*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

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

dear russian boy, I FINALLY got a picture of you!!!  YES!

 I have no idea where this was taken, but hey, I GOT A PHOTO of my boy!  You promised you would send me more next week.  If not, I may be on the next plane to Russia to teach you how to send pix!

 

dear girl's get away! I headed to Bear Lake with Kathy and Dawn for a few days R & R!  I needed it!  I haven't been able to go the past few times they have gone up and so I was super excited I could make it this time!  They are a blast to be around and I was ready for some FUN!  The three of us never have a hard time finding fun when we are together.  We just click that way.  

 On our way up, we stopped at Fredricos to eat.  I loved it! It's been a long time since I've been there.  And I was starving!  It was delish! 

Then as we got closer to Kathy's condo at Ideal Beach, we saw THIS! 

 Talk about a photo opp!  We couldn't resist! 

How cute is that?  You don't see that everyday! 

Here's another thing you don't see everyday!

 We were sitting outside on the table having a good time doing selfies with our phones and an app that makes it go in slow mo.  We were cracking ourselves up....and then Dawn and Kathy went DOWN!  Smack on the ground!  They nearly literally cracked themselves up!  Luckily, they were okay!  For some reason I stayed on the bench!  No idea how!  Then we REALLY started laughing.  Good therapy!

 We snacked on the treats we brought up....I took veggies, dip and hummus and other treats that were not so healthy.  Dawn took chips and salsa and Kathy took fruit.  We had no shortage of food that's for sure.  We were still full from Fredricos and so we just snacked and then watched a movie. 

Dawn brought up Cinderella.  It was SO good!  I have missed out on a lot of the recent movies and so I was excited to chill and watch a few while up there. 

 It was the regular Cinderella story but with a little twist.  The message was to HAVE COURAGE AND BE KIND.  That is always good advice.  It was a touching movie and I loved it!  I love to watch movies.  It's one of my favorite things but I rarely do it at home because there are always so many other things that need to be done.

 The next morning I went for a run. I am in the taper stages of training right now and so I only ran four miles.  We were going to meet at a restaurant in town for breakfast and it was about four miles away, so it worked out perfectly.  I took a few photos of the sights I saw on my run.

 It was fun to run with the lake so close.  I even saw a lighthouse.  A replica of one anyway.  It's for a business.  But it was still cool. 

After my run, I met the girls inside and it wasn't too crowded so I wasn't super embarrassed to be in my sweaty running clothes. The food was heavenly!  I had pancakes!  I LOVE pancakes (especially after a run!) and they had freshly made raspberry syrup!  Mmmm........ YUM!   That was my favorite meal the whole trip!

 We found more photo opps in the gift shop part of the restaurant and a cute young mom offered to take our picture.  She didn't know we were going to put on a real show, complete with rifles, hats, shotguns, and bears!  But she laughed and thought we were funny.

 We do know how to have fun, that's for sure!

I am sitting on the bear and Kathy is pointing to a sign that says Please do not climb on the bear.  I didn't climb on him.  I just kinda sat on him for the picture.

Then we headed over to the chocolate store that was next door and had a good time in there.  They had homemade fudge!  We all bought some and it was YUM!  
Later on we decided we need some pictures by the lake.  We had a doozy of a time trying to take photos with the timer on Dawn's phone.

 Happily, a nice man offered to take some for us.  We were grateful because the thing we rigged up was ingenious, but a little frustrating!  Picture of that below.....

Top left:  This is where I came for high school graduation 36 years ago!  That photo is of our condo we stayed in when it used to be called Sweet Water instead of Ideal Beach. Top right:  A MOOSE!  He was wandering right out by our condo. We just missed him!  We got this picture from a stranger that saw him. Bottom left:  Our ingenious contraption we used to take our own photos!  Middle:  A tree that looked like a heart.  Bottom right:  The nice guy who took our pictures for us.

 This ↑ one was my fave...

 We had lots of fun posing in the water!  I got rather wet!  (click to enlarge)

We HAD to test out the swings.  I can't walk past a swing without swinging in it!  LOVE TO SWING!  

Then we came home and crocheted like the little domestic goddesses we are!  We crocheted around burpies and bibs.  It was so fun!  

 We put on the Bee Gees in Concert while we crocheted.  Dawn is showing us her dance moves! (bottom left)

 We also put in Meet the Mormons.   I think I am the only Mormon on the planet that hasn't seen it yet.  I have met two of the main characters in it (Dawn Armstrong and her son) at Women's Conference though.  It was awesome!

We got quite a few done!  Yay!  Aren't they so cute?  Now I just need to become a Grandma so I can give them to my grandbabies!  

We went to Cafe Sabor for dinner.  Yes, I had just eaten there on Saturday at the Logan one, but I love their food and so I was excited!  I'm always happy with Mexican food.  

 A few photo opps outside the restaurant...↓

 We came back to the condo and watched the movie Fault in our Stars.  I've owned this movie for almost a year now and have never found the time to watch it.  It was really good! 

We had a blast asking Siri questions.  I think we were so tired that we were easily amused, because we were laughing so hard!  We stayed up pretty late.  And then as luck would have it, I could not sleep at all.  I think I got maybe three or four hours of sleep, if that.
 

 I was going to go running in the morning but I was so beat from not sleeping, and so I used it as one of my day's off.   Dawn and I got ready and then started to clean the condo while Kathy got ready.  We got most of it done, but then it still took Kathy quite a while of her own cleaning before we could get out of there. We were hoping to have time to play some games before we left, but it took too long to get it all done.  Dawn and I did play one game for a little while though and it was fun.  It was called King's Corner. 

 Right before we left, Kathy told us that they have had good luck finding four leaf clovers in the grass.  I was game and so I looked and looked but never really thought I would find one, but I actually FOUND ONE!  A real four leaf clover!  I was so excited!  Maybe it will bring me luck in my marathon next week!

On the way out of town we stopped at the lighthouse to take some pix.

 Yes I am trying to break in the door.  Well, it's more staged than an actual event, but I really did want inside! 

 I love these women!  We had an awesomely fun and great time!  Can't wait to do it again!  We are all outstanding in our field.☺ Or at least in someone's field!  hehe

Oh, and lest I forget, we stopped for fresh Bear Lake raspberry shakes on the way home!  You can NOT go to Bear Lake without getting a raspberry shake!  That would be blasphemy!  Or bearlakephemy!  Or shakephemy!  Whatever it would be, it would be a tragedy because there is just nothing like a fresh raspberry shake made with real Bear Lake raspberries!

 The best part was adding hot fudge to them.  Oh. my. gosh!  What a match made in heaven!  Raspberry and hot fudge!  I heated mine up and just drizzled over the top.  Mmm.....  I must say that had to be thee best shake I have ever had!  And we got them at the Chevron of all places!  It is well known for having the best shakes in the land.  And they are huge!  We all three shared one and had plenty!

As we were ready to head home, Kathy realized she forgot her cooler so we drove back to the condo to get it.  Good thing she remembered when she did!  Logan canyon was gorgeous on the drive home!  Which was rather odd because it didn't have much color two days before on the way over.  It's amazing the difference two days can make!  Sardine wasn't near as vibrant as Logan. 

 We must have been inspired by the gorgeous scenery on the way home because we all came up with a really fun idea of having a tea party (Kathy has many sets!) and dressing up as GLAM-MA's and focus on gratitude.  I thought we could be the Gratitude Glam-ma's!   We're not sure if any of the others will like the idea as much as we do, but I think gratitude needs to become more a part of our lives because it is so life changing and we have a couple who are really struggling in our group who we know it would really benefit.  I'm excited!  I also told them about the story I heard of a man who was going to take his life unless someone smiled and acknowledged him.  Luckily, someone did.  I don't think we realize the impact the little things we do have on others.  Just a simple smile or a short "hello" can mean so much.  In this case, it was a matter of life or death.  I need to be better at reaching out to those I don't know.

A few collages we posted on Facebook ...↓

A FUN FUN TIME!
What a blast!  We made some great memories during those three days.  I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. They are such good women.

When I got home I found this...↓

 A heart shaped rock!  From Dave!  He really missed me while I was gone.  He was a busy bee though and got our hamburger gravel cooked and frozen and then froze a bunch of corn.  He also started working on re-caulking our shower.  Maybe I should leave more often!  haha  He did get to play some pickleball too.

dear mr. cat, here is your weekly photo of Mr. Cat.

dear pickleball, on Thursday night (since Dave had no meetings and I was free), we decided to go play some Pickleball and then go to dinner. This empty nester thing does have it's advantages I must say.   

 We hit the courts around 6:30 and there were a few others playing as well.  I actually surprised myself and ALMOST beat Dave.  Dave is an amazing Pickleball player!  But he is used to playing doubles instead of singles and so I found his weakness and used it to my advantage.  I would hit the ball on the other side of where he was standing so he had to run after it.  His long arms couldn't help him out that way and his knees aren't the best for quick running. Sneaky, I know!  But, hey, I needed all the help I could get!  He still beat me every single game!  But I was within one point on two of them.  I love the game, but I sure do need more practice and to learn about the strategy of it.  It was a lot of fun!  And it's still so warm!  Then we headed to the Maddox Drive In for dinner.  I just got soup and salad.  I am still feeling like a glutton after Bear Lake and trying eat more like I need to!  I ate so much up there!  But, it was all so good!

Then we headed to the Maddox Drive In for dinner.  I just got soup and salad.  I am still feeling like a glutton after Bear Lake and trying eat more like I need to!  I ate so much up there!  But, it was all so good!

dear friday run, I decided to do my last long run today instead of tomorrow.  Well, not sure an 8 miler counts as a long run, but it's my last one in my training!  Next week is total taper!  Meaning, I run a couple of 3 to 4 milers.  I wanted to wait until it was hot again like I did yesterday to try and acclimatize myself a bit for St. George.  The weather is predicted to have a high of 94° on race day!  YIKES!  If one thing will destroy a race, it's the heat!  I am seriously worried!  Especially since it has cooled down here and I am no longer used to running in high temps.  I ran five miles in 75° and I was nearly dead!  The heat makes me sick to my stomach.  I also drank THREE full water bottles!  I hope I can stay hydrated for St. George!  Starting to stress since it's going to be record heat next week for the race.

 I went out west and I happily found two pennies!  Made my day!

dear four wheel adventure to willard peak, our friends the Lindsey's invited us to go on the annual four wheel excursion on Friday.  We were on board.  They had six couples total going. 

 It's always a lot of fun, but it ended up just being four couples that could make it. But we still had a lot of fun.

On the way up, we lost the cooler that had our hobo dinners in it.  It fell off and our food was strewn all over the trail.  Luckily, I noticed it and the Packer's (who were behind us) helped us gather it all up.  Nothing was damaged, thankfully!  Dave had to get creative with his boy scout knots to keep that thing attached.  It gave us a little more trouble, but it made it....in almost one piece....the handle came off. We need to get some four wheelin' bags.

The temperature was nice, though a little cool, but nothing like last year when I FROZE to death on the way down.  This was much better. When we reached Willard Peak, the view from Inspiration Point was incredible!  

 Just so gorgeous!!!
And of course, we had to take advantage of being at Inspiration Point!

 We tried to get a good group photo, but this ↓ was the best we could get.  Everyone is all nice and smiley, but Rob decided to pull a face.  haha 

This ↓ one is my personal fave!

 We took these on a timer and had so much fun looking at them after!

 These guys are a lot of fun to hang out with.  It was fun to have the Moyles join us this year too!

We found a nice little camping spot and the guys got a raging fire going so we could cook our dinners.

 The tin foil dinners were heavenly!  Everything tastes better when cooked over a fire!  We brought up a dozen ears of corn to cook over the coals and it was just SO good!

 Rob was the smart one to bring his headlamp, while the rest of us used our phone lights.  Dave was helping him (and all of us) butter our corn!  That's ↑ the remains of the very much enjoyed corn.  Mmmm......  

 I brought marshmallows to roast, but they were all in one huge clump and so I roasted the entire clump which was basically the whole bag!  OH MY! It was so good to just peel off the layers of perfectly roasted marshmallow.  I think I enjoyed it the most.  

It was a lot of fun.  We headed back down in the dark and the ride was really bumpy!  My back was killing me after.  I am worried it is going to bother me for the marathon next week because it has been hurting for the past few days!  UGH! I think my body just gets tired of all the abuse I put it through during training and it's done.  I need it to hang on for one more week!

dear pickleball clinic,  on Saturday there was a Pickleball clinic I heard about on Facebook. I told Dave I wanted to go.  My back was still hurting but I figured it would just be an easy clinic for beginners and so it would be okay.  Nope.  All the REALLY good players showed up!  Kyle Klien and Scott Clayson taught us some techniques and then we got in groups of four to practice what they taught. I ended up with Dave and the Laws.  They all play in tournaments and here I am just a beginner! To say I was intimidated is quite the understatement.  There were no beginners there but me!  These were all the die hards!  If I could have played against Dave, I wouldn't have felt like such a rookie, but I got paired with the 3.5's and 4.0's!  Sheesh!  I think I was the only one that was a beginner in the whole place!  It was nice to have Kyle and Scott give me pointers though, even if I was wishing I had practiced more!  Then we played a team of an 11 year old boy and his sister that was about 17. I was so relieved!  That is until that little kid schooled me!  He was amazing!  Everyone knew his name and apparently he wins all the time.  Dave just smiled.  I probably embarrassed him.  If I had known it was a clinic for the pros, I would have stayed home! haha

 They posted these pix on Facebook and we are in them.  Dave is in the turquoise shirt in the middle and I am standing next to him.  This is Kyle and Scott demonstrating techniques, most of which went right out the window once I hit the court because I was just trying to hit the ball!

 Dave had to work and so we had to leave just before 9:00 a.m.  Too bad, because Congressman Rob Bishop showed up after we left.  It would have been fun to watch him.

dear track run, after we left the Pickleball clinic, Dave headed to work and I headed to the track to do some speedwork.  I didn't do Yasso's because I am tapering now, but I did some 400's.  I was worried because I was slower than normal on my first one, but my back was really hurting and it's hard to push it when that happens, but I forced myself to go faster and did pretty good on my second round.  I only did four repeats.  I was glad I got at least one good round because I needed the confidence boost.  I found a penny on the track which is very rare and then I found a few more in the parking lot. I went under the bleachers and found a quarter, a purple bracelet, and a heart rock!  I made out pretty well today! 

 I hope I am ready!  The nerves are starting to settle in and I am getting so scared!  I am always scared before a marathon because I KNOW how hard they are and how bad it is going to hurt no matter how ready I am.  This is the time I really question my sanity for running marathons.  There is no way of getting around the pain.  You just have to push through it and pray you don't have to deal with any other issues to go along with it.  I am trying to focus on the journey and not get so caught up in my time.  I am excited to know that St. George has a lot of crowd support. You don't get that in Ogden until the last half mile and it helps so much!  

I am going to really try and enjoy the beautiful scenery on the course.

 Hopefully I can do this ↓

 I had decided to wear THIS ↓ months ago, but I am rethinking it now.  Dave always teases me and says, "It's all about the outfit!"  It kinda is! 

 I am kind of in a panic as to what I am wearing!  There is so much to worry about that way....enough pockets, cool enough, warm enough, loose enough, tight enough, will it chafe?, etc. etc.  And of course, is it cute? haha  Good thing I still have a week to decide!

dear taylor, he showed up on Saturday afternoon and it was a happy surprise!  He had to go pick up his snowboard he bought on KSL in Ogden and so he stopped by to do homework and ended up helping us with freezing a bunch of corn too.  He is a hard worker for sure.  I was happy he was able to take out the wave runners to go wake boarding while he was here for a bit even if the water was freezing!  A couple of his roomies showed up to go with him.  They are nuts!

 I would have froze to death getting in that water!

 He posted this on Snapchat.  He says it's true.  Not so much him because he has more credits than most of his roomies and has to study more, as well as a job, but I'm sure he finds some time.  Probably mostly at 1:40 a.m.!

dear quotes, 

And last but not least.... 
...this gorgeous temple shot that Dave took.