*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!

POSTING THIS EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN'T POSTED THE BOSTON MARATHON RACE REPORT OR BOSTON TRIP YET.

dear wednesday, didn't sleep much.  I do think Mr. Cat is miffed at me.  He is ignoring me since I got home to punish me for leaving him.  I decided to make him wait to come in and see it that changed his disposition any.  Nope.  Still miffed.  

I got up and practiced and headed to harp. All my make-up, curling iron, etc was in my luggage and so I wore a hat and my Boston shirt. I headed to my lesson and it was okay considering I hadn't practiced all week.  I then went and got Bryce from the airport.  Luckily, they let him grab my luggage!  When I pulled up to get him, he said, "Hey, can we give this guy a ride?"  I looked to the side of him and it was a guy in a suit and Bryce told me he was from Kenya. He lived on 3500 South in SLC.  So typical of Bryce.  That kid has the kindest heart.  He would give the shirt off his back to anybody. He just overheard this guy on his phone talking to his buddy to get a ride and Bryce just freely offered him one.  He has more compassion in his little finger than most people do in their entire body.  He is amazing. I just had to smile.  The guy was very nice.  He came here as a refugee and now is studying at the U of U. I took him to get some lunch and then we came home and I tried to unpack and do laundry.  I am still feeling so caught up in the whole Boston experience. I did a lot of reading about other's stories on the FB group page. I can't get enough of hearing about everyone's experiences.  Someone posted their mantra list:

Taylor and McKay both showed up.  Taylor brought me a Swig cookie!  Ahh...  How nice is that?!  I love those cookies so much!  I fed them dinner and then McKay headed back but Taylor spent the night. 

dear thursday, I woke up to loud wind and I seriously felt some anxiety!  I think that race has traumatized me for life! haha  At first I thought there would be no weather to run in that would ever bother me after that, but I think it has made it more of a fear now because I don't want to go through that again!  It was nice to not feel pressure to run this morning!  I love the after marathon vacay from running.  I do want to get a massage though because my muscles are really tight.  I am walking really well though.  I finished unpacking and did some grocery shopping.  We took dinner into Dave's parents tonight (a roast and all the fixins'). They were very grateful.  His Dad asked me if I knew my picture was in the paper while I was gone.  I told him that I had heard that. Haha  I am so far behind on this blog, I may never catch up!  After big vacations is when I struggle the most!

The Boston Marathon results were published in the Ogden Standard this week though:

HERE is the link on the website.

dear friday, I went on a short walk to loosen up my muscles this morning.  I then went to Ogden for a much needed massage. I just googled a place and ended up going to my mom's best friend's daughter's place called Therapeutix without knowing it at the time.  She knew who I was and introduced me to the staff telling them I just ran the Boston marathon.  The therapist said I got special treatment of the apricot oil because I was a family friend of the owner.  It was nice.  I felt like she worked a lot more on my back than my legs, because I told her my back was hurting pretty bad during the race. I am sure it was because I was so cold and so I tensed up.  I would have preferred more on the legs and feet though.  I wish it would have lasted about another eight hours!  I love massages!  It was a nice place.

I ran some errands after and then was going to visit my parents but they had taken off to Layton to a nursery to get some stuff to plant.  I came home and Dave and I went to dinner at El Toro.  We then went through a car-wash to wash the car and HOLY!  The sounds and the effect of the water, brought back memories of Monday!  It truly was like running in a car-wash and the sounds were so similar. Great! I am having PTSD going through a car-wash!  LOL  I had to laugh!  Too funny! 

We rented the new Star Wars movie. I fell asleep after about an hour.  Not my fave.  I was beat anyway.

dear saturday, I heard more wind this morning. Yikes!  LOL  I headed out on a walk.  It was pretty nice. It felt so good too.  I worked on my lesson and piano and tried to get some cleaning done.  Sky and crew showed up in the afternoon and Sarah and I went to Smiths and Kents to grab some of their stuff on sell.  Carson was so cute.  He brought me a whole stack of "presents" he made for me. I sure do love that little guy! 

 With my "presents"....

 He loved his Boston shirt and SPIKE I brought him from Boston.  

They took a few four wheeler rides.  So nice to have warm temps again!

I made Twix Bars for my SS class treat and for Sarah because she really wanted me too because she loves them.  It was a gorgeous day.  Carson made his potions while I worked in the kitchen.  

 He loves making his potions. He had about every ingredient in the kitchen today!  

Taylor and McKay were here. Bryce took off for Wendover to a concert. We had a great dinner of ribs. 

Carson played in the sink for a while and then we watched the rest of the Wizard of Oz and hit the hay.

dear sunday, I got up early to work on my lesson. I got a text from Troy asking me to meet with Janzen before church. I am sure it means I am being released.  Oddly enough, I had just told Dave I was getting tired of preparing the same lessons over and over.  My guess is I will be called to the Primary.  I finished my lesson prep and headed over.  Sure enough, I was being released from SS and my RS piano job (lucky them!) and called to be the Sunbeam teacher.  I am actually excited! I love Sunbeams.  Carson will be in my class. I hope that is good.  I have to say I am a little sad though because I have been teaching the 16-17 year olds for seven years!  I have loved it.  I will miss it.  I love working with the youth.  When they announced it in Sacrament, Holli (who is 20 something but in my class because she is mentally about 10-11 and has been coming to my class for several years) said very loudly, "That's not fair!"  She wasn't happy.  I will miss her a lot.  And the class I have this year is one of my favorites. I just love them.  A couple of the mom's told me their kids are very sad I am being released.  That made me feel happy and sad at the same time!  I was also told by three other people that they tried to get me in callings for so long and they were always told no.  Hmmm....  Glad to know I was at least wanted. I know when Dave was Bishop he wanted me working with the youth so that might be why.  Either way, I haven't been in Primary for years and years.  It will be a fun change. You do kind of get lost in there but I am still going to love it.  

I taught for the last time in SS. They all wanted to know about the marathon and so I told them a bit about it.  I took them to the stage for an object lesson. I needed it to be really dark and our classroom isn't dark. Bro. Matheson was visiting (in SS Pres) and he said how sad they are to lose me. He has told me so many times how much I am loved as a teacher and some very nice things.  That just makes it harder to go!  But, I am actually ready for a change!  I will not mourn the piano job at all even though it has been nice that I have been forced to practice.  But, I won't miss it!  I played for the last time in RS and it actually went well.  Until I dropped my book on the piano keys.  A nice farewell send off!  Haha  The lesson was given by Lindsey on the talk By Divine Design and it was really good.  She did a good job.  Jen made a comment about how the Lord puts people in our lives when we need them and then she brought up how when we were in the RS Pres together, she felt that it was by divine design. She said some really nice things including how I helped her with her parenting when Abby was a bit of a challenge. I don't even remember that.  She said that I taught her to not label our kids because they live up to their labels and she said how I told her about what we did with Bryce when he was very mischievous and so we called him Angel (she actually said she thought we called him Devil....that made me laugh).  I tried to explain how by calling him that, he lived up to it and it really helped change his behavior.  It really was amazing the change we saw in him after doing that.  And she was so sweet and said some other really nice things about me. I wish I had been on top of things and shared how when her flowers arrived four months late, that had to be by divine design as well.  But it came to me after.  After we found each other and hugged and both told one another how much our friendship means and what a blessing we both feel to have it.  Her friendship has truly been a blessing to me. We both needed each other at a time when we were able to help each other through.  Tender mercies.  

I found Carson and then talked to Heidi about my class.  She told me she had to beg for me and was so happy the Bishop finally consented when she explained to him why. She never told me what that why was.  I wonder if I should be worried??  Maybe they are a difficult class???  But, it should be fun even if they are.  Sunbeams!  Yay! I just love little kids so much!  It will be fun.  When I got home, Linda, Lynn, Tanae, Denver, and new baby Brynlee were all here. I hadn't met her yet and so I was so happy to finally get my hands on her.  She is adorable. She has a cast on one leg due to her club feet, but she is handling it well.  

They stayed for an hour or more and when they left, we all helped get dinner ready. Dave was at a meeting and we had to wait and wait for him. We were ready to start without him and then he showed up.  We had a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It was so good.  Then I watched a movie with Carson. His tummy was hurting and so I rubbed it and gave him a heating pad. We watched Sleeping Beauty and then they headed home.  

*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, Sky was here until the afternoon.  I was pretty stiff and sore from the race.  We chatted and I did my nails downstairs so I could chat with him. 

 After he left I headed to my Ortho appt.  I got my new aligners and Clark told me only 10 weeks until we are to the promised land!  We can only hope!  That will be around Christmas.  I came home and made brownies for Holli's birthday.  She asked me to bring them to SS but I wanted to take her some on her actual birthday as well.  She wasn't home but I left them on her porch.  Bryce showed up!  It was good to see him.  I made him tacos.  I worry if he ever eats healthy food when he lives away.  Out of all my boys, he is the one that doesn't like to cook. Dave worked late.  Monday's are always bad but worse when he's been out of town.  Bryce spent the night and is heading to Idaho early in the morning. I practiced the harp for the first time since my last lesson.  

dear tuesday, didn't go on a run this morning because I was still too sore and it was freezing!  I really have a hard time going out when it starts to get cold.  It takes me awhile to "warm up" to it.  I practiced the harp for almost two hours.  I had to make up a lot of practice time because we were in St. George.  Then I went to Ogden to our Sista lunch at Pig in a Jelly Jar.  

My invite

It was an interesting place.  I did not like what I ordered.  It was yucko.  My egg was raw and I sent it back and it came back slightly less raw.  I just took it off and tried to eat the other stuff but it was loaded with grease.  Luckily, I also ordered some Beignets. They were good.  We took some photos and chatted and then went in a little store on 25th.  Then we all hurried off to do our own things.  

Dave was off today and so I ran a couple errands and then headed home.  Julie showed up and needed my help with her corn chowder she was taking to RS because it wouldn't thicken.  I went over and helped her and then headed to the church for Super Tuesday.  We ate soup and breadsticks, had the sacrament bread demo by Jen and then I made some bath bombs.  It was fun.  I need to make more of the bath bombs to give away.  They smell so good!  

As soon as I got home from the church, Dave left for the church.  He had meetings pretty late.  I worked on my Marathon post.  Then went to bed early.  Well, I "went" to bed, but didn't sleep until much later.  

dear wednesday, I got up early and practiced.  No run again.  Maybe tomorrow.  I tried to schedule a massage for after my lesson. I ended up scheduling one at Sego Lily because I have a gift card there.  I was going to use the gift card Sky gave me to the SLC one but they were booked today.   I rushed to my lesson.  It was short and sweet today because she had an online class right at 10:30.  I headed to Layton for my massage but I had to kill about and hour and so I went to Rod Works and Ross.  When I got back in the car, I could not find the gift card for the massage.  It was no where!  I drove back to the places I had parked in case it fell out of the car and then I called Nanette to see if it was in her street. Nope. So I called Sego Lily to see if I remembered the code # on the back from my call this morning to see how much was on it.  I didn't have it right.   Dang!  I decided I just threw away $50 bucks just like that!  When I got inside I explained the situation to the girl at the desk and she tried to find it, but she couldn't.  Oh well.  It was fun to be back at Sego Lily. It brought back SO many fun memories from when I won their blog contest!  It smelled so good too!  I got on my robe and Jolene met me in the hall and we headed back to my room.  I only signed up for a 30 minute massage but I should have done a 60 minute.  It felt SO good!  I LOVE massages!  She was really good too.  Her pressure was perfect and I could have stayed there all day.  It was nice because I didn't talk like I had to when I won the blog contest. This time I just relaxed and was quiet.  When I had all those from when I won the contest, I talked the whole time because I was always trying to get details so I could write my blog posts for their blog. I prefer NOT talking while getting one!  I especially loved the foot and hand massage and the hot lavender scented eye mask.  As well as the soothing music in the background.  And the aroma!  It was lovely!  When I went to pay, the girl told me she talked to the manager and they were going to give me the $50 credit for the gift card!  I was so happy!  Who does that?  I felt so blessed! 

I shopped at At Home.  I fell in love with this gingerbread house ↓!  But, it isn't real and I kinda like displaying my real ones!

I ran to the mall to get my online order and while there I saw this giant Panda in the window at a store and I HAD to go check it out.  I have seen it there before but it was too expensive and so I just walked by but today all the plush was 30% off.  Hmm....  I had to go in and think about it.  Should I or shouldn't I?  The clerk told me they would not be going on sale again until after Christmas and by then most likely they will be out of stock.  They only had two in stock now.  So, I did it.  Carson will be SO happy I'm sure!  He can sit on the thing!  Too cute!

I almost bought the one on the far bottom right, but decided to go BIG!

I stopped by my parent's house. They were driving down their street and we passed.  When they saw me they turned around and came back.  I showed them the Panda and they are going to keep him there until Christmas.  They loved it.  

I just love my Dad!  He is hilarious and so much fun!

We looked at pix of Britt's new gorgeous home. It's beautiful.  Beyond beautiful.  I'm just slightly jealous.  Shelley would be so proud!  All of her kids are very successful.  We talked a bit about the prescription fiasco.  I came home and Dave was still at work.  We ate and then he went to his meetings and I worked on this blog.  Will I EVER catch up?  Not looking like it!

dear thursday, I walked and even ran a bit this morning.  Felt pretty good and not stiff or sore at all.  That massage must of worked!  I went to Homemakers.  Luann Christensen our Utah MOY spoke and she did a great job.  Her topic was on how to deal with life's trials.  It was stuff you hear over and over but need reminders often.  1) Prepare 2) Live in the Now 3) Be Grateful 4) Feel God's Unconditional Love.  It was fun chatting with everyone. 

Then I headed to Walmart and did some shopping.  I called Mitra (she tried to call me twice this morning) and we talked for about running for an hour and a half.  We shared our running do's and don'ts and I learned a lot from her.  She has nine kids!  She is amazing. I learned I need to cross train more and strengthen my core and do more strength training.  We talked about fueling too that I think will help me a lot as well.  

Notes I took from chat with Mitra.  I need to crosstrain more that's for sure! And I think taking the Magnesium a few days before a full marathon would be very helpful to help with my leg cramps.

I had YW women Volleyball tonight. Val couldn't make it.  It's not the same without her.  It was a fun night.  We do have a lot of fun!   This calling is more fun than work!

Dave worked until after 8!  We went to Troy's to feed Zoe and his fish.  We were there for a good hour.  Troy had Dave get his water back in balance.  I added the photo of Zoe's litter "box".  It looks like a real toilet and it's plumbed, so basically it is!  She was a little "moody" but I had fun playing with her while Dave took care of the fish.  He has quite the set up!

Mr. Cat is always so lovey dovey with Dave.  If it looks like he is hugging Dave in these.  He was!

I STILL don't have my Halloween decors up!  THAT IS A FIRST!

dear friday, today my entire day was spent at my niece's Rachel's wedding.  The reason for that is because it was in Payson.  Not exactly close.  No one in my family was able to go (mainly because it would be a five hour total commute and they weren't able to be gone that long and Dave was short handed at the clinic) and so I was going solo.  I tried to get a ride with Linda but her car was full, so I tried Karen even though I knew I would only be able to ride down with her but not back because she was heading to Park City after.  I ended up riding down with her and asked Brian and Becki if I could catch a ride home with them.  I met Karen and her girls and two of Mickey's friends in Kaysville and the ride was actually faster than we thought.  I was trying to text Dave to call in a script because Aubrey forgot her medicine.  My texts weren't going through.  When we arrived I called the clinic to figure that out, but also because my recommend wasn't in my wallet!  And I was so proud of myself for remembering my wallet so I had it with me!  Nope.  Not in there!  That's because we went to the St. George temple last weekend and I guess I either gave it to him or put it in my temple bag and forgot to transfer it back to my wallet.  Groan!  I got a hold of him and we walked in and I had to wait while they checked.  It's all on computer now and so if you forget your recommend they can look it up electronically.  Pretty sweet.  The temple is gorgeous!  I mean GORGEOUS!  And huge!

 Her colors were lilac and sage. So pretty!

 With some of my cute nieces and sister in law.

 Rachel's side of the family

 At the luncheon.  She didn't have a reception, just this luncheon.

 Dancing and cutting the cake.  

It was really nice to not have to worry about the wedding cake!  Her aunt from her mom's side made it.  The dancing had me teared up because Jeremy's real mom came and he danced with her and then with his adopted mom.  Not many dry eyes.  It's a long but amazing story.  

The food was amazing.  The place was beautiful.  It was a very nice wedding.  I am glad I was able to go.  I ended up riding home with Natalie because she drove alone.  She took me to my car in Kaysville.  I got home about 9 pm.  It was a long day, but I love weddings! 

dear saturday, I went for a walk and ran about a half mile.  I wasn't in a good mood at first, but then after being outside and moving I started to feel good.  It was chilly.  I found a $1.61 in change from the hs parking lot!  Woot! 

The track is finally getting close!

I hid my purple lady bug rock.  I hope some little kid finds it and loves it.

Came home and Taylor and Sky were both here!  I showered and headed to the store to grab stuff for the granola I promised to make Taylor.  I made the granola and it turned out great.  

Here's my new version of my old recipe:

Dave was going to do tomatoes but I talked him into letting me get my Halloween up first or I knew it would never happen.  I almost decided to not even put it up this year since it's so late, but I figured that would be blasphemy if "I" THEE Halloween Queen didn't decorate this year!  

It is a LOT of work and takes a LOT of time and I don't have the time right now, but I STILL had to do it.  It took me about three hours. I have more Halloween than Christmas decors.  I DO LOVE HALLOWEEN!  I love it so much more now because so many of my decors are purple!  I do over-do it, but it's so fun.  

This is something new this year.  I like it.  Bad photo with the lights.  But it does look cool in person.

 I do have a lot of purple decors.  Maybe that's one of the reasons I love decorating for Halloween so much!

 I love all these framed photos of Halloween's past.  They bring back such warm memories!
A close-up of some of the pix ↓

 Frankie is back in business.
My good friend Colleen used to always leave Frankie a "gift" each Halloween.  Well, she apparently stopped by to deliver that "gift" this year, but he wasn't up yet (I told you I was slow in getting them up this year) and so she left it with the angel.  Bahahahaha!   Only her!  I laughed and laughed! 

 Taylor helped me put up my scary black cat.  I thought he was pretty ingenious in doing it without a ladder. 

My current Facebook profile picture

Better picture of my NEW Halloween decors. You can see the lights on this one without them blaring.

And bonus, cause Dave made dinner!  Mmm....  We ate and then McKay showed up!  We all had so much fun just chatting and hanging out.  That's the best part about having adult children because you can talk to them about life stuff.  We were laughing about a lot of stuff and I love to see the boys tease each other.  It's fun.  It does a mama's heart good.  McKay's friends stopped by for a bit and I worked on my SS lesson and then practiced piano.  Taylor took off to go camping in Logan canyon!  It's 26°! Crazy kid!

dear sunday, I got up and finished my lesson and made brownies for my class (for Holli's bday).  I practiced the piano and then headed to church.  When I got in my classroom, Jeannie was setting up to teach. We had a miscommunication I guess.  We worked it out so I would teach today since I might be Las Vegas next weekend.  We only had two kids (Holli and Marcus) and so it went a bit different that I had planned.  I played piano in RS and that went well.  We had Sky home for lunch and that was it because McKay had gone to Cooper's homecoming.  We had BLT's probably for the last time with fresh garden tomatoes this year. I love them so much.  I laid down but ended up watching Yours Mine and Ours.  It's one of my all time favorite movies.  It stars Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. 

Such a great movie!

McKay's best bud Cooper got home from his mission to California (standing next to McKay) and here they are at his homecoming on Sunday.  Sadly, his family moved from our ward right before he left.  But he will always be part of our ward family.

dear mckay, one of his companions mom's posted these this week:

 Can I just say how grateful I am that he is HOME!

 Man, that kid is a handsome boy! (Top Left)

He definitely loved his mission! (Bottom 2nd from left)

dear random,

This popped up on my Facebook memories.  He STILL holds the Hawaii State Record!

This one is definitely accurate.  This is totally how I feel. :)

This is the Gingerbread House turned Haunted House ↑ 

Facebook Quiz - I liked the picture more than the quote ↓ 

Find gratitude in your journey today!