*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 was showered, dressed and out the door by 7 a.m. today. It was great.  I forgot how good it felt to be ready for the day that early.  With my running schedule that rarely happens now.  I needed to go get Valentine's candy before it was gone for the favors for the Bishop's wives.  I got what I needed and came home and put them together.  I spent ALL day getting ready for the party tomorrow.  Either making food or cleaning the house.  I was exhausted by 3:00 but still had eight more hours to go.  I never used to get tired after cleaning and cooking, but man, I do now.  This getting older is not fun!  I worked hard without taking a break though and so I guess maybe I should have done that.  I'm not a whippersnapper anymore even though I think I am. Tay came home because he had a game tonight.  He wanted a haircut and I told him no because I had so much to do, but I ended up giving him one, of course.  It's pretty hard to tell that kid no. He just has a way to get me to do pretty  much anything he asks. We went to his game and he once again had a great one. They killed the other team.  They are in first place still. 

All his roommates came over to spend the night.  I felt bad that I had my party tomorrow so I was preoccupied, but they mostly just hung out in the man cave.  It was fun talking to them.  I love all of them.  They are great kids.  I am glad I have gotten to know them all so well and I'm glad they like to hang out here.  They were going hunting in the morning. 
  

dear tuesday, today was the big Bishop Wife party. I didn't run because I had way too much to do before. I got up early and got ready and then headed to Kent's for a few things I needed.  I hoped Dave was going to go get them but he had Pickleball this morning so I just ran and got them.  I decided I needed to make two desserts so the boys will have one as well.  Otherwise, I would have had everything I needed without a trip to the store.  I made the pasta salad and chocolate lasagna.  It turned out really good.  Dave made breakfast for Taylor and his roomies and I visited with them while I got stuff ready then they took off. 

Dave snapped this photo.  I should have taken a real one. But I guess this is as real as you can get. haha

Getting set up for the luncheon

Chocolate Lasagna!

Kathryn came early and helped set up.  She made the yummy chicken salad and veggie tray and some yummy green beans.

The favor I made for the wives...
Sister Lyon gave me the cute hot chocolate with homemade heart shaped marshmallows!  YUM!

The Bishop's Wives.  We were only missing one!

The Bishop Wives with the Stake Presidency Wives

With Dave's counselor's wives...Kathryn and Nadine.  I sure do love these women!

The party was great.  I asked everyone to share something they love about being a Bishop's wife and something that has been hard for them.  I started it by saying that I felt that everyone always thought I knew everything when nothing could be further from the truth since I was told nothing (as it should be).  Sometimes I didn't know things I should know.  And how sometimes you feel a little excluded because others think you will go and report everything to your husband.  I also talked about how McKay doesn't ever remember Dave sitting by us in church because he was only about 5 when he was called as a counselor (he served as that for 6.5 years before 5 years as Bishop) and how we sat close to the front so I had help with the five little boys.  At least help via "the look".  I would give Dave "the look" if one was misbehaving and he in turn would give them "the look". I would often say, "Your Dad is looking at you", then they would look at him and shape up. Sometimes I wonder how I survived Sacrament meeting for all those years sitting alone with five little boys.  He has not sat with us now for almost 13 years now.  As far as what I loved, I said that I loved watching the growth I saw in Dave and the blessings we received because of the calling. The others shared some of the same feelings, as well as feeling pressure to live up to the former Bishop's wife, lack of time, lack of closeness due to lack of being able to communicate about things he has to keep to himself, always trying to keep a white shirt ready, feeling excluded at times, etc.   One shared how she goes to ward events and asks what she can do to help.  She said she will work in the kitchen during those things so those involved can get a break.  What a great idea. I wish I had done that.  I always wished there was a handbook for us so we knew what we were supposed to be doing. I wish that now for this calling as well.  But I think this little get together did what I hoped.  I think it helped everyone feel that they weren't alone and that they have a support group.  Sometimes that is all you need to know.

After the party, I ran and picked up my friend Julie.  She needed a ride home from work.  She showed me her new decors in her house and we visited for a while.  She has been going through a lot this past year and I feel bad I have not been as good of a friend as I should have been.  Life just gets so crazy at times!

dear wednesday, I got out on my run early today because I had an ortho appt. this morning.  I didn't do hills or speedwork today because it was the first time I've ran in three days.  I got in 7 miles.  Yay!

As much as I dislike winter, it sure is beautiful!  I had to take these pictures because it just makes me happy to see how pretty nature can be.

These ↓ not so much!  The one on the right leaves you to just wonder...

I headed to the ortho and Clark was very happy with how things are looking.  I only have eight weeks left!!!  Wow!  But possibly six more after since they already made the aligners.  He had to put an attachment my front tooth though!  Ugh!  Oh well, at least it's the bottom stretch.  Hopefully it won't bug me too bad.  I headed to Ogden right after and met my pals at The Greenery for lunch.  Six of us showed up.  It was good to see everyone.  

We had a lot of fun (as usual) and were laughing pretty hard during lunch.  Then we shopped in Rainbow Gardens and had even more fun.  Oh my, we crack ourselves up.  A couple of the workers were not too happy with our "fun".  One of them was really nice though and offered to take our pictures and found us hats and everything.  

Kathy had brought treats for us to pass out because it was National Random Acts of Kindness Day.  It was a great idea!  I gave one to the lady that helped us.  Oh my, it was fun!  I wish I could have stayed even longer, but when I get into town I usually have a huge list of things I need to get done while I am there since I come in so infrequently.  I am coming in tomorrow, but I think I will be busy with Karen so I needed to get some errands done today.  I hate always feeling so rushed but I'm just happy I got to go! 

 We never lack in the "having fun" department!

 Oh my, we are silly!

Fun times!

I called Sky as I drove home and he isn't feeling settled at all and is discouraged.  I tried to give him some encouragement and told him it will all work out and be okay and to just give it some time.  Dave had meetings and so I didn't see much of him today.  We ate leftovers for dinner, which I was glad because I wasn't hungry at all.  I'm usually not if I go out to lunch.  That Mormon Muffin tied me over pretty well.  I also had the turkey enchilada (never again) it was too spicy.  Bleh.

dear thursday, I got up early and made brownies for the boys trip to the cabin.  I also made some cereal goop.  

Then I headed to my harp lesson.  I was excited because I really practiced this week and had my songs all memorized and my form down.  Or, so I thought.  Nope.  I practiced my form wrong all week.  I made my hands big like I was supposed to but I really needed my thumb to be big and my fingers to stay in the cup shape.  It is really a hard thing to get right. I feel so uncoordinated.   It was a little overwhelming this week. I learned about how the finger placement goes and it was tough for me to get my thumb right.  Oh my gosh, there is so much to remember!  It's a good thing I know the notes or I would be seriously wondering why I attempted to even do this.  She told me harpists get a bad rap for not being able to sight read because it's really tough to sight read when you have to figure out where all your fingers are placed. My head was spinning after learning about finger placement and raises and the form for all of it. Not to mention I will have my first group lesson next week.  AND, she really wants me to be in the recital in May.  Um..........NO!  I really do not want to do that.  She said I was coming along very nicely, but I don't feel like it.  I feel like I take one step forward and two steps back.  Oh well, it was only my third lesson and I need to stay positive and work on my form.  I didn't talk to Karen this week and I didn't want to bug her or make her feel like she needs to be free on my lesson day.  As I left my lesson the wind was blowing like crazy and then it turned into a blizzard!  Snow and wind!  It was crazy and just happened so fast. I ran to some stores in Kaysville and then headed to Ogden to return things to a few stores.  

And to think it got over $4.00 a gallon at one point. I never thought I'd see it this low again!

I got home and made the sportsmanship award medals and had enough time to tell Dave goodbye (he was heading to cabin) before I headed out to the Stake YW basketball games.  

My fun peeps I work with!  Ayako, Valerie, and Andrea.  Andrea is the Stake YW President and she comes every week to support the girls as well.  Sometimes her counselors also come.

A few of the games.  Karen (Stake YW counselor) brought us all a hot cinnamon roll!

I found my long lost pictures from last week!  Here is the medals for VDay week.  The others are at the bottom of the post.

Dave and the boys and Taylor's roommates all headed to the cabin to go snowmobiling.  Dave wanted me to go, but I really couldn't get out of the games and they were leaving way before I would be done.  I didn't feel too bad because I could use some alone time.  I really do enjoy being alone once in a while. I tend to accomplish more when I am alone and have no one else to worry about.  I was actually excited in hopes of getting some stuff done.  My goal is to dejunk my craft stuff in the laundry room and hopefully my bedroom.  I came home and snuggled with Mr. Cat in my electric chair blanket and watched part of The Way We Were before I hit the sack.

dear friday, I got up and before I ran I did a bunch of cleaning. I was in no hurry to get out and it was nice to have no one around.  I went out west and ran six miles.  It has been thawing and some of my route was a little muddy!  

I came home and caught up on some other cleaning.  Then I turned on The Way We Were while I did my hair and makeup.  I watched part of it last night but didn't get to see all of it.  I have always loved that movie even though I cry like a baby at the end. I love having On Demand even though I rarely use it.  I decided to purge one of my laundry room cupboards.  I have most of my craft stuff in a corner one and it has needed to be cleaned since stuff is so piled in it right now, it's hard to get to anything.  It took way longer than I planned on (I planned on two hours and it took three) but I ended up with two large bags for the DI and two garbage bags.  It was one of those projects that had so much little stuff that I had to go through and so it took time.  Mr. Cat hung around me most of the day.  I didn't get done as much as I had hoped today, but it was really nice just being alone.

The boys had a great time in Wyoming.

dear saturday, it was pouring rain when I woke up!  I wasn't really wanting to do my long run in the rain AND cold.  Normally, I love to run in the rain, but that last marathon that I ran in 40° and a downpour for 26.2 miles has kind of made it so I am not as enthused about it anymore unless it's near 55- 60°.  It stopped raining but turned to snow.  COLD snow.  I text Robin and told her I was going to wait it out and go when it stops.  She agreed.  We finally headed out about 10:30 (only three hours past my goal time) and I got in almost 7 miles. But that included stops at ACE, Dr. MacArthur's, and the city hall.  We had to use their ladies rooms but Dr. M wasn't home and city hall was closed. I was not having a good run.  I haven't felt that sluggish in a long time.  Possibly because I didn't eat too well yesterday.  Not sure.  

Yep, this was pretty much Saturday's run.

Our selfie!

Once we got to Robin's I decided I needed to get in at least three more so I would get in 10. I really didn't feel like it at all but I also didn't want to put it off until Monday either.  Oh man, those three miles were torture!  I hated them.  But I refused to walk and just got through them.  I came home and crashed (after I planked) and forced myself to eat some steel cut oats with Flax, Hemp and Chia seeds. I have really been trying to eat better.

It was nice to be alone.  I really enjoyed it!  I got ready and got busy continuing on with my projects.  I worked on my closet some more and another closet in the laundry room.  I took more bags to the DI.  I ran a couple of errands and then came home and did laundry and more cleaning.  Dave text me about 6:30 and said they were on their way.  Wow, this day went by fast!  Bryce cut himself (stabbed) with a knife when he was trying to repair some electrical wires at the cabin and Dave had to take him straight to the clinic and give him stitches.  

Taylor dropped them off and I went and picked them up.  I was so dead tired.  I have seriously had no energy all weekend.  Maybe it's because I have been trying to cut back in the eating junk department and I have tried to eat a lot of fruit instead.  My body isn't used to less carbs!  hah  I just wanted to go to bed!  So happy I didn't have to teach tomorrow.

dear sunday, as I was pulling out my driveway to go to church I heard a huge crunch sound and knew it wasn't good.  I looked behind me and saw I had backed right into the snowmobile trailer!  UGH!  OH. MY. HECK.  I was so shaken up that I did something SO STUPID!  It really did some damage to the car.  The back bumper looks horrible but it even got the side of the car really bad.  

Crap!  I can not believe I did that!  Serious!  It's not like it's anything new for me since I have backed into Bryce's friend's cars a couple of times (if they parked behind me) and a couple of times into the boy's cars and even the Suburban once.  UGH!  It's a long standing joke to NEVER park anything behind my car in the garage. The worst part of all is I thought Dave had taken the car and left me without one because the SUV was still hitched to the trailers and so I asked Taylor if he was almost ready so I could catch a ride with him since he was going to our ward today.  And he was!  But I decided to look and see if by chance my car was there and it was.  Had I not done that, it wouldn't have happened!  AND... last night as we were pulling in after I picked them up from the stitches Dave started to park on the far west side of the garage but I told him to go to my spot.  If I had kept my mouth shut about that, it wouldn't have happened either.  Oh well...  It DID happen and now we have to fork out a lot of money to get it repaired or watch our insurance go up.  I tried to call Dave but he was at ward conferences and so I sat through three hours of church stressing about what he was going to say.  I really did not want to tell him.  However, telling my Dad is going to be worse.  He babied and pampered that car for years and it never had a single scratch on it!   We also just sold Dave's Dad's Lexus that we bought.  Had we known, we would have probably not sold it.  Oh well.  I told a few peeps at church what happened. When I got home, Dave was home and I told him what happened.  He could tell I was visibly upset and he was very nice about it.  He even said it was his fault and he shouldn't have parked there.  He isn't even the one that parked there.  Taylor did.  But he said he would call Bob and see if he can fix it.  But that's going to take time and so I will be without a car until we can get the other SUV back that has been in the shop for about three months.  We need a new mechanic!

I fixed us lunch and then I was so beat that I went upstairs and took a nap.  I needed it.  The home teachers came and then I wrote McKay and got to chat with him just a bit.  He sounds much better this week.  He even sent some pix!  Yay!  

dear mckay, I could tell by your letter this week that you were feeling better about your transfer.  It sounds like you are loving it there!  But holy....you are doing a lot of traveling!

New companion Elder Crabb

Korea temple and from the plane

dear mr. cat, you've been hanging around me all week.  Almost like a dog.  If I go upstairs you go upstairs...  And when I practice the harp, you are right there to listen.  Kinda sweet...

Strrrrrrrrretch!

Of course, you still do love this guy!

dear random, I stole this picture off of Facebook.  I thought it was cool.  Can't wait for those mountains to be free from snow! 

YAY! 

It's that time of year again...

dear quizzes, I haven't posted these for a while so some are really old, but still hilarious.

Hmmm... I got BOTH??????

Jodi is smart.... Be like Jodi!  hehe

 Sorry so small - will have to click to enlarge.

Jodi is not so smart....since none of these are true.  Don't be like Jodi!

Not sure about this, considering some of these were not taken in 2015

Chocolate is my most used word?  SHOCKING!!

My beautiful Mommy! This is also inaccurate since I joined FB in 2009.

My most viewed photo....um..... well, since it is my profile picture I would guess that would be the case.  Not sure why it was in color and black and white though.

dear lost pix, remember those lost pictures I could never find?  Well, I found them hid deep inside my computer. I found them by accident!

From Troy's party.  Nancy is trying to decide if her Jelly Belly was the disgusting kind or good kind.  It was a scary game! hehe
My popcorn I made for the party...

A couple from my run...

Stake YW Basketball games!

dear quotes, I loved this quote by Pres. Eyring:

Life in families will test us. That is one of God’s purposes in giving us the gift of mortality—to strengthen us by passing through tests. That will be especially true in family life, where we will find great joy and great sorrow and challenges which may at times seem beyond our power to endure them.

President George Q. Cannon said this about how God has prepared you and me and our children for the tests we will face: “There is not one of us but what God’s love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save, and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God, and that He has actually given His angels—invisible beings of power and might—charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.”

What President Cannon taught is true. You will need that assurance, as I have needed it and depended on it.- Henry B. Eyring

Poor Dave...

This is true...

Amen!

Ha!


Especially this week!