*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 monday, I couldn't decide if I should visit the Devil's Sidewalk (DS) or just brave the elements outside today.  It was raining and only 32°.  Which is actually really warm considering the past couple of weeks. I love running in the rain, but not so much when it's cold.  To show how much I hate the DS, I chose the cold rain.  It was really coming down and it tried to turn to snow a couple of times.  My $27 waterproof socks were wet.  Hmm...  Good thing I got them for free or I would be asking for a refund!  I had to run in a lot of slushy snow and puddles and my feet were frozen.  I was going to do 10 miles, but after five I called it good. I just wanted a hot shower at that point!  I found this quarter today and it is coin #4 I have found after starting an experiment...that I will explain at a later time.

Unfortunately you can't see how rainy it was from the photo, but trust me, it was WET!

On my route there is a pony that I always say hi to.  He is all alone and I feel bad for him.  I am worried he isn't getting fed and the past week his water has been frozen.  I watch to see if there are any tracks in the snow leading to his small coral to see if he's being fed. Last week I saw some and so I hoped they were feeding him every day, but this week it looks like no one has been around to feed him.  

I feel so bad for him so I called AC.  They were closed today because of it being Martin Luther King Day.  When I was out running errands I took an apple over to him.  He had a hard time finding it. I think he is blind.  Then all the geese went after it and so I had to jump the fence and grab it and give it to him but he was scared to death of me and running away. I finally had to just drop it on the ground and shew away the dang geese.  He loved it and was very happy!  And then I saw....
 

This just begs the question....

#why #chickens #turkeys #nowgeese

 

 When I saw these guys crossing the road, I just burst out laughing.  WHY does this always strike me as so funny?

dear tuesday, Sky got back from Boston late last night.  It was good to have him back.  He was tired and jet lagged.  I took off on my run and the poor pony still didn't have any hay or water that wasn't frozen.  I gave him an apple and once again he couldn't find it.  I got through to AC this time and told them my concerns. I hope they will check it out.  I came home and had to hurry and get out for our visiting teaching appointments.  I met Cheryl at Heather's, then we went to Mona's and then to Subway to meet Kim on her lunch break at Walmart.  We then ran to Seagull to grab a couple things.  I came home and made Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread and talked to Sky about his weekend.  We talked and talked and it was so fun. I miss having him here all the time because we can talk about anything and it was great hearing about it all.  We also got talking about life in general and religion and about Tyson.  Bryce joined us for a bit and shared his wisdom and it was great.  I was laughing and even near tears when talking about Tyson and shared some of the things I know....not just have faith in, but KNOW.  I am so glad I had the time to be there and didn't have anywhere I had to be because those moments don't come around every day.  I was only wishing that Taylor had been there as well.  As luck would have it, he showed up unexpectedly 10 minutes after we had finished and all gone our separate ways.  We probably visited and talked for a good four hours.  I wish they all always lived here so we could do that every single day!  :)  I seriously do!

dear wednesday, I headed out and got in some speedwork (aka hills) today.  I did 15 repeats and it wasn't that bad.  It actually felt good.  I talked above about an experiment I have been doing with finding pennies (coins) from heaven and today was crazy!  I truly did not expect to find any on the hills and I found two.  I will give more details later.

Sky was home again today and I love it when he is around.  I wanted to be free so we could chat some more and so I decided to make lasagna because it is pretty time consuming and it would give me a lot of time in the kitchen so we could chat.  I made lasagna and he made his famous taffy.   It's so good to have him home for a bit.  I don't know when it will happen again for this amount of time (probably never) and so I am taking full advantage of it.  He found out today that he may no longer be going to San Diego because the net metering has changed there now too just like Hawaii.  He is pretty discouraged but he will figure it out.

Sky checking the temp of the taffy with Dave's new temperature reader he gave him for Christmas.  Pretty cool gadget.

 The lasagna turned out so delish!  Lasagna is my favorite food!  Well, next to chocolate that is.  If I got to choose what my last supper would be, this would be it.  That and a huge slice of Carrabba's Chocolate Dream Sogno cake!  I decided to make up my own recipe today because I have a few I like but I wanted to make more of a combo of them all and so I made up my own.  It turned out really good and it's my new fave!  Oh, how I wish I could eat the entire pan! I'll post the recipe below.

 My Lasagna recipe:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. sausage

1/2 onion diced

1 garlic clove

Brown together and set aside.

Sauce:
1 quart of tomatoes

2 small cans tomato paste

1/2 t garlic salt

1 t oregano

1 t Italian seasoning

1 Tbl parsley flakes

2 Tbl worcestershire

2 Tbl brown sugar

1 Tbl dry mustard

Add to beef mixture and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Cheese mixture:

2 small cartons of cottage cheese

3 eggs

2 Tbl parsley

1/2 c Parmesan cheese

1 lb mozzarella cheese (remove 1 cup to put on top of lasagna)

Mix altogether.

Directions:

Cook noodles - set aside.  Layer small amount of meat sauce on greased pan. 
Then layer:

Noodles

Cheese mixture

Meat sauce

Repeat 3 or 4 times

Add reserved mozzarella cheese and sprinkle on top.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. 
If use uncooked noodles then add one 8 oz can of tomato sauce.

dear thursday, it was freezing this morning AGAIN! I am so ready for spring!  It's been a real winter this year.  The past two or three years, we have had a fake winter.  The really cold temps only lasted for a week or two and we rarely got snow.  But, every time I start to complain I smack myself in the head and look at this:

I didn't run today because I had a full agenda and wanted to get an early start.  I headed to Ogden to get some errands done and return a few things from Christmas.  When I got back, it was nearly time to head to the church for the YW basketball games.  They were a lot of fun again.  I am enjoying my calling.  The women I work with are great and watching the girls play is so entertaining.  This day flew by.

dear friday, I ran my cemetery route today and as would be expected it always causes me to be very reflective when I am running inside there.  It always gets me thinking about my life (mostly everything I am not getting accomplished!) but in the end I usually exit with a full and happy heart and a skip in my step.  Adding a skip to your step when you are trying to run is saying a lot.  :)  Do not try that at home.  It was another very cold day, but I seriously can NOT complain knowing McKay is literally in outer Siberia with digits in the HIGH negatives!  Sounds like an oxymoron.   I am so in awe of that boy!   I could NOT do it! 
     I worked on my Sunday School lesson today. I found some cute little books that I am going to make into Gratitude Journals for them. The lesson is on seeing the hand of God in your daily lives...basically gratitude and so I am excited to share with them how I feel about gratitude.  I am incorporating several things from my talks I have given on the subject. 
     When Dave got home, we decided to take the boys to Costa Vida for dinner. If Taylor had been able to make it we would have gone to Longhorn, but he had to work later than hoped and so I told him to not make the drive. I don't think he was too disappointed (other than not getting steak!) because he always has a million "social" things lined up for him. He is enjoying college life to the fullest. Only he doesn't really love his job. He says he loves the people he works with, not the actual job. 

dear saturday, it was freezing again today.  Okay, it was a heat wave compared to McKay's temps. I have to keep reminding myself that! I headed out on my long run alone and got in five miles.  It was colder than most of my runs so far this year because I think it was super humid. I checked on my pony friend and HALLELUJAH he had some hay!  My phone call worked.  I was so happy!  That is the FIRST time I have seen hay in his coral for awhile so now I know.  Poor little guy.  After running five, I met Robin and we went another 7 miles around town. It warmed up a bit by the end, but all in all it was a chilly run.  I couldn't wait to get in my hot shower! 

     Dave was off today and I had him do a honey do or two.  It's been so long since he has had any time to do stuff like that around here.  He fixed my faucet finally! Well actually I mentioned it and Bryce ran up and started to work on it and then Dave started helping him.  I am so impressed with Bryce. Seriously....all I have to do is say something I need or that needs to be done and he immediately is on it!  It's so nice!  I am almost afraid to say anything because I don't want to be taking advantage of him, but he is amazing!  He empties the dishwasher as soon as it's done.  He keeps up on the laundry.  Maybe I need to casually say the house needs a total remodel and see if the magic works on that one.  :)  I'm sure it would.  He just jumps in and gets stuff done.  He is my inspiration.  I need to be more like that again. I used to be...sigh.   Now it seems there's always so many other things crowding out the stuff that isn't on fire at the moment.  The stuff that can wait.  And so it waits.  And waits.  And waits.  
     Sky had a date in Logan tonight but it ended up getting cancelled due to her work schedule. I was glad because Sardine would have been very dangerous.  The snow was really coming down!  It was so peaceful to watch from inside though!

dear sunday, I got up early to finish a few things on my lesson and headed to church. I didn't  lose my keys today.  Yay!  Or anything else for that matter.  A little sanity maybe, but that's a given.  Mona didn't come to church and neither did Troy and Carol, so I sat alone on my pew.  It wasn't too bad.  I think I will get used to it.  I really didn't even notice until Sister Davis told me she should have moved up one row to sit by me.  She sat alone for 10 years when Pres. Davis served as Stake Pres.  And then Cole told me he tried to get one of his boys to sit by me but couldn't.  I told him to tell them I have treats!  hehe  
     My lesson went wonderfully well.  The topic was how we can see the hand of the Lord in our lives each day and I focused on gratitude. 

Four kids from my old class came.  They aren't supposed to but now they are on the roll  (kinda - a mistake) so I am happy to let them come.  I love them to death.  Those four love to chatter and visit with each other, but I don't really mind.  They make me laugh and their energy is so contagious.  I would love it if I could keep them for another year!  I was so impressed with how they were all so interactive with the topic today.  I can keep them captivated when I tell personal stories and so I always try to have one.  This week I told them the story about the giant rock that hit my windshield when I was driving to pick up my marathon packet in the spring during a huge rainstorm.  And how it was the wake up call I needed because I was having a pity party up until that happened because I was going to have to run another full marathon in a downpour the next day and I had just got injured a few weeks before after I had trained for four months and was really hoping to qualify for Boston at that race... so I was let down with all those things against me.  And then I explained how when I realized I could have been killed instantly by that rock if my windshield had been a little weaker, that I was just so filled with gratitude that I was even alive and that I could even run at all, let alone with an injury or in a downpour and so I dedicated each mile to something that I was grateful for.  I think they got it.

I gave them each a little Gratitude Journal I made as well as a Take 5 candy bar handout and a Lifesaver Challenge. 

      After church, we had a wonderful dinner that Dave cooked!  Chicken and all the trimmings!  He even made Creme Brulee!  He is an amazing cook and I am so grateful!  He has cooked Sunday dinners for many years now when he can.  It is getting less frequent now, but it's great when he can.  I do not take that for granted!  Then our home teachers came.  Bro. Packer makes me laugh.  He really is a funny guy and we are blessed to have two wonderful home teachers.  They are both great people.
      I spent a lot of time gathering recipes for McKay because he asked for some quick and easy ones that they can prepare and eat in less than hour.  It was a challenge because they can't get cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup there.  Most of my really quick ones use one of those, so I had to get creative and adjust some here and there and go through several of my recipes to find some that fit the bill.  I finally had five pages for him.  And then what did I do?  I told him I had them but I forgot to attach them!  Guess he gets them next week!  We were keeping tabs on the game today that the Carolina Panthers (his team) was playing.  They won and so they are going to the SUPER BOWL!  Oh my gosh!  That has been his dream since he was a little tyke!  He has loved them forever!  He predicted when he left on his mission that they would go to the Super Bowl this year.  He was right!  They almost had an undefeated season too!  We were so excited to tell him!  

This is what I posted of Facebook about it:
It FINALLY happened! This kid has lived for this day since he was a little tot!!!! I am pretty sure he is Carolina Panther's BIGGEST fan! His prediction was right that his team would make it to the Super Bowl when he left for his mission! He will now have to cheer them on in spirit as he goes about the Lord's service, but I'm sure he will be watching every minute of play we have recorded when he gets home. When he receives the news, he is going to be one excited missionary! We will probably all hear his screams from 6000 miles away! This photo was taken while he was in the MTC. GO PANTHERS!

     He wrote right after the game had ended and got the news!  If he had been home, he would have had been going nuts!  He would be cheering and laughing and just so happy!  I can just see him now! He wrote back, "YES!", and then he was pretty calm.  At the end of his letter he wrote this:      
"It was a really good week and made even better by the fact that my Panthers are in the super bowl. It is so amazing. I can only imagine what it would be like if I was home. But I have been thinking. This time out here in this frozen land when I get to serve with these people is much more worth it than being home to watch my Panthers win their first super bowl. I wouldn't change my decision to serve my mission or change my mission to another year or another time even if I could. What is really important is made so much clearer to me out here. There is not so much stuff to blur my vision. I wouldn't go back and change it for anything.  That being said I am still going watch all their games when I get home but that can wait." 

When I read that it hit me like a ton of bricks!  I was NOT expecting that!  I expected him to be so excited and basically going crazy.  I have to say this was one of my proudest Mommy Moments.  He is growing so much over there.  He understands the most important things.  It makes me cry to know that my baby is no longer a little boy. He is now a young man...a true stripling warrior that has grown up and is doing something that is so much more important than football or anything else right now.  He gets it.  I am so proud of that boy!  So proud that I even forgot to watch Downton Abbey!

dear mckay, I honestly am in awe of you!  I know I say that all the time, but it is true! Total and complete awe!  I truly have no idea how you can stay cheerful and upbeat when you are freezing in outer Siberia! That is the place I threatened to send you when you misbehaved as a little boy.  Okay, maybe not really, but I often thought it.  It baffles me that ANY one would live there.  Totally and completely baffles me.   I am not a fan of the cold. I would much rather be too hot than too cold NO MATTER WHAT!  It's so much easier to jump in a pool or a cold shower and cool off instantly than it is to get warm once you are chilled to the bone.  Being cold is much more uncomfortable to me than being too hot.  I fear there is no way I could survive what you are doing daily.  It is the main reason why I know I would have never survived as a pioneer coming across the plains in the dead of winter. I would have been that dead part of winter.  I respect you so much and I will for the rest of my life that you somehow not only survived, but thrived and never once complained.  Seriously, how many people can say they lived through winter in Siberia?!  Not only lived through it, but was out in it ALL day and into the night until 9:00 pm!  Crazy!  I admire you so much for what a great example you are for us all.  But I do NOT envy you. Not one little freezing bit!

 Brrrrrrrrrr.......

It was so great to get a ton of pictures from you this week!  I added them all on your blog here but I will add them in collage form on this one.

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

In center or в центр

In center or в центр

His "way nice set up" (his words), nesting dolls, and New Years

dear mr. cat, I look at you and then I look at McKay and think, there is something wrong with this picture!  You are all nice and toasty warm and fat and happy and he is in Siberia freezing to death!  I think you have really got it going.

Sound asleep on the printer again. ↓

dear random, 

Bryce has been busy...

He is making this in hopes he can sell them to Ram fans.  It will be lighted like the things they make for the light park.

I read this article saying that the four words you should say to end every fight are "Honey, you are probably right." Even when you don't think they are.  Hmm...  Yes, I do believe that would improve most relationships in a big way.  Something to think about.  I definitely need to improve on this!  You can read the entire article here.

When I was at the cemetery I saw this picture on Tyson's grave!  I died laughing because I know Tyson was also dying laughing.  At first I thought someone left it on there, but then I realized that it had just blown there.  Okay, well, I hope! :)

 dear quotes:

I can attest to this!

Yeah, that's me....

This is true...every. single. day.

:)