*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   

 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!

dear catching up, UGH I am so behind in everything!  Christmas will do that to you as well as doing a cursed wedding cake and preparing for a presentation for a Relief Society meeting.  I haven't even had time to take down my Christmas yet.  Maybe I should just leave it up until next year.  Think anyone would notice?  (Editing this a week later and you will be happy to know it came down a week ago!) I worked on my blog today when I had a spare minute here and there and tried to catch it up, but I still didn't get there.  It's really easy to maintain when I am on top of it, but when I get behind...ugh!  Sometimes I really question why I even blog at all.  I guess the main reason is I feel some need to preserve memories.  Plus, I love to write and it's somewhat therapeutic.  Running is therapeutic.  Blogging is therapeutic.  Hmm...I must need a lot of therapy!  Too bad cleaning isn't therapeutic!  hah  

dear taylor home, Taylor came home tonight after working all day in Logan as he has been all week.  He had a city league basketball game.  We headed over to watch him and they killed the team they were playing!  I got to catch up a bit with my friend Michele who was there watching four of her boys play.  Love that woman.  She is such an inspiration.  Four of her dil's were there and I am sure she is the perfect mother in law.

It's been great having Taylor home!  I love seeing him every day!  I think he likes eating real food.  We made Taco Salads (his fave) and after dinner he wanted me to teach him how to make roses out of icing since I had tons of it leftover from the wedding cake AND I even had a cake leftover from the wedding.  One of the many I scrapped.  I was watching a youtube video the other day on something cake decor related and they started to do roses.  Taylor saw part of it and was intrigued.  He thought they looked pretty easy and wanted me to teach him how to do them. Well, he really wanted to teach himself.  He didn't want my help even though I kept trying to offer it.  He basically taught himself. He has always taught himself how to do things.   He taught himself how to ride a bike when he about six and how to do times tables when he was only five!  By the time he was seven he could do all of the times tables!  Nothing's changed.  His roses were amazing!  Better than mine. He had a harder time icing the cake because we didn't have enough icing, but it would have looked amazing if I had made more but he insisted that I didn't.  For a first attempt, I have to say he did a great job! 

He wanted to try red roses....even though they didn't match at all.  lol

dear tuesday run, as soon as I left I knew I should have taken my hat because it was much colder than I anticipated.  Dave was playing Pickelball but since he was off today, I text him and asked him to bring me one when he got back.  He must have stayed longer than usual because I never heard back from him.  When I was on mile three, I checked my phone and saw he had been trying to call me but I never heard it.  I called him and he was out looking for me but I told him I didn't need it anymore because I was warmed up and it would just make me too hot.  But, he came and found me anyway.  I still didn't take the hat, but I did take some water.  I will be happy when I can run in the heat again.  But this week's temps have been so much better than last weeks!  Running in 10 degrees is brutal!  I'll take 28 any day over that!  My hair was covered in ice crystals.

dear presentation on journaling, I was asked to teach a class for our nighttime Relief Society meeting on online journaling and blogging and how to put those things into a book.  I was excited because I LOVE to journal in many different forms.  I gathered up all my stuff to display....i.e.  my Social Books, my Running Blog book, my photo calendars, my boys journal calendars, my album of Christmas Newsletters, my 10+ year journal, my Gratitude Journal, Taylor's mission emails, and I borrowed some blog books from my friend Audrey.   I talked about the importance of keeping a journal and why we should and the benefits that we gain from keeping one.  I told them that I was sure I was a born historian because I love to journal and I love to read biographies of other people's lives and how important it is to preserve our life stories and how there are many ways to do that.  I talked a little bit about how keeping a journal is really more for ourselves than for our ancestors.  At least that is how I feel because I get so many benefits from just writing.  Journaling can be therapeutic and I explained how it is used by many professionals to help people deal with hard things.  And even if all my journals were to burn in a fire, it was not a waste of time to keep them because so much good comes from the very act of writing.  I talked about blogging a bit as well.  I hope I was able to inspire a few people to journal more.  I do have to say that of all the presentation or classes I have taught, this had to be one of the worst ever.  Not due to lack of preparation, but due to how I was feeling when I gave it.  It's kind of a long story and not really one for an online blog, but suffice it to say, I was feeling nothing like myself and afterwards I really felt bad because I think my low energy was felt by everyone.  Hopefully by the end I was more myself and so I hope that made up for the beginning.  I'm sure all of that is very confusing but lets just say it was not my best presentation.  Ugh....  I want a do over.

My friend Audrey took these for me.  I had no idea she even took them even though I am looking right at her.  That was nice of her.  She did it so I had them to put on here.  She also has a blog and so she gets how photos help make a blog much less boring.  Thanks Audrey!

I absolutely LOVED this!  How cute is that?  It was a cute hot cocoa bar and done so dang cute!  Jenny H. did it and her daughter wrote the sign.

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the quote by Eliza R. Snow so much.  Probably because I know of a sister that I am going to try this out on.

dear cow rescue mission, well it wasn't really my mission, I just made it mine.  I was out running on Wednesday and as I got down to a farm I noticed a calf outside of the fence and his mama was bellowing up a storm.  She was very distressed that her baby was on the outside of the fence....barbed wire mind you.  I have NO idea how he got out.  NO clue.  And I looked and looked so I could help him back in, but there was just no where I could see he escaped unless he went under the water on a gate nearby.  A creek separated me from him and so I was pretty useless.  After telling Mama Cow to chill... (she was seriously having a cow!) I finally called Animal Control.  As I was explaining the situation to them I saw a tractor moving on the property about 1/4 of a mile away.  I told Animal Control I would call them back if it wasn't the owner and then I ran down to the tractor. I told the farmer the situation and he thanked me and got in his truck to go check it out.  He was pretty surprised about it as well and after a few attempts to get the calf to go back the way it came, he finally went and untied the gate thing.  It took a while but he finally got him to go back in.  Mama Cow was feeling much better.  At least I think she was since she had stopped bellowing at the top of her lungs.  All was well once again in Cowsville.   I rescued a dog last Wednesday and a cow this week.  I wonder what next Wednesday will bring?

Mama and calf are reunited and all is well again!

dear wednesday, after my cow rescue mission I had to rush to the Ortho.  He said that things are really looking good!  His wife Susan is on vacay in Palm Springs and she had called him while I was there and I told him that it was too bad she didn't take me.  I was totally joking but he called her back and gave me the phone.  She knew it was me right off and I joked with her too and said to invite me next time.  We can only hope!  Palm Springs would be awesome right now.  I came home and talked to Sky about my presentation last night and how I had been feeling. He is a great therapist and had some great advice for me.  He always does.  I love that we have the kind of relationship that I can tell him anything and he can me as well without any judgement.  It's great.   Then...I did the dreaded putting away Christmas.  Not my favorite thing to do.  It's SO much work!  Sometimes I question the world's sanity in how much we decorate for such a short time.  At least I only have one tree to dismantle.  And that took forever!  It always does.  But, I do love it when it's all put away and my house feels fresh again.  Dave had meetings but he helped me take down all the ornaments before he left.  I got the rest of the decors put away as well.  Taylor came home to our dinner of meatloaf, squash, and scalloped potatoes.  I think he would drive home everyday just to eat real food.  His phone was stolen today and so he called the police but they can't do much.  He had the Find My Phone app on it and he tracked it to a construction site but they all denied taking it.  Of course.  Oh well.  It's gone for good I'm sure.  I was beat all day.  This lack of sleep is catching up to me.  I have been going on only five hours a night.  UGH! 

Dave wearing his fishing waders to take the tree out.  Hmm..  Mr. Cat yawning?  Seriously?  That thing sleeps 23 hours a day!  No clue how he could be tired.  At. All. 

dear happy birthday to dave!  Thursday was Dave's birthday.  He got up early and went to play pickleball and so I didn't even see him until lunch because he had to work.  We woke up to snow covered roads and so I headed to the high school track.  When the roads aren't plowed, I feel safe there because there aren't any cars that can slide into you.  They always plow a little around the track too.  It needed to be plowed again but not too bad.  When Dave got home for lunch, I helped him take the tree out.  What a mess!  It had really dried up this year.   But it IS January 7th!  I am used to getting it out of the house a week earlier, but life was too crazy to do that until now.  I basically spent the day cleaning and baking a cake.  He wanted Hawaiian Wedding cake this year.  It's a super easy recipe and so delish.  When I do a wedding cake I always make a that kind as the top layer.  Wish I had done that with last week's cake. Live and learn. 

 Some of Dave's side of the fam came. My parents are in Yuma so they weren't able to make it. 

Love how my boys enjoy hanging together!

Dinner at Wingers after the party.  It was late but the ONLY time we could go due to Dave's meetings and party.  The boys didn't mind.  They will eat anytime.

dear friday, today I ran to the cemetery and it was SO much warmer.  The sun was out and it was just a gorgeous day for a run.  Snow was lightly falling and it was a happy run.  I even found two pennies and a nickel.  Right before I found them I thought to myself that I would find three coins.  Weird how that works sometimes.

Taylor dropped his Sim card and it fell in the shredder.  What a mess trying to find that minuscule little thing!  But he did!

Julie and I went to Mona's and took down her tree.  It didn't take very long as she only had a few dozen ornaments on it and nothing else.  Her house needed some tidying up and since her son was there I also put him to work doing things as I was cleaning her house.  I tried to organize her papers and put things away for her because she really doesn't feel well.  I really wish I could do more.  I worry about her now that she is driving again.  I haven't seen her really smile or be happy for a long time. Life is weighing on her right now.  Julie still has a cast and so she can't get around much either, but we got a lot done before we had to leave.  

 We were plotting out a plan in the car before going in.  We had some laughs and we needed them!

Dave got home and we headed to our Ward Temple Night.  I realized when we were halfway there that my recommend wasn't in my wallet.  It's always in my wallet.  That is unless I give it to Dave at a wedding the week before and he puts it in his suit coat pocket and then wears a different suit coat.  Aaagh!  Instead of going home to find it (we would've missed the session if we had) he talked to the President and worked it out so I could get in.  This calling does have it's perks, but embarrassing!  There were a lot of our ward members there and I sat by the sweetest girl I didn't know.  

A group of us went to Winger's after for a treat.  It was a lot of fun.  I sat by Stephanie.  We used to have a lot of laughs together in Young Women.  She was part of what got me through those hard times right after losing Tyson.  Wow, that was 10 years ago!  She was a little Mia Maid then and now she is a returned missionary and almost a school teacher.  How time flies.  I love love that girl!  Always have and always will.  Her brother Matt was Tyson's best bud.


dear saturday, I took off on my long run and got in five miles and then met Robin at her house.  She only wanted to go five but even having a partner for half of it makes it much better. 

First five miles.  The cows were all doing much better than the last time I saw them.  I found an ice crystal heart in the road.

We do have good laughs!  It was lightly snowing all morning. 

I got my new shoes!  Grant knows someone that gets a great discount on them and I LOVE them!  These are actually my Christmas present from Sky.  :)

I cut up a zillion veggies and raw chicken in prep for the Wok dinner I am making tomorrow for Dave's birthday dinner.  As you can see, I am NOT a fan of cutting up raw meat!  BLEH!  Skyler was laughing at me the whole time. Dave thought he was funny for taking this lovely shot.

dear sunday, today was Ward Conference.  Dave had to speak in Sacrament meeting and so I called and invited his parents and they came.  He did a great job and talked a lot about motherhood and women.  He also had a little time in Relief Society as well and also did a great job. 

I came home and set the table and did some more chop chop on the Wok.  Dave had to go to another Ward Conference and so I took a little rest.  Then I got up and got cooking!  It smelled so good! 

YUMMY!

My new plates!

He wishes he had a birthday once a week because he loves the Wok dinner.  Maybe I will be nice and make it for Father's Day too.  lol

dear mr. cat, some more "ahhh" pictures for your enjoyment.  Okay, for mine, but if you don't enjoy them, then you should! ;)

His wish spot. Wishing he was outside on a warm summer day!

Top photo is how he spends 90% of his time. Bottom photo is of him feeling the brutal cold air as I open the door and he tries to decide if he is going out or not.  It's usually not.

dear random, when I run to the cemetery I often pass these headstones.  I am a lover of history and bios of others lives and I am always intrigued by the stories you can find on very old headstones.  These are very old from the early 1800's. It's two parents and their daughter.   I guess my interest in these are because the one on the top right is the daughter that passed away when she was 18.  Just a little older than Tyson.  There is poetry written on each one of these and they truly are beautiful sentiments of these people.  I would like to do some research and find out more about them.  Very intriguing.

Nice three point buck chillin' in our backyard

Jeremy sent this to Dave when I was in search of some photo's of Sky last month.  It's of Sky and Bryce when they were both working in Hawaii.