carson was entertaining Mary Kate.  He had Taylor and her laughing (to tears!) for something funny he said or did.

Dave had meetings and I thought he was going to put in a turkey this a.m. He didn't. So I wasn't sure what to do for dinner since we had Taylor and Mary Kate here. McKay was coming home from his trip today as well.  I put a meatloaf in but then Dave got home and wanted to do the turkey. We decided to do German pancakes to tie everyone over until it was done.  I was SO SO SO tired that I had to go upstairs and rest for a bit. As soon as I did, I heard Bryce and crew here.  It ended up just being Bryce and Haylie because the kids were at their dads.  Sarah, Haylie and I chatted for a while. We had a great dinner. It was a thanksgiving feast.  So good.  

I made Amish bread for Taylor but without doing the 10 days prep thing.  I have made it before and it turned out great but this time I forgot to take out three parts and I made it with the entire batch and so I was sure it would not turn out, but it did.  However, with some interesting things going on, like a lifting crust!  But it still tasted great.

 We then had a lot of fun playing games.  We played one Taylor had in his head and it was a fun get to know you game. Charades were included.  We were all laughing so hard!  Then we played Quick Wit. Not as exciting. 

 Taylor and McKay had quite the wrestling match. I uttered what someone will say at my funeral of the thing I said the most, "And this is why we can't have nice things around here!"  LOL

Sarah and Mary Kate came from a family of NO brothers. Only sisters and I am sure they were thinking this was pretty crazy! Taylor took Mary Kate home and I hit the hay early! 

Our awesome Home Teacher (or whatever you call them now) sent me this. HAH!

dear random,  ahhhh Mr. Chilly Bam Billy!

Lots of pix of Taylor when he was leaving on his mission popped up.  Holy cow, it was hard for me to remember how hard that was to let him go!  Dropping him off at the airport was torture.  It's never easy but I think the way we did McKay (curb drop at the MTC) was by far the easiest of all my boys, if you had to pick.  Though sending him to Russia took a LOT of faith on my part! Still not sure how I did that!   Skyler was the huge ceremony at the MTC and everyone was bawling their eyes out and you watched all these other families struggling. Oh, that was tough!  Sending my boys off on missons was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was also one of the most rewarding things.

The flowers I received after Taylor left. Skyler also did that for me and it truly helped me more than I can say. I believe McKay did as well.

dear quotes,