*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

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

dear halloween boutique! I went with my friend Tracy to the Secret Haven Halloween Boutique again this year. If you wear a costume you get 30% off one item.  Amazingly that little incentive is enough to bring people out in droves dressed as all kinds of things.  There is also a contest with a cash prize for the best costume.  I just threw on some stuff to make me appear to be a cowgirl.  Originally we had five people going but it ended up being just me and Tracy and her grandson Boston.  He is a cutie!  We met her daughter there and I invited Karen to come as well.  She brought Mickey with her too. 

It was so much fun!

We took this one before Karen and Mickey arrived.

Some of the costumes are just AMAZING!  You can tell who is out to win and who just wants the discount!  haha

They had a lady making balloon animals.  Mackenzie asked her if she made them for adults and got me one!  haha  Too cute!  I got a rose.  Mickey got a really awesome butterfly.  Boston got a dragonfly.

It really is a lot of fun!

We were in a huge rainstorm on the way there.  After we stopped at Fizz and got a drink. I got Butter Beer.  It was butterscotch heaven!  Fun day!

dear rain, this week was full of rain!  A lot!  I ran in it a couple times.  I tried to capture it in this selfie but you can't tell how hard it was coming down. I LOVE LOVE LOVE running in the rain.

I am definitely a Pluviophile....

 A heart puddle!  God's love is everywhere if you just look for it!

dear girl's day at city creek,

Dawn invited me and Kathy to go to City Creek.  It was another rainy day!  A VERY rainy day!  We got in a serious downpour on the way (I was driving) and it was a little scary!  It was raining cats and dogs, not to mention bats and hogs! HUGE raindrops!

We had our usual fun "POSING" and taking advantage of great photo opps!

We then met up with Pam and her friend (forgot her name!).  Lisa Clements and cute Debbie was supposed to come, but they weren't able to make it. I felt bad because last time we met them at City Creek we had such a blast.  Pam brought a case of Carmello candy bars for us to hand out to strangers to brighten their day. It was a lot of fun to see their reactions. People are just not used to random acts of kindness anymore.  We ate lunch at the Red Iguana and then did some shopping.

I did some manikan modeling....

 Then Dawn and I had our own little puppet show and totally cracked ourselves up.

The others could see they were missing out on the fun and so they joined in. We were all laughing so hard and having so much fun.  The young whippersnapper clerks were giving us a few looks but we didn't care.  We have age and wisdom and know life is too short to not have fun.  Even in a game store.

We even made some fun in the mirrored elevator. That was a photo opp we could not pass up!

We are silly girls, but we sure do have fun and enjoy life!

dear very last long run this training! Robin asked me if I wanted to do our long run on Thursday this week instead of Saturday because she was going out of town.  I told her I didn't think my body was recovered enough yet for a long run that soon since my recovery from the half marathon has been very slow.  I really pushed it and gave it my all and I have been paying for it.  So I told her I would go six or seven and maybe even eight and do my 12 miler on Saturday.  I hate doing anything over 10 by myself, but I didn't think I had much of a choice this week.

 We headed north, then west, then south to Perry and by that time we were on mile 8 or so and I decided to just keep going and see if I could do it.  I always worry if I push myself more than my body wants I will end up with an injury, but I was feeling pretty good and so I thought I would be okay.  I was.  I finished the full 12 with her and even though I was sore, I was happy I was able to do it and even more happy it was done and I didn't have to do it alone on Saturday!  This was my last long run until the marathon.  Let the taper begin!

dear mr. cat, this guy has been so much more friendly and lovable this week. I think it's because we've had so much rain and he is forced to be inside and knows if he wants treats and food he has to be nice.  (yeah right!)

Whatever the reason....and since he is a cat there probably isn't a reason, but it's been nice.

dear hill repeats, I wasn't sure if I should do hill repeats this week or not since I pushed it so hard in the half, but I decided I needed to stay on track with my training and so I did them.  I only got in 10 repeats because I was on a time crunch.  But I'm glad I did them because I felt like I was stronger after.  And I found a penny.  I find a lot of pennies and I don't always take photos or write about them, but when I find them in ways that are proof of where they come from, I have to.  I found one right on the road that I had ran my repeats over and over and over again and never saw a sign of it until about hill repeat 8 or so...and there it was.  It was like it literally dropped from heaven.  When things like that happen, I KNOW it is sent via heaven from Tyson sending me a message of love and comfort.  I so appreciated it today that I even shed a few tears of gratitude. 

dear turks, why did the turkey cross the road?  I have no idea but they sure do it a lot lately.  I love seeing these wild guys out wandering as if they were tame.

dear 33rd anniversary, Dave and I celebrated 33 years of marriage on the 17th this week.  He was on call which meant he had to work later than usual and so we weren't sure on what our plans were going to be until we knew what time he would make it home.  He brought me these gorgeous roses!

And...Idle Isle chocolate covered almonds and nut balls.  Mmmmm..

Luckily, Dave got off by 7:00 and so we were able to head to Ogden to dinner.  We decided to go to The Gray Cliff Lodge because that was where we went on our second date and it's a very quiet and romantic restaurant. 

The food was really good!  We haven't been there in at least 15 years, but it hasn't changed much. 

It was a nice way to spend a quiet and romantic dinner.  I'm sure we won't wait another 15 years to return.  I am amazed we have been married 33 years.  It truly blows my mind when I think of it.  That is a LONG time!  A really long time!  We have had a lot of good times, bad times, hard times, fun times, amazing times, frustrating times, growing times, happy times, heart wrenching times, but all in all, it has been a great 33 year ride!  Here's to 33 more! 

dear saturday run, I was SO grateful I had done my 12 miler on Thursday so I only had to go five today!  I decided to head out to Corinne to give myself a change of scenery.  It was fun to see the cornfields being cut down in neat rows.  I wasn't too fond of the country  "scent" today though and was glad to get back home to breath some clean fresh suburb air!  :)

dear saturday events, when I got home from my run I hurried and got ready and then made some Amish bread because my starts were way past time to bake.  Then I started to cut peppers and onions for the salsa we had planned on making today.  Dave didn't get home until close to 1:00 and so I knew we were going to be pushed for time to get it all done. 

When he got home he jumped right in and then when Taylor got home from work (he came back this weekend to do some work with his landscaping job) he jumped in and helped too.  It's a good thing because we were supposed to be picking up friends at 5:00 for dinner and we STILL weren't even close to being done at 4:30!  He was able to watch the jars and when Bryce got home he finished processing them.  Salsa is a family event around here.  It would take an entire day doing it alone!

But it's so worth it!  I made this batch a little less "fiery" and I really liked it!

My Amish bread decided to take on a life of it's own!  

Seriously?  This has NEVER happened before, but it came alive!  It was oozing out of the pans and all over my oven!  It was a disaster!  I guess I can't let the starter go a week too long next time!  haha  And dangit!  I doubled the batch too!  Oh well, it still was good around the edges! 

dear dinner and fireside with elder ballard, because of Dave's calling, we were invited to a fireside for the singles over 45 in Logan to hear Elder Ballard.  Not usually the group we tend to hang out with, LOL, but if there's an opportunity to hear Elder Ballard, count us in.  President and Sister Hollingsworth went with us.  They are a fun couple to hang with.  I really admire both of them so much.  They are the cream of the crop. We went to Cafe Sabor for dinner before and it was so YUMMY!

The fireside was good and Elder Ballard was pretty relaxed and hilarious.  I like how he tells it like it is.  He is not one to mince words.  It was fun.

dear sunday, I had promised my Sunday School class I would bring them my homemade Twix bars today and so I made good on my promise.  They were pretty excited.  And they were really good today.  I mean the kids.  The Twix were good too!☺  There are three of them in that class that like to chat quite a bit, but today I was able to keep their attention.  It did help that Dave dropped by (to bring the Twix bars in) but even before that, they were much more attentive.  I love my class.  I love teaching this age (16-17 year olds).  I love my calling.  I hope to stay here for many years to come.  It's perfect for me.

 

dear cooper's farewell, Sunday was McKay's best bud Cooper's farewell.  He is going to Riverside California to serve a mission for our church for two years.  He did a great job on his talk and it brought tears to my eyes because once again one of McKay's friends talked about him in their farewell talk.  Today it was Cooper.  He said that his really good friend McKay who is serving in Vladivostok Russia (and he pronounced it perfectly!) and him were in a financial class together and how it probably wasn't a good idea because they had a lot of fun in there.  Probably too much fun.  He said how they would get on the computer and find a quote each day and then for the rest of the day whenever they would see each other in the hall or wherever, they would yell the quote to each other as they passed and laugh so hard.  He said some of the quotes were, "Change is constant", and "Patience can be bitter but has a sweet fruit", and that McKay's favorite was, "Ignorance is bliss".   Then he quoted a scripture that talked about how it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.  It was funny and he had everyone really laughing. He said how they had a lot of fun and made a lot of good memories.  It was so sweet.  I had to hold back the tears.  Those boys grew up together. They have been best buds since they were babies.  So far, I believe every single farewell talk I have attended of McKay's friends, they have talked about him.  I don't think he realizes what a huge influence he was to everyone.  Man, I miss that boy!

Dave and I with Coop

We were invited to the dinner after at Cooper's house.  We don't usually get a formal invite to a farewell in the mail, but his mom Dottie told us that Cooper wanted us to be there.  His parents are moving in a few weeks to Eden.  We will miss them so much.  I tried not to think about it AT. ALL. while I was there because it hurts to realize these boys will never again play video games, or jump on the tramp, or play with Bridger the dog, or laugh until they cry, or eat all of Dottie's food in that house anymore.  McKay spent SO much time over there.  Those days are gone. I really wish I wasn't so sentimental because I sure hate lasts. They are hard for me.  But CHANGE IS CONSTANT (as McKay and Cooper learned in their financial class) and so it does no good to try and stop it or feel sad about it.  Good things also come from change.  But oh, it is so hard when it's so permanent!

A lot of McKay's friends were there.  It was so good to see them and talk to them.  They are all going different directions and moving on in their lives as well.  Did I mention I don't like change?  Even if it IS constant!

A few pix of McKay and Coop.  If I had more time I would have found a ton more.

dear st. george marathon, I got my bib number today!  This is getting real now!  The countdown begins!  I am SO nervous!!!

dear manic manikan, terrible picture, but she has on a Star Wars mask and I really wanted to get a good shot because it was so hilarious!  Oh well...use your imagination.

dear randomness, I found these pictures on a video that Bryce's friend posted on Facebook and so I took some still shots.  Apparently Bryce caught the garter belt!  Nice job!

Missing my Russian boy!

Taylor posted this on Snapchat...

That's good news to me!

And this.... (it says Ghosting on campus)

It was a video of him ghosting another student.  New to me.  But pretty funny.

Hmmm....

dear quotes,

DYING over this very true statement!  lol

Oh man, I am SO SO SO good at this!

Agreed!