*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

 

 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 

dear lunch with shauna, Shauna was here again visiting her mom this summer.  She lives in Maine and so we rarely get to see each other.  We always try to get together with our moms when she visits and it's always a lot of fun.  We usually just laugh at our moms (and sometimes roll our eyes - LOL) because they are just so funny.  Shauna offered to come into my town for lunch this year.  I didn't mind. :)  We met in high school but became good friends when we were roomies at Dixie as freshmen.

Our Moms are so cute and we both know we were blessed in that department.  I am just so grateful I still have mine!  We caught up and talked about Russia because her son Josh served in St. Petersburg in 2001.  She didn't have a lot of good things to say about it though.  But I'm used to that.  I told her to just tell me because I have probably heard worse about Russia.  She started to tell me then stopped herself and said, "No, I can't do that to you."  Yikes!  

Shauna got a selfie stick and so we had to try it out.  I was dying laughing when I saw her face!  Oh my, what a hoot! She needs a little practice.  hehe  But it made for a good laugh!

These pictures make me laugh right out loud!  LROL!

That's a little better!  hehe

Here we are about 35 years ago in college!  We haven't changed much.  Oh no, not at all!  haha

dear taylor's birthday party, we FINALLY celebrated it almost a week late!  We had the party at the park where the cousins love to go and play football.  Hard to believe he is really 22.

Not one of my better cakes!  hah  It was embarrassing that I even decorated it at all because it looks like a 10 year old did it.  I wasn't even going to decorate it but at the last minute I remembered I had chocolate rocks and so made a "curbing" edge and border since he works for Creative Curbing right now and does landscaping. I used the plants I had.  If I had thought about it sooner, I would have made it really cool, but had no time.  But it WAS red velvet with cream cheese frosting which he requested.  I feel bad I haven't really done a real decorated cake in so long.  They take a lot of time though and they just get eaten and then nothing remains but a photo.  

Taylor and Weston

Some fun at the party

This little girl (Kylah) is in love with Taylor.

So sweet......

Taylor is so cute with kids.  He's going to be a great Daddy someday.

Happy Birthday Rouz!

dear PURPLE running newborn outfits!  When I saw these while shopping, I had to buy them for my future grand-daughters!  Oh!  They are so stinkin' cute!  Tons cuter than the picture shows!  LOOK at that little skirt and those running shorts!  Seriously cutest thing EVER!

dear mr. cat's trip to the vet.  Mr. Cat needed his shots and since I don't have a carrier for him, I usually wrap him in a towel so I don't get so much hair on me.  As soon as I did that to him, he started to do his bellow meow.  He did it all the way to the vet.  Luckily once we got inside there weren't any dogs this time, but he still was nervous and buried his face in my arms and hid behind my back.  He did well once the doctor came in though.  He is so funny.  He does not like that place.  Can't say I blame him though.  Who wants to get poked and prodded?  It was a fun adventure!

He was pretty happy to be home back in his jungle to rule his kingdom.

dear national milk chocolate day!  I am happy for this holiday because it gives me an excuse to eat chocolate. But then again, when have I ever needed an excuse to do that?  Pretty pointless holiday I guess!  Hah

dear hill repeats, I did 15 this week.  5 miles worth of hills for breakfast.  They are not easy and I am so happy when I am done!  But always glad I do them. I know they are making me stronger and more speedy!  It has been so hot the past couple of months.  And since it IS National Milk Chocolate Day, I figured I needed to work out a little bit harder! 

dear mckay, you are doing great in the MTC!  Your letters make me smile and I am loving how positive and upbeat you are.  The time is getting closer for you to head to Russia.  Only a couple weeks away now!  YIKES!  This Mama is starting to realize this is getting real and getting nervous for when that happens! 

Best package ever!

Way to remember Russian endings to some words.

Somebody set traps.

You can read his letters HERE.

dear manic manican, Hard to see this one, but you were pretty stylin'.

dear visit with mona, today's visit was rather fun watching her get excited to go home this week!  She was trying on new clothes and just looking and feeling a ton better than I have seen for weeks!

I look like I need a week or two in rehab to rest myself!

dear lady antebellum concert!  I have been so excited to go to this!  I met Karen, Aubrey, and her friends at their house and we headed to Usana for the concert. It was packed!  Our seats were on the grass, which wasn't too bad really.  We got some dinner (burritos that were $12 - so we shared!) and popcorn, water and snow cones.  Then we walked around.  It's fun to be with these cute girls and watch the young guys gawk.  We then sat down and people watched.  One of my favorite things to do!  A lady walked by that was about my age and my sil said something to the effect that she was dressing like she was trying to be a teenager.  I mentioned that I have a friend (acquaintance really) that is my age that does that but she has a hot body so she can get away with it and that if I looked like that I would too.  The girls told me that I did have a hot body (I think they meant for my age but didn't say that because they are too nice - lol) and that I could definitely get away with it too.  I asked them if there was anything they wanted because I would get it for them immediately after that compliment!  hehe  I love hanging out with them because they make me feel young.  Now you know why!  They are all just so sweet! 

Unfortunately the people we were sitting by were not exactly what we wanted to have to watch the entire time.  NOT my kind of people watching.  Kind of nauseating!  But we just had fun with it.  At one point Aubrey joined a dance mosh pit and it was so fun to watch her!  It was a ton of fun!  Even if I didn't get home until almost 1:00 a.m.!

The graphics were amazing!

Hunter Heyes and Sam Hunt also performed. They were also really good.

Sorry for the duplicates, but this is what I put on Instagram and wanted to save it here.

dear birthday lunch with dawn, since Dawn is born a few days before me (5 days to be exact) we like to celebrate together!  We planned a lunch on Thursday.  I had to take our car in to get the windows tinted and so she picked me up there.  We headed to the store to buy chocolate and ice cream sandwiches to give away.  WHY you ask?  Well, doesn't everyone give away chocolate and ice cream on their birthday?  No, they do not!  So why did we?

Well...because Dawn is born on National Milk Chocolate Day and I am born on National Ice Cream Sandwich Day (yeah she got the better deal!) and so she had this brilliant idea for us to pass out those treats to random strangers on our birthday and make their day!  What a great idea!  So that is what we did! 

We headed to a Splash Pad and walked around deciding who looked like they needed it the most and just walked to them and handed them the paper with our photo and told them what we were doing.  It was rather fun to see their reaction.  Some of them tried to turn us away because they thought we were selling something and others were just so happy and grateful. Most were in shock I think.  But it was really a ton of fun!

This guy was BEARY happy to be getting a surprise treat!

After that we headed to Applebees for lunch.  We exchanged gifts and had a great time with some one on one time just chatting.  I could talk to Dawn all day!  She is fun to talk to.  We were there quite a while because the time just flew!

She gave me the cutest purple jar filled with Jelly Belly's that I love!  And the cutest Willow Tree that is holding purple flowers that represents Joy. I LOVED it!  She also gave me chocolate and Honeycomb!  My fave!  I loved it!  I also gave her chocolate and a figurine only it was Glinda!  I saw it last year at a Halloween boutique and wanted to get it for her right then but it was a little out of my budget.  I kept thinking about it over the year though and knew she HAD to have it because it is so her!  She dresses up like Glinda each year for Halloween and this figurine is so whimsical and just so Dawn. I think it was made for her.  So I bit the bullet and just got it.  She is more than worth it.  Good friends like her just don't come around every day.  I feel very blessed to have her as one of my best friends.  Dawn has more friends than anyone I know and it's because she is their friend first. She is not afraid to be friendly and go out of her way to make friends.  Not many people are like that and since everyone loves to have friends and needs friends, she is a welcome joy to anyone that she befriends.  What a great example she is to me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

Speaking of friends...

dear birthday lunch with another dear friend, Julie and I have been friends and next door neighbors for over 20 years now.  I lucked out in the neighbor department because you don't get better ones they have been.  And as far as a friend, she has been one of those friends that is just so loyal and true.  She is what the meaning of friend is.  I couldn't ask for a better friend.  I always tell everyone she has a heart of gold because she truly does.  She would do anything for me and I know I can ask her for anything and she would do it.  She is just one those people you know has your back and that you can count on.

We headed to Maddox for lunch.  She actually IS a Maddox. Her grandparents started the restaurant.We had a nice lunch together.  The food there is always SO yummy!  She was going to invite the whole gang, but decided to just do us this year. 

Fun fun!  Friends friends!  Feast feast! Gonna get Fat fat!  ☺

dear mona, and this lady is also a dear friend.  She got to come home from her six week stay in rehab after her car wreck that broke her neck and ribs.  She had just moved in her apartment right before it happened and so I got a few people together to go help her unpack her kitchen.  I had taken her to Walmart the day before to get some shopping done and to run some other errands because she can no longer drive.  That is going to be really hard on her.  She will no longer have her independence and will have to depend on others for everything.  We got her kitchen all unpacked and organized and then Julie was able to take her to Walmart for a few things.  I had to get home or I would have taken her. 

dear taylor indoor soccer team, Taylor has been playing on an indoor soccer league all summer and I have yet to go to a game.  They usually don't start until 10 or 11 p.m. and he isn't super anxious that I go anyway.  But, I really do want to watch him play. Maybe I will have to sneak in one night incognito style! 

dear turkeys, I see a lot you lately, but this sight was hilarious to me.  You were all just walking up the street as if you owned it.  Nothing bothered you, not even me when I went out with my camera.  The babies are getting big!

dear bryce, you took off to Denver to watch an ALL STAR soccer game and to go camping. I found a few pictures on Facebook your pal Chris had posted and so I had to save them.  I also found these pictures of you two when you were little and then again a few years ago.  Too cute. 

Roosevelt National Forest and some are from Hawaii

ALL STAR Soccer game

From his Snapchat.  I am glad you live your life to the fullest and don't miss out on opportunities like this.  These are the kind of memories you will never regret making.

dear it's my birthday and I will eat chocolate if I want to!  Happy Birthday to me!  I have always loved my birthday. I know so many people who want their birthdays to just go away because it means getting older, but I say someday they WILL go away and then that sucks.  So just ENJOY each and EVERY single one you have because no one is guaranteed another one.  LIFE IS SO UNPREDICTABLE and each year when our birthday rolls around, that means it's time to stop and be grateful for the year you just had and for all the many blessings that came with it!  CELEBRATE LIFE!  Celebrate YOUR life!  Celebrate your BIRTH! 

My dear friend Dawn posted this ↑ on Facebook this morning!  It made my day!  Since I started Facebook, I have looked even more forward to my birthday because you get inundated with birthday wishes and it's just so much fun!  This morning I opened up Facebook with the anticipation of seeing all my birthday greetings and there was nothing there!  That was not normal.  I was pretty sad.  I saw one post from my Aunt Sharon who posted the day before. Then I thought I better check my settings and sure enough my birthday date was locked!  No idea why or how because I am sure I didn't lock it myself.  I'm not one that cares if people know how old I am.   So I unlocked that sucker and said, "Let the greetings begin!"  haha   And they did!  It truly made my day!  Especially when people you have never met send you a wish.  LOL  Okay, so not so much them, but it is nice when you hear from so many people all in one day.  It does make your day better.  People that don't publish their birth-date are really missing out!   I ended up with over 200 greetings! (according to my Mom and Dad - they were counting - lol)  It really is one of the best parts (if not thee best part) of Facebook.  ☺

My birthday happened to fall on a Sunday this year.  Not my most favorite day to have one because I love being taken out to lunch and all the fun things that you just don't do on a Sunday....especially FAST Sunday!  Fast Sunday's are always SLOW for me! ☺ But Dave made up for that by making me a HUGE turkey FEAST!  It was as good as Thanksgiving!  Oh man, I am a lucky girl that I have a man that can cook!  And he does it so well too!   Seriously, it was the best!  Turkey is my fave!  The only thing I like better is Lasagna but when he asked what I wanted I didn't want to make him go to all the trouble of making that and so I said turkey not knowing he was going to turn it into a thanksgiving dinner!  Lasagna would have been much easier and quicker!  hah

We invited my parents to dinner to join us.  
After dinner my Mom asked the boys if they wanted to test drive her new car and they jumped on that.  I went along and I got to take it for a spin too.  It's nice! 

When we got back I opened my presents.  I got a selfie stick!  haha  My Mom was so excited to give it to me.  It will be fun and handy!  I also got a purple pickleball paddle from Dave!  Love it!  And many other things!  I was spoiled this year for sure!

Bottom left, I was taking a selfie to send to Shauna to tell her I got a selfie stick.  We were laughing so hard!  My parents are so much fun to hang out with!

My Mom brought me this beautiful cake!  It was also HEAVENLY tasting! 

 Wow! ONE whole candle!  Not sure I can handle that!  It would have been too much work to find 54 of those things!  And it would take quite a bit of lung power to blow them all out too! 

Miracles of miracles!   Mr. Cat posed for a photo with me!

Boys playing soccer, Dave chillin' in the hammock (a much deserved break), selfie fun with my Ma and Pa

Linda and her fam stopped by a little later.  We share our birthday and so we try and get together every year to exchange gifts.  I always tease her that she is one year older and ALWAYS will be.  She teases me back and says we are the same age for about 10 hours on our birthday because she was born later in the evening.  She spoiled me big time this year! 

She gave me Violet Crumbles straight from Australia!  And a whole bunch of other stuff!  They just got back from Australia to pick up my niece from her mission and I mentioned how much I LOVE them! 

Fun with the fam...

Some of my birthday gifts this year from friends and family. I got super spoiled!

Saw this on Facebook, but after researching it realized it isn't really what the Back to the Future said. Oh well, I thought it was cool!

Another year older and wiser too.... YEP!

dear quotes,