*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

            

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

dear monday run, I headed out west today because I was in serious need of a scenery change!  I've been logging in a lot of miles and it seems most of them are the same route!  

Total miles for March = 154 miles! 

I live near some cool places and I don't take advantage of them very often.  But, I did today. 
Aren't cows are the cutest things? These guys were babies and they were so friendly. 

dear out my front door, THIS ↓ is what is happening on our street this week.  They are replacing the water lines and installing a new fire hydrant and so it is going to be a long week.  Or two.  They also have to re-asphalt it once they are done.  We have to park our cars at the bottom of the hill until then too.  I'm just grateful it's not in the middle of winter so it's not icy. 

That hole where the guy is standing is at least six feet deep!

dear running on empty...on Tuesday I headed out thinking I would get in a great run.  But, it seemed that everything went south.  I couldn't seem to run without hacking and having to stop.  Then my bladder kept screaming for relief every five minutes and that never happens.  Then I couldn't get my speed up to my pace.  Good thing I wasn't trying to do a pace run today.  I couldn't even do a tempo run!  Being sick has really affected my speed an stamina.  I overdressed because it was so cold and windy when I left, but by mile four I was hot.  I couldn't wait to be done with those six miles.  I was done before I even started today.  I need to get rid of this cold and bronchitis.  It makes training tough!  And training is already tough enough as it is!

But...on the bright side, look at those blossoms!  As for me, well...I couldn't hide the way I was feeling even though I tried! 

And check out my backyard...not just the blossoms but there is a deer AND a turkey I caught at the same time.  The turkey is really hard to see...he's to the right of the the tall quakies...in the middle standing on a rock.

dear amish bread, Taylor came home on Tuesday to work and he told me he wanted me to make some more of that good bread (Amish Friendship Bread).  I told him I couldn't make any yet because it has to go through a 10 day process before I can bake it.  My batch was only on day 6 or 7.  He being the child he is kept telling me that it would be fine and to make it anyway.  I being the mom that I am kept telling him that it wouldn't work if it didn't run the full 10 day course.  He being the child that he is asked me how I knew that and asked me if I ever tried it before the 10 days?  I told him I hadn't.  He told me I should just do it.  I kept saying it wouldn't work, but he being the child that he is was persistent until I finally agreed to do it!

I was glad I tried it because it worked exactly as if it had run it's full course.  I was very surprised.  Happily surprised because sometimes I forget to add the ingredients on the exact day and sometimes I forget to smush the bag, but that's obviously not as critical as I thought.  Anyway, it turned out great!  Now, I doubt I am going to wait the full 10 days ever again knowing I don't have to. 

dear closet cleaning, I decided to clean out and reorganize my entry way closets.  I have always tried to keep them organized but lately they have become just way too full of stuff that they look way cluttered and they have been bugging me to death.  It was the perfect day to do it because it was raining outside and my road was tore apart and so I knew that meant I wouldn't have a lot of visitors and since it was my entry way, I wasn't worried if I made a huge mess while doing it.   I only got the game/office supplies one finished so I will still have to do the coat closet another day.

It was fun finding all these old responsibility records (aka chore charts) of my boys in there.  I used to be a Nazi with these until McKay was about 10 or 12 and then they kind of went out the window.  My older boys didn't think that was too fair!  hah  But those things saved me! 

I dug everything out of the closet and started to dejunk and reorganize it.

I had so many VHS movies in there.  I got rid of about 100 of those things!  I saved the classic Disney ones and the Book of Mormon ones and some that are hard to find now in DVD form, but truthfully I probably should have got rid of all of them.  We do still have a VHS player and I kept thinking "future grandkids" and so I did save some of them.

Years ago I organized my board games using this system ↑.  Basically it was to save closet space.  I took all the game pieces and put them in this organizer and I put the boards on top of that with a label and threw away the boxes.  Those boxes break and never hold up anyway and so it was really nice to be able to do that and save some space.  It's also a nice way to store those games that are hard to store due to their odd shapes.  I put the rules of the games in a binder that I keep next to it.  So basically you just grab the drawer and board for that game and you are set.  I didn't do that with all of my games, just the ones that were compatible to this system.

I straightened up my gift bag, office supply, wrapping paper, and ribbon bins and my FHE and greeting card files and made them look a little more organized and got rid of the excess that I don't need. But I really should have got rid of another 50% of it. 

It's hard to really tell in the before and after shot, but I got rid of a ton of games and other crap.  I still have way too much crap, but at least it looks more neat and tidy.  We really love games, can ya tell?

The before and after. I had already taken out the stuff on the floor on the before when I took the photo.

dear mr. cat, you weren't very happy that it rained so much, but it brings out the snuggly and loveable part of you.

dear torn up road, the rain kept the workers away for most of the day, but some of them returned later on and worked a while.  I got trapped in my driveway a couple of times and had to wait until it was clear so I could leave.  They were very nice and accommodating though.

My entry way window view.

dear mckay mission call!  It's HERE!!!  But he's NOT!!!    I went to Ogden on Thursday to visit Mona and Dave sent me a text with this picture!  My heart sank!  We both text McKay but he didn't see it until that night because he was at Six Flags all day. 

OH. MY. GOSH!

WHERE? WHERE? WHERE? WHERE? WHERE?

I am going to have to stare at that thing for TWO LONG DAYS until he gets home!  Before he left he told me that I could peek if I wanted to.  Oh man, I DO want to, but then again I am actually afraid to know!  I'm scared to find out where he is going to be spending the next TWO years of his life!  It could be ANYWHERE in the world!  My baby!  Going anywhere in this huge world for TWO WHOLE YEARS!  This is going to be tough to wait.  But I'm not going to peek.  Even though I want to know (kinda), I feel like he should know before I do! 

So right there it is going to sit...unopened!

My cute friend Jamie sent this yummy chocolate bread over.  Her son is serving in the Canada Calgary Mission.  I could handle that! 

dear wasted trip to the cabin for bryce..... Dave hasn't been able to find his wallet since he returned from their fishing trip (aka car breakdown trip) last weekend.  He has looked everywhere to no avail.  He decided he must have left it up at the cabin.  I had been feeling like I should look really well in my purse because in the back of my mind I remember seeing a wallet in my car and putting it in my purse when I headed into church last week.  But when I said something, Taylor said it was his wallet that was in my car. I just figured it was his wallet that I did that with and that he got it.  So... my son Bryce drove ALL the way to the cabin and back in one day to go see if Dave's was left there.  That was about a seven hour round trip!  I kept thinking I should go check in my purse just in case, but until I was telling my mom that Bryce had driven all the way up there to see if his wallet was there, I didn't do it.  I finally checked while I was still on the phone with her and sure enough, there his wallet was!  Had I checked even one day earlier it would have saved Bryce that long trip all the way up there for nothing!  Sigh........


dear breaking in more new shoes...I ended up having all three pair of my running shoes break down at the same time.  Luckily I had a new pair of Altra Torins in my closet waiting for when that happened.  I got my new Hoka's about a month ago and I have loved them too.  I think I will just rotate now between the two of them and keep wearing my old Altras for short runs.    There is really nothing like a brand new pair of running shoes to make you feel totally free and light when running.  

dear funeral and viewings, we had two viewings and a funeral to attend this weekend, actually starting on Thursday.  With McKay gone on his senior trip all week and Bryce gone most of the week, we were empty nesters.  Taylor came home on Tuesday and we were eating pancakes for dinner because it was just the two of us.  Yeah, pancakes!  For dinner!  The first thing he said when he walked in the door was, "So how are the empty nesters?"  I told him that I was NOT in that club YET and even when I am, I am not going to join!   It was just weird!  I am NOT looking forward to it.  Well, other than the fact that we could have pancakes for dinner whenever we want and not worry about the boys wondering when real dinner would be served.  Hah! 
After the viewing on Thursday (Branson Neffs) we went out to eat and after the viewing and funeral on Friday (Helen Barnes) we went out to lunch because Dave still had some time.  We hit Wingers and I carb loaded on a sticky finger rice bowl for my 20 mile long run tomorrow.

dear elephant in the room...this stayed here the entire time and I did NOT peek!  Who knew the amount of stress and anxiety one envelope could cause in two days time!?

dear national sibling day, I took advantage of it and posted these pix on Facebook.  My bro Jerry never gets on Facebook but I wanted to anyway.  It was just the two of us growing up.  I always felt gypped I didn't get a sister.  But at least I got a good bro!  Well, I say that now, but growing up we fought a lot. hehe  Today we get along so well and love each others company.  We really have a lot of fun when we are together.

dear mckay senior trip, I kept telling McKay to send me some pix while he was in California.  I was hoping for some pix of him.  

This ↑ is how an 18 year old boy takes pictures while on a trip with his friends. He didn't get one single picture of ANY of THEM!  Just scenery!  I told him scenery will never change but people will!  Take pictures of people and yourself!  I have some work to do before he leaves on his mission. ☺

dear date night, we went to see Insurgent and I really liked it.  As we were leaving a couple came up to us and introduced themselves as the parents of Kaden (one of McKay's friends he is with in Cali) and the dad was telling us how freaked out he has been all week and just praying so hard for those boy's safety.  That made me feel better that I wasn't the only one freaking out and praying constantly! 

We were going to go out to eat after but Dave got feeling really sick so we came home.  That was the beginning of a very long weekend!  He was up all night with something like the stomach flu.  He was really sick.  Neither one of us got any sleep.  I may have possibly snuck in two hours of shut eye when he finally started to rest a bit.  I had set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. to go on my 20 miler.  At 6:30 I text Robin and told her it wasn't going to happen because first of all I didn't dare leave him and second of all, I was beat.


dear 20 miler that did not happen, I set out all my gear on Friday night so I would be ready for my 20 on Saturday morning.  Little did I know I was going to be up all night and so it wasn't going to happen.

Instead I spent the day at the clinic while Dave had some labs and tests done.  I was happy to do it because he needed me.  He came home and went to bed and I ran some errands.  I had to get stuff ready for McKay's big opening of his mission call.  I cleaned and set up the map and made his cake.  I wasn't sure I was going to have time to get it all done, but somehow I was able to.  Thankfully, Dave started to feel a little better later in the evening.  McKay arrived home about 6:00 pm.  I am not sure I have ever been happier to see that face as I was when he walked in that door alive and in one piece!  Big sigh of relief!

dear mckay's mission call!   

Oh my, I was so nervous!  I honestly was scared to find out where he was going.  And now I know why.  Something deep inside me knew it was going to be a challenge, mainly for ME to fully accept where he was being called to serve for TWO years far away from home.  I think that is why I couldn't peek at his call while he was gone even though he said I could.  I think I just knew it was going to be somewhere that was going to be hard for me...not necessarily for him, but for me - and I didn't want to have to deal with that anxiety for two days without being able to tell anyone else.  I was also worried that he would be disappointed if he wasn't called somewhere foreign and if that was the case I didn't want to have to worry for two long days about that.

I could tell McKay was getting nervous too.  He ran off to his friend's house who was opening his call at 7:00 and that was a good distraction for him. He got home about 7:30 and was so anxious to open that thing!  I was starting to feel my nerves!  We told everyone to be there by 8:00 and about 7:50 he kept asking if he could open it.  I told him he had to wait until everyone was there. My parents who are always early to everything got there five minutes after eight. He was so anxious by then to rip that thing apart!  We had everyone make a guess where they thought he would be going and then put the guesses on the world map.  I was really struggling with where to guess.  I was thinking he may be going stateside only because he wanted to go foreign so bad...hah.  I couldn't even think of where to guess!  So Mackenzie told me to close my eyes and she spun me around until I was dizzy and had me point on the map.  I pointed to Russia!  First thing out of my mouth was, "Russia is the LAST place I want him to go!"  But I wrote it down and put it on the map.  I was the only one that guessed Russia.  I wouldn't say I guessed, it was more of a "spin the pin on the map".  After that I did my real guess and put Australia.

Where in the world is Elder McKay going to be serving?

As you can see they were all over the world!  Taylor even guessed Iraq.  Very funny Taylor!

McKay's top three choices were:

1. New Zealand
2. Australia
3. North Carolina (because that's where his favorite football team the Panther's are!) 

The only people he wanted to come besides the immediate fam were his grandparents and Weston.  He didn't want any of his friends here which I thought was unusual because McKay is Mr. Social.  Not sure if we could have fit all of his friends in our house anyway because it would have been packed.  Taylor had brought his roomie CJ with him and Weston brought Mackenzie.  We got Skyler on FaceTime and then the big moment arrived!!!

Yikes I was SO NERVOUS!  I seriously was freaking out!

The tension was buliding!   The nerves were on edge!  He put the envelope on top of it so he couldn't see it until he read each word.  He was taking his time and everyone kept yelling, "WHERE! WHERE?"

Dear Elder Wilding you are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the RUSSIA VLADIVOSTOK MISSION!!!

 RUSSIA!!!!!  REALLY???? Gulp...

That kid was so happy as was pretty much everyone!  Everyone that is except me!!!  RUSSIA?  Really?  This is going to take some heavy duty faith on my part!!!  That is the last place I was hoping for!  But he was extremely excited!

Yep!  Russia!  SO very far away RUSSIA!  The excitement in the room was palpable.  It was ignited with shock, wonder, awe, and a mothers WORRY!

 
And here I worried he would be going stateside and would be disappointed!  The craziest thing of all is YOURS TRULY is the one who pinned RUSSIA on the map!  ME!  Even though it was a blind folded guess, it was from ME!

No I did not pinpoint his exact city, we moved the pin to point to that after. 

So was it Inspiration or InSPINation?  Or just luck?  Not sure, but it was kinda crazy! I think it was one of those tender mercies from Heavenly Father to reassure me that this was where he really is supposed to be going!  That gave me some peace.

 This ↓ is how I was feeling at this point!  haha

But this boy was more than excited!  He couldn't quit smiling!  Really neither could anyone else (with the exception of moi - I pretty much was in shock!).

So to Russia he will go....

My baby boy serving a two year mission in Russia!

His mission boundaries are HUGE.  It's the largest geographical mission in the church!  It's gonna be COLD!  He has to buy his coat, gloves, hat, and boots over there because they don't make anything warm enough over here!  Whaaaaaaaat?!!!

I rounded up the guesses and pointed them all to HIS destination! 

He leaves in TWO MONTHS!  He leaves on June 17th!  CRAZINESS!  That is absolutely crazy!  12 days after he graduates from high school!  10 days after he graduates from seminary!  Did I mention this is crazy?!  That is not much time to get ready!  My head was just spinning!

We are all so proud of this boy!  There are no words for how hard it is going to be to let him go.  I am going to miss him so!  But I am also so grateful he choose to sacrifice two years of his life to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to take the gospel that he loves so much to the people of Russia.  No matter how many missionaries you send out, it never gets easier even though this is what we taught them and what we prayed and hoped for. But there is also no greater joy than to see them grow up and make the decision to stand for truth and righteousness. My heart is bursting with the pain of letting him go while at the same time it's bursting with joy for the stalwart example he is and for the incredible young man he has become. He is going to greatly bless the people of Russia with that radiant smile of his and his joyful spirit. There are no words to describe how much I am going to miss this boy, but I am so proud of him and the choices he has made. Such a bittersweet experience! I keep telling myself the blessings always outweigh the sacrifice. We send them out as boys and they return as men of God!

We are all so proud of this young man! 

Mr. Cat was pretty excited too!

Missing Skyler and Tyson...  Sky was beyond excited for him and I'm sure Tyson is just beaming up there because I think he had something to do with this!

Blessings to the people of Russia...  It is easier to sacrifice these two years knowing that it will bring great blessings to those seeking the gospel!

I did a separate post of his mission call but it is basically the same as what I posted on here with the exception of some pictures I posted at the end that go way back.  No need to read it but if want to see some hilarious pictures go to it HERE and scroll down to the photos at the end.  The above photo is a little collage of some I posted on the other.  McKay had a really fun Missionary party when he turned eight. 

dear mckay, you are already looking like a missionary!  What an exciting time in your life for you!  This mama is having a hard time letting her baby grow up!  But I know it's what the goal has always been, I just didn't know how hard it would actually be!

dear sunday school class, I decided I need to do more games and fun things with you.  I revised my Priesthood Jeopardy game into a Joseph Smith game.  Too bad we ran out of time and didn't get through the entire game.  But it was still fun!

dear inspiring quotes this week...

Um.... really?  Well, I see you out driving a lot!  hehe

dear message this week, I need to listen to this message.  I also need to be better at giving others compliments.  I think good thoughts about them all the time, but sometimes I don't verbalize them.

Today, Jodi, we believe God wants you to know that ...

when people tell you nice things, stop shrugging them off as if they are nothing.The sincere compliments you receive are your jewels, - collect them in your heart, - they highlight the beauty of your being and empower you during challenging times. Never say 'oh, it's nothing' or shrug your shoulders when you hear a sincere compliment. Pause, breathe it in, and really feel its meaning.