*Monday Memos*

*Monday Memos*

 

(If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge - if print is too small, you need glasses! ☺)

dear new addiction, I have NO idea why I have recently become addicted to YOU!  Serious!  There isn't even any chocolate involved.  But it's true, I really love these little things.  

When I first tried these many years ago, I used to be very picky about my flavors, but there isn't really one that I don't like.  I even will eat the black ones if that is what I grab.  It all started about a month ago when I was shopping in TJMaxx and I was really hungry and needed a snack and so I bought a small bag of them.  I started munching on them and I really liked all the different bursts of flavor and I was hooked!  I keep them in my car and in my room for when I need a small little burst of happiness.  As everyone knows Jelly Belly really knows how to make a jelly bean like no other!  They are not only uniquely flavored but also so much tinier than your average jelly bean and that makes them just oh... so... good!  I found them cheaper at Walmart and so I bought a bunch there in small bags and then when I was shopping with my sister-in-law in Home Goods, I found a three pounder for a great deal so I bought them.  Yes, three pounds of Jelly Belly's!  Me!  Not even chocolate covered! So bizarre.  But I really do like these little morsels! 

dear monday memos, I keep thinking I am going to have to change your name to Wednesday's Words or Thursday's Thinks, or Friday's Frolics (oooooo) because I am not getting this posted very often on Monday.  I keep trying but if I get behind and life happens, like it always does, then it's hard to get caught up!  So I end up posting this usually on a Wednesday, but today it's going to be a Saturday!  Yeah...life has been happening around here for sure!  It's more important to live it than to post about it right?  Right!  So consequently sometimes it's late.  Thank goodness for the scheduling option so it still shows up as posted on a Monday.  I have thought about changing the title to not include a day of the week, but honestly I MUST have a deadline or once I get behind, it will never happen.  So all in all, I guess it's better late than never!

dear insane asylum, I hadn't planned on visiting you, but what an adventure!  I did a little road tripping to Evanston with my friends Kathy and Dawn and we dropped Kathy off at the asylum.  (Haha JK Kathy if you read this.)  Kathy had to go help tend her grandkids but she couldn't drive due to a broken elbow from a bike crash and so she asked if we wanted to go up with her.  I jump at road trips and said, "YES!"  It was so much fun with these two. Both of them are fun loving with a little crazy stirred in.  We are all perfect candidates for any asylum, but especially the insane one! ☺ (JK Dawn - I know YOU read this! wink!)  We had so much fun that we took a bazillion pictures and so I am going to do a separate post on it.  It will be the post after this one, so go check it out and hear more about the insane asylum! Here's a little preview:

Click to enlarge

Go HERE for the post!

dear run down the canyon, Jen and I did a 9 miler down Sardine to try and get in some downhill for the Deseret News marathon on July 24th that is mostly downhill.  We were excited because our splits had some 8 minute miles and we didn't feel like we were going that speed.  We took a slight detour on our way home to check out the Baron Woolen Mills fire remains.  It was pretty sad.  The house right by it was so lucky it didn't go up in flames.  The bushes right next to it are really charred (bottom right picture) and so the fire was within feet of that house.  They are so fortunate it was contained.  Just such a sad scene.  The kid who started it confessed.  He was visiting from California and said he had made a bonfire that night but thought he put it out.  Sounds a little fishy smokey to me!

 

What the?  The things you see out running.  This was on the side of the highway.  I was seriously tempted to lay down and take a nap right then and there, but it looked kinda nasty and so I didn't.☺

dear mr. cat, WOW.  Just wow.  First you go from not even being able to catch a little moth to this carnage! 

I apologize for posting this hideous picture on MY blog, and yes I am apologizing to myself as well because I REALLY hate mice.  I don't even like pictures of them, especially of ones that have given up the ghost.  Given up the ghost by force, mind you.  But still given it up.  The force would be my innocent (or so I thought) harmless (hah) cat.  He's become a killer overnight!  Once we caught that mouse in our house and I scolded him for not catching it, he suddenly became an all star mouse annihilator!  We found two the next day, and four the day after that.  So far, (that I know of) we have only found one other.  But I suspect there are many more.  I guess I should be grateful realizing those little critters won't be getting into my house.  But oh, the carnage!  I really have a hard time even petting him now knowing what he has been up to and what he has been touching.  Gah!  I think I preferred thinking he was just born a lousy hunter.  

dear hood, here are this week's manic manican shots!  Same outfit, different hats and accessories.  Once again, I have no idea why this cracks me up so, but it does.  I think these peeps are great for doing something that makes others smile when they drive by.

dear mom and pa, happy anniversary!  You two are so cute and the best parent's any kid could ask for.  I was so blessed to be able to have you both as my parents.  Not sure what I did to deserve you guys, but I'm glad I did it, whatever it was!  You celebrated your 56th on July 3rd!  Wow!  

I love this picture!

dear date night, we kept it simple and went to eat at the Old Grist Mill.  I really love their grilled turkey bacon avocado with pesto sandwich and so that's what I had.  Actually we shared one.  Mmm...  Then after that we decided to try out the new ice cream place in town called The Frozen Udder.  Dave got coconut almond and I got licorice ice cream!  My fave!

 On our way home we went and collected some weeds for my centerpiece I have to do for the Relief Society taster's table on Tuesday.  I had to spray them with hairspray before cutting them so they wouldn't disintegrate and blow away.

 I came home and spray painted them.  Look in next week's Monday Memos for the final product!

dear fourth of july, what a busy day you were!  

FIRST... I ran the Honeyville Freedom Run 5K in Honeyville.  They had a record turnout!  They only had 200 bibs and so had to turn away peeps after the first 200.  They ran out of race shirts too.  I felt bad I didn't get to wear one to the fireworks. 

Lots of peeps!  I haven't ran a 5K in a long time and I was seriously worried if my legs were going to be up for it.  I was actually more worried about my cardio because I haven't really bounced back very fast after the marathon.

But, I was so excited because I got first place in my age division!  And 8th overall woman!  Out of 100 women!  I was REALLY excited about that since I was one of the oldest geriatrics! haha ☺  I also took first place in six other age divisions younger than mine.  And second place in a couple others.  How can I be disappointed in that?  I don't think I set a new PR for this race, but I will have to go back and see what my times have been.  It's not a fast course because you are running on grass, dirt, gravel, rocks, and uneven terrain for the entire race.  My time was 26:36 which is not my best 5K but considering the course, I was happy.  I WON a quart jar of HONEY!  What else would you win at at HONEYVILLE race?

I stood around and waited with great anticipation to win a door prize because this race ALWAYS has great door prizes and I just knew my number would be the next one called.  Nope.  Not ever.  I was bummed.  But, I was even MORE bummed when I discovered that I didn't even turn in my number and so there is no way I could have won because they didn't even have it to draw out!  GAH!  These are the kind of things that happen when you are a geriatric runner!  lol

But we did get my breakfast half price because I ran the race.  Pretty dang good breakfast too!  Dave came along to support me and to cheer me on.  That's always a bonus for me.☺

SECOND...we rushed home so I could shower and get to McKay's Teen T-Ball Tourney!  I found out the night before he was in the tournament, which is about par around here. ☺    

He had a great team and they did really well.  It was quite humorous though when McKay almost broke the T with his wicked and powerful swing!  He did well though and caught a killer pop fly.  They played five or six games.  There were about seven or eight teams.  It was a great way to spend the fourth.

THIRD...the manic manican was all spruced up for the 4th too! Oh my, just giggles. 

FOURTH...we had a great BBQ at our house and it was delish!  Sorry forgot to take pictures. 

FIFTH...we headed to the fireworks at the local city park with about 5000 other peeps or more!  I actually have no idea how many were there, but it was packed as usual.  We sat by Brian and Becki and Lynn and Linda. The fireworks were amazing but seemed to not last as long as usual,  but they did go well with the music.  And no ground explosions this year.  Whew!

SIXTH...I had to pass up an after fireworks party at the Garrett's (to do more fireworks) because I had to be up by 5:30 a.m. to get in my long run.  Training for a marathon really puts a damper on your social life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! 

I am so grateful I live in this free country where we have been blessed with so much - freedom being the least of it all !  We sang the Star Spangled Banner in sacrament meeting on Sunday and I actually teared up because I felt such a deep gratitude that I live in this blessed land.  What an amazing gift!

dear garden, it's amazing how a little seed can do so much.  So many metaphors of life that go with it, but my favorite is "out of small things proceedeth that which is great."  This amazing garden is mainly the labor of my husband and sons.  His new nickname from me is Farmer Dave.  He loves it and I am glad, because I don't and I have the brownest thumb known to man.  I kill plastic house plants.  Last year I helped plant most of it (and it survived!), but this year, I haven't really done anything.  It's mostly Dave's baby and he is very proud of it.  It's located next to his Dad's house in the backyard of one of his Dad's rentals.  We also have a smaller one in our backyard, but the deer usually feast more on that one than we do and so it's kind of a futile attempt.  I sure do enjoy what comes out of this ground!  So far we've been feasting on green beans, cukes, and tons of raspberries!  

dear long run, well the first part of you was awesome and amazing and inspiring and fun.  But the second part I just wanted it to be over with each step.

Jen and I ran up the mountain in my backyard.  We saw a snake at the top part and even though he wasn't very big, he had an attitude.  He didn't sport any rattles, so we felt pretty safe.  Jen messed with him with a stick and he coiled up and was ready to strike!  We got a great photo of him and then went on our merry way.  We ran over the mountain into Mantua.  We also ran into (not literally! ha) a police officer and he asked us if we had seen a baby deer.  His mama was laying across the highway (roadkill) and he had reports of a baby deer crossing the highway.  We told him we would keep an eye out for him, but we never saw him. I hope he was found and able to get help.  We then ran down the canyon and onto my favorite little trail.  It's almost like you are in a different world even though the freeway is right on the side of it.  You don't really hear the traffic.  It's just so peaceful on the trail.  The trail was my favorite part of the run.  It was shady and cooler and so beautiful.  I tripped a couple times and almost biffed it.  I need more practice with this trail running because I am afraid I am going to trip and break something I need to not be broken!  Once we got down into town again, we parted ways.  I had to go seven more miles so I could get in my 15.  Jen just had to finish up with two more.

Oh man... saying it was hot is an understatement.  Even with getting up and out by 6 a.m.  It was just HOT!  I stopped at the cemetery to refill my water bottle and walked a bit which was a mistake because I really had a hard time getting into my running groove after that.  I was by the golf course killer hill and decided that since I was there I should run it too.  Bad idea!  After I did that I was pretty much spent.  I still had five more miles to go and those last five miles were some of my worst ever.  NOT FUN.  My water was hot and I couldn't drink it and so I hit a gas station and got some ice in it and then headed towards the clinic so Dave could give me a ride home.  I planned my route that way because sometimes I just get tired of the same old route.  I got there and had to wait for him for about 45 min to finish up.  I laid on the grass and in the suburban and then came home and showered and felt pretty wiped out.  The heat got to me today!

He looks a lot bigger than he was, but he was still pretty vicious.  He was a blow snake and they are aggressive.

This is how I feel about a lot of the places I run...

dear taylor (aka elder wilding), what a great kid you are!  Here are some pictures of your companion giving you a haircut.  Your one and only regret that you have had on your mission according to your last letter, was to let your comp cut your hair.  I don't think it looks too bad!  At least not if you are enlisting in the army! hah

 Filling up the font the fast and easy way!

Baptismo!

Some basketball fun!

I can't believe you will be home in less than four months!  Yippee!

dear swig cookie recipe, I was so happy with how you turned out!  What delish cookies these were!   I wish I could say these tasted like the real thing, but the truth is I have never tasted a Swig cookie and so I am not sure, but if they taste anything like these little morsels then I know why they are so famous!  At least they looked like the picture of the real thing!  I have tried a Slurp cookie but these were even better than those. I just wish they lasted longer.  Maybe I better not give so many away next time I make them.  Or, maybe I better give away more so I won't eat them!

Here's the recipe!

Swig Sugar Cookies

The famous Swig Cookie Copycat recipe. Soft sugar cookie with amazing frosting!

• 1 Cup Butter, softened
• ¾ C Vegetable Oil
• 1¼ C Sugar (plus ¼ cup reserved)
• ¾ C Powdered Sugar
• 2 T Water
• 2 Eggs
• ½ t Baking Soda
• ½ t Cream of Tarter
• 1 t Salt
• 5½ C Flour
• Frosting:
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ C Sour Cream
• 5 Cups powdered Sugar
• 1 t salt
• ¼ C Milk
• Red Food Coloring

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, vegetable oil, sugar (1¼ C), powdered sugar, and water. Add in eggs.
3. Slowly add in flour mixture until combined. Roll the dough into golf sized balls and place onto a non stick cookie sheet.
4. To give the cookies their signature rough edge, dip the bottom of a glass into the reserved ¼ cup sugar and press onto the cookie ball to flatten the cookie. You still want the cookie to be thicker so don’t press them to thin.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the bottom is lightly brown. The cookies stay soft so do not over bake.
6. To make the frosting: Cream together butter, sour cream, and salt. Add the powdered sugar. Add in the milk to the desired consistency. Spread over cooled cookies and store in an airtight container.  Serves: 24-30

ENJOY!!!!!!!!