(If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge)
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!
dear running with the wind, or more like against it! Holy tornado, it was windy on Monday! I ran out west and it was crazy! My hair was blowing straight up at one point. I tried to get a photo of it but these are the best I could get. It was so cold! But after a couple miles I was mostly warmed up and felt fine.
dear suit shopping....I finally got Dave to go suit shopping. I've only been trying for a year. With Stake Conference coming up this weekend, I think he figured it was time too. He had the day off and so we left pretty early after my run. We had to make several stops on the way...to Walmart for the shower invites and a few other stops. We then headed to SLC and went to Joseph A. Banks. My sister in law told me they were having a big sale. We were only in there for 45 minutes at the most and left with a huge dent in the bank account but with two suits. Actually, we didn't leave with any suits because they had to order in the extra long one for him. They will ship them in two weeks, so he won't be wearing his new suits for Stake Conference. Oh well. Dave is not one that is fond of shopping and he only tried on four and was able to choose from them. It was just like taking McKay shopping. McKay tried on one and wanted it but I made him go to several other stores and try on more. We ended up going back for the first one. I decided with Dave, instead of shopping all day and trying on more and trying to find a better deal, to just get those since he was good with them. One store. Tried on four suits. Bought two. DONE! It was a relief even though we spent way more than we had hoped. But he got some nice ones. We then headed to Trolley Square to eat lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory. My favorite place!
I got what I always do! The Manager's Special. Half meat sauce and half Mizithra cheese in browned butter. Mmmm..... I love that place!
We went to Dick's bakery (our favorite!) and got some donuts and I bought some eclairs for my tea party tomorrow. I told Dave my Grandma Mae used to buy me Alligator Jaws when I was a little girl. Oh. My. Gosh. I remember how much I loved them! I used to dream about eating them! But I haven't had one in about 40 years. Dick's had mini ones and so he bought me one. It wasn't as good as I remembered. ☺ Definitely won't be dreaming about them again! I also got a mint brownie. Mmm.... Now those I WILL dream about. Sadly, I was too full eat it. But that baby is going in my belly tomorrow!
Dave wanted to run by Bird World to check out the fish as well. We used to live by it and loved to go in there and check things out. It wasn't quite as cool as we remembered but it was still pretty fun. Why is things always seem so much better in our memories than real life? ☺
We then hit Nielsen's Frozen Custard and got a Bumbleberry concrete with almonds. Now those things will always be as good as I remember! The best! I only had a few bites because I was still so full. I had to stop at Karen's to get the shower invite address labels and as Karen and I finished up shower details this is what was happening in the other room:
 |
Mickey giving Dave harp lessons. It was so cute. He was good too. She also taught me to play Twinkle Twinkle. I am just dying to get my own and learn how to play that thing! Sigh.... Maybe Santa will bring me one this year? I have been a very pretty good girl this year! |
It was a full day of shopping and errands. We counted eleven or twelve stops that we made. Just relieved to get those suits!
dear gratitude glammas first annual tea party,
It was a blast! Don't we look like such Glammas? Check out Kathy's ring over her glove? So her! haha
Posing!
More posing.
Dawn brought us fancy white gloves! We all felt so elegant in them!
The tea treats...
It was a great party. Kathy has probably over 100 tea sets in her house. Maybe more! She inherited them from her mother. I was in awe at how many she had and then she told us that it was only 1/5th of the collection. Her siblings all got that many too! Her mom was quite the collector!
We do have fun together!
I love these beautiful Gratitude Glammas!
A few months ago when Dawn, Kathy and I were at Bear Lake, we talked about doing this. We wanted to make this a worthwhile get together and focus on the power of gratitude. I hope we pulled it off. We needed a way to give away the door prizes I brought and so we played a game where we had to say "I am thankful for OR I am grateful for" before we could say anything. It was hilarious! We laughed and laughed! It was hard! But funny! I took Gratitude Journals for everyone and talked a little bit about why we wanted to do the tea party and the importance of gratitude in our lives and how it can change our lives. I told how when I lost Tyson that it would have easy to just stay in bed all day but I had four other boys to raise and I had to figure out how to function. Gratitude was the magic that helped me do that. I also talked about the Complain Free World campaign. The bracelets came that were for the Special Needs but I had extra and so passed them out at the tea party. And I talked about this quote:
I told how the Buddhists believe all people are endowed with the innate
ability to create value out of any situation, no matter how awful or
tragic. I told how I stumbled on that quote just that morning and learned from a website that unlike the idea that every cloud has a silver lining—that
something positive can always be found in everything negative—the
principle of changing poison into medicine explains that we can
transform even the most horrific tragedy into the very thing we need to become happier than we currently are.
Kathy told the story from the Hiding Place (my fave book!) about even being grateful for fleas. I actually gave a talk on that once called Embrace the Fleas. Dawn talked about gratitude but we were running out of time and so we kind of wrapped it up and the last thing we did was to write something nice about each person. Here is what was written about me:
All in all, I think it went well. I know I had a good time. Hopefully everyone left feeling even a little more uplifted than they normally do after one of our lunches. I did!
dear mr. cat, you are once crazy cat. You love the printer and try to attack it when it's printing.
But you also have been getting attacked as well. I am assuming from fighting with other cats, but I have no idea. All I know is you have had two major head injuries in a week. One was oozing blood and then pus and so we had to get you on antibiotics.
And you still love this human more than any other. Hmm....
Wrong, just wrong!
dear adorable mother of mine, my Mommy made the front page of one of the sections of the Ogden Standard this week! Isn't she adorable?
She is so funny because she text me saying, "I about died as I was reading the paper. They put me on the front of 9A with the tap dancers. Worst picture in the world. Hope you're not too embarrassed."
You can read the entire article HERE.
She tap dances with a group of ladies even though she is constant pain all the time.
This is what I posted on Facebook:
My cute Mom in the Standard for her toe tapping talents! Even though she
is in chronic back/hip pain all the time, she doesn't let it stop her
from enjoying life! So proud of you MOM!
Here is a clearer picture of her. Isn't she cute? Love that Mama of mine!
dear turkey trot! It was bitter cold this morning and if Taylor hadn't shown up to run this race with me, I am not sure I would've braved the cold. I think it was the coldest morning we have had so far. It was 18° when I first woke up and 21° when we arrived at the race. In a month those temps will feel like a heat wave, but for now, it was brrrrrrrrr!
Taylor is a good sport and drove all the way down to run this with me. He did great! He is so stinkin' fast and he never runs! If he actually trained he would be unreal!
And we are off!
This is me approaching the second lap. It's a four mile race that repeats a two mile route.
 |
| A friend of mine took this and posted it on Facebook before I even got home. |
Dave is always my biggest athletic supporter. (Sorry....just love to say that! hehe)
I ran the four miles in a 8:26 pace. I finished in 33:30. A new PR for this race as far as I can remember!!! I was really hoping for a PR because I have been worried I have been losing all the speed work training I did this past year. Yay! I hope that means I haven't lost it yet! I love new PR's! I took first in my age division and got a gobbler! Taylor ran it in 29:38 with a 7:00 something pace and got 2nd in his age division. He won a pumpkin pie! McKay would have been so thrilled! He used to be sad if I won a turkey for first place and wanted me to always take 2nd because he loves pumpkin pie. LOL Some 50 year old guy that lives like four hours away took overall winner. This guy has set all kinds of running records and ran it in a 5:00 pace! Crazy! Had he not shown up then the 1st place winner in Taylor's AD would have got overall winner and Taylor would have got 1st. Next year!
Getting a good start to our Thanksgiving dinner!
 |
| This WILD turkey in our backyard is trotting too! And for good reason! Tis' the season! |
dear stake conference, Saturday night I went to the church for dinner with all the Bishop's and their wives and Elder Porter. The Stake RS prepared the meal and it was delicious! Roast beef with roasted potatoes and squash, homemade rolls, green salad, and cake. It was really good. We had the Parrish's at our table along with Elder Porter and the Agrens. Elder Porter stood up and talked about how one of the Apostles told the brethren to never think that because of their callings that they are better than their wives. In fact, he told them your wives are better you. All of us wives appreciated that. haha They were all smiling at their husbands as if to say, "See I told ya!" JK He gave a little more counsel and then we headed into the adult meeting. It was packed. I sat by Nadine. Dave did a great job. He had many in tears. He has a way of speaking that is just so calming and so inspiring that you can just feel the spirit. He talked a lot about the all the different trials we must endure and how there is great equality in our trials even though we might not think so. It was a good meeting. When we got home, I pondered some more and tried to prepare what I was going to say in my testimony in the morning. I only have five minutes. That is not a lot of time. Or, too much time! I didn't sleep too well!
Dave left early and I tried to gather some thoughts. I am sure if I was asked to give a prepared talk it would be easier because I would have notes in front of my face! At least I say that. I am not sure I want to find out! I'll just be happy with this! I had been given five minutes to bear my testimony. I headed over to the church (we usually meet in the tabernacle but it was having some work done on it) and really didn't want to sit on the stand just to bear my testimony. I was afraid people would then expect too much, but I was informed that I "got" to. Elder Porter told Dave to sit by me so that was actually nice. The place was packed! The nerves were starting to creep in, but I actually stayed pretty calm (even though I had a camera on me that was broadcasting the meeting to two other buildings).
When it was my turn, I said, "Unlike Bro. Vance last night, I did not ask if I could sit on the stand to give moral support to Dave." The people that were there Saturday night "got it". Those that didn't weren't sure why the others were laughing. (Bro. Vance ended up having to bear his testimony because he asked if he could sit on the stand to give moral support to his wife who was speaking. He found out that if you are sitting on the stand and not a presiding authority you have to speak. Poor guy!) Anyway, I talked about how I had been thinking a lot about the seasons of life lately and that we are now empty nesters since we sent our baby off to Russia on a mission and how it's been a bit of an adjustment, and we are at a slight disadvantage because we were not as of yet grandparents, and so I joke around that someone needs to start a program called Rent a Grandchild where you rent them for as long as your energy lasts, pay a fee and then send them back until you're ready for them again. (Everyone laughed, but I am serious here!)
I then said how fast the time went when our children were small and how much I LOVED that time of my life and I wished it would never end and how much I miss it now. However, there were more than a few times I remember wondering if I would survive and told the story of one time when I was in the grocery store and was very feeling overwhelmed. I had all five boys (probably had one hanging from my leg, another begging for a treat or toy, and the others tossing back and forth a can of beans like it was a football) and a little grandma came up to me and lovingly told me, "Honey, enjoy this time because it will fly by! You will blink and it will be gone." I looked at her and said, "I sure hope you're right!
But now being on the other end, I
can say she was 100% right. It went so
fast. We as mothers always document when our children do major things for the
first time.... first smile, first word, first step, first day of school...and
on and on. But we don't document the
lasts....mainly because we never know when they are going to be. We don't know when the last time a child will
sit on our lap will be, or the last time we will read a bedtime story, or the
last time we will tuck them in at night, or the last fort that will be built
with blankets. And truthfully maybe
that's a good thing. I am actually grateful I didn't know or I would have been
a mess of tears. We just need to cherish
those moments and appreciate them while they are happening.Yes, I know I am now sounding like
that lady in the store, but it hasn't been so long ago that I can't remember
those days.
Anyway, back to my testimony....(I really can't remember all that I said but hopefully I will remember some of the basics) ...I said how much admiration I have for the young mothers and for what a great job they do and how as mothers we always wonder if what we are doing day in and day out is even
making a difference and how everyone yearns to feel
like they are making a difference in the world but it's hard to see how you
possibly could be when your days are filled with diapers, feeding, cleaning (and I should have added - but didn't - the
season of wiping....wiping counters, noses, bottoms, floors....feeling
completely wiped out), but I told them that they ARE making a difference. An eternal one. It's
the law of the harvest at work. The
results don't come for a long time.
