*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   

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

dear monday, Robin called to see if I had already left on my run and since I hadn't we met up and did a five miler.  Running with someone makes the miles pass more quickly for sure.  But running alone also has it's advantages when you need to think or clear your head.  I think I have a good balance of both.  It was a really gorgeous day today.  

I headed to the first of two Sista lunches this week.  It is Ogden Restaurant Week and so we decided to plan a couple because several places are offering great deals. Today's was at the Prairie Schooner.  I have always loved that place.  But it's rather pricey and so we took advantage of the awesome deal for lunch.  We got two courses for $10.  

We had an okay turnout.  When you consider there are about 30 people invited and only five come, that's not the best.  There are several that work and so they can't come, but I wish we could get more out.  Our group is rather interesting to say the least.  Most of us weren't even good friends in high school.  We all went to the same high school but a few aren't even in the same graduating year.  We have at least one or two younger and one older.  The ones from our year were all in different "groups" in school.  Well, not all of us, but many of us.  The group I hung out with has the most in the group I think. Of course, everyone in the group all knew who each other was in high school, with the exception of a few.  It is very interesting how it all came to be.  All because of Facebook.  Most everyone in our graduating year is friends on Facebook and so when we would go out to lunch and post pictures, others would say how fun it looked and so we invited them.  More and more started to come and then we eventually had this group we named Sista's and it is very interesting the mix of people we have in it.  It's really cool to see that high school does end - haha - and that everyone can be in the same group and eliminate cliques.  

Today we had Chris (back right) who was in band, and Patti (next to her front right) who was friends with other people, me (I had friends in many groups), then next to me is Kathy (middle left) who was head cheerleader and crowned the queen of many dances, then Dawn (back left) who was a Lakette and a year older than us.  The crazy thing is we all have a great time even if we don't have a lot of history together.  It is nice that we know a lot of the same people from our school, but it's not like we had to have that history to have a lot of fun.  Our friend Davaleen that passed away last year, was not really friends with any of us (maybe Chris) but said she wanted to join our group because we have so much fun and then she told us the story how we literally saved her life because she was in a deep depression and then we welcomed her with open arms and hearts and that turned her life around.  I wrote about that whole story HERE.    I am just grateful that we all found each other via Facebook because we really do have a lot of fun together.  As you can see!  Dawn rounded up enough cowboy hats for each of us to wear!  We had a hard time talking Patti and Chris into wearing theirs, but they did long enough for a few pix!  Kathy and I had a battle over the white hat that I have on below.  THANKS DAWN!  The hats made it much more fun!

 Dawn showed us a funny app on her phone that adds mustaches.  We had fun doing that during lunch.  We never lack laughter or fun when we get together that's for sure!

 Kathy and me pretending we are scared of the bear behind us that you can't see.  She cracks me up.

This one is my favorite picture.  I sure do love these girls!  They have truly enriched my life!

dear fhe, for FHE we decided to rent the last Hunger Games movie since we hadn't seen it yet.  Bryce was able to join us and so it was a lot of fun.  Complete with popcorn!  Dave wasn't a fan of the ending and I would have changed at least one thing about it, but all in all it was good.

 Bryce posted this on Snapchat:

Man, that kid works hard!  He never stops!

dear spring run, on Tuesday I took full advantage of the gorgeous day and took a lot of pictures of the spring flowers that were blooming everywhere while I was on my 6.5 mile run!  The air was scented with the aroma of flowers!  I LOVE SPRING!  I ran by the temple grounds and was in awe of the beauty of the flower gardens.  

 Everywhere I ran, the views were incredible! 

 I also found several coins and a couple heart rocks.  I had to take advantage of the swings before I got home. I really love to swing.  I need one in my backyard! 

dear raspberry rolls, I made my first attempt at raspberry rolls with my new recipe from Ayako that I posted last week (here).  It's basically the same version of the rolls only you make it into sweet rolls filled with raspberry filling. They turned out AWESOME! 

 The only thing I would do different is I would thicken up the raspberry sauce that I got at Maddox.  It was so thin that it rolled right out of the dough as I was rolling it up.  I had to spoon some of it on the rolls after they were cut and raising on the pan.  But they turned out amazing!

 Mmmmm..........

 Taylor dropped by for a hair cut.  Lucky for him, the rolls were hot out of the oven!

 

I also tried another new recipe for dinner that was really REALLY good called Cheesy Party Burgers!  I will definitely make these again! ↓

 Cheesy Party Burgers

• 1 pound lean ground beef (I used half beef and half sausage)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 2 cups diced onion (about 1 whole onion)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (10-oz) can Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chiles, drained
• 12 slices cheddar cheese
• 12 dinner rolls

Glaze

• ½ cup (8 tablespoons) butter
• 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place a large skillet on the stovetop over high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the beef and season with salt, pepper, cumin, mustard powder, and paprika. Add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is browned and onions are golden. Stir in drained tomatoes until well combined.
3. Place bottom half of buns in prepared pan. Top with beef & sliced cheese. Finish off with the top half of the bun.
4. Mix all the ingredients for the glaze in a sauce pan over medium heat until melted, smooth and combined. Pour over the buns.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. 

dear harp practice, on Tuesday when I was practicing my harp, Mr. Cat came over and immediately jumped on the piano and made himself very comfortable and listened to me play while he laid there all content.  I guess he thought I was putting on a concert.

Tell me that is not cute? 

dear spring rainstorm, on Wednesday I got all dressed and ready to run but when I left my house, it was a hurricane!  It was raining so hard and the wind was blowing like a bangee!  I turned around and came back inside and decided to bag it!  Now, I am a lover of running in the rain, but today it was brutal and cold!  The wind is what does me in!  I didn't want to run on the treadmill and so I told myself I would run in the afternoon after I got home from Logan.  Never happened. I can pretty much guarantee if I don't run in the morning, I'm not going to run.  Oh well.  

This picture does not show how hard it was coming down, but trust me it was crazy!

dear shopping and lunch with taylor, I had to go to Logan to pick up my wedding ring that was being repaired and so I called Taylor to see if he had anytime for lunch and grocery shopping.  I haven't done that for a couple of months now.  He had about an hour and a half total between his classes and work and so we hurried. We went to Smith's and then I told him to invite all his roommates and tell them I would buy their lunch today as well.  I didn't have to twist their arms!  They all came and met us at Rumbi Grill.  

They all ordered the same thing!  Some Hawaiian burger with pineapple.  They are all such great boys!

I didn't plan on even seeing these guys today but I wore the right shirt for the occasion anyway!  #outnumbered boymom  I claim them all as my "boys".  They are a great group of guys! 

Here ↓ is the photo of them I had blown up.  

I found this photo when Facebook posted it on my memories last month. I do not even remember taking it.  How crazy that I have one of the four of them without anyone else in it!  What are the odds?  So I had it blown up and made into a 16x20 canvas print so they can hang it in their apartment.  They were so excited and said they were going to put it above their fireplace.
  
When I took Taylor home, I ran up to his apartment and they have put all of their beds in the main living room.  They put the couch in a bedroom and so they have all their beds side by side against a wall with the TV in front of them. I wish I would've taken a picture. It is hilarious!  Made me laugh.  These guys definitely have a good time.  I then ran and shopped for several birthday gifts and picked up my ring at Fred Meyer's and got charged for my metal work for the first time. I was not happy about that.  It rained all day!  

What Mr. Cat does when it pours all day.

dear harp lesson, today's lesson we spent on just two songs.  Mary Had a Little Lamb and Honeybee.  They aren't hard songs note wise, just technique wise.  Oh my.  I was near tears when I practiced Mary last night.  The technique is very difficult for me right now.  I know it will come, but it is going to take a lot of practice because you have to concentrate on at least 10-15 things at once and it's not easy!  If that wasn't painful enough, I dented my car again!  But this time I saw what I was doing, but apparently in the rear camera objects are closer than they appear and I backed into another trailer! SERIOUS!?  Yep, 'fraid so!  And I was watching carefully too.  I had parked in front of my harp teacher's mailbox and decided I better back up a bit in case the mailman came and so I carefully and slowly watched in the rearview screen and over my shoulder and SAW the trailer and it looked like I was going to be fine and then CRUNCH!  OUCH!  I haven't told Dave yet.  Not sure what I am waiting for.  UGH

dear shopping, after my harp lesson I took advantage of being down south and I did some shopping at Station Park and it didn't quit raining all day!  It was a literal downpour a few times.  I headed to Swigs in Clinton to get some cookies.  I can't even begin to tell you how much I love their sugar cookies.  I am addicted.  It's a good thing there isn't one closer to me or I would be a two ton Tilly!   

I then went to see Mona at the hospital (she had a stroke!) and took her a Swig cookie.  She was doing better than I expected and was so happy to see me as I was her. I haven't seen her for a good month because of all that has been going on with her.  It was good to see her and know she is being taken good care of.   

dear young women fireside, I attended a stake fireside on Thursday that was excellent.  The speakers were the two girls who survived when their boat capsized at Bear Lake during a huge storm last summer.  One of their older sisters also spoke who was part of the rescue effort.  I can't imagine what they went through.  They were in water temperatures in the low 50's for over three hours.

When the girls got into the ambulance their temperatures were 61 degrees. Doctors say another 5 more minutes in the water and they would have died.  Four others in the group did die due to hypothermia, including a father.  He is the brother of a good friend of ours. 

The four that didn't survive.  The wife in the top picture did survive.

They told us how when they were trying to swim to shore (for over three hours) they had no idea where the others were. They thought they were back at shore and safe. They eventually stopped swimming due to exhaustion and were just treading water and decided to stop trying. They felt very peaceful and calm at that point which they were later told happens right before you die. But then a miracle happened. Somehow there was a glimmer of light coming through that shined on them which gave them a little bit of hope to keep going.  They could see a road in the distance that was S shaped.  The said how they thought the S symbolized the Savior and inspired them to keep trying to reach the shore by focusing on the S road.  They related that to how we need to always have our main focus be on the Savior.  He will rescue us when we think we are drowning with life's trials. I really wish I had taken notes because the best part of the whole talk was about how to deal with loss and I wish I could remember the exact words they used, but it has left me.  Basically they said that we need to remember that when we lose a loved one, that they are happy where they have gone.  They are no longer on this earth that is filled with so much sorrow and hardship.  One of them felt the father that passed away telling them to not worry about him and that he was okay where he was and all was well.  They said we can choose to think about the good things in life and be happy or focus on the bad and be miserable. It was an inspiring talk and I am so grateful I was able to attend.

dear friday run, as I ran on Friday I could see snow on the tops of the mountain from yesterday's storm.  Brrr.....  However, I could also see beautiful spring blossoms in full bloom everywhere.  It made me think.... (Yikes!  I should stop doing that!  lol) ...that nature has so many life lessons if we look for them.  We can have a very cold and dreary day and determine it is a bad day due to the weather, but if we stop and really look we will find so much more good than bad.  Profound, I know.  haha  If I had more time I would expound a bit and make it sound really good.  LOL I must have had that fireside on my mind. :)

The spring blossoms are out in all their glory and the scent of them mixed in the air is the best energizer I know of.  Nothing smells better than spring!  Even on a cold and dreary day! 

dear sista lunch #2, even though I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay long because I was meeting Julie at the hospital to go visit Mona after and I knew not many were going to show up at today's lunch, I knew Dawn would be there and I would go if it were just the two of us.  She is always so dependable and if she says she is going to be there, she will be there.  It did end up being just the two of us even though Bonzo said she was coming.  Dawn brought her daughter Kimi along as well and so we had three of us.  It was fun to try a new place and it was REALLY good food! 

Check out the photo bomb!  I love photo bombers!  I love to BE a photo bomber!  :)

The place was packed and we were kind of rushed out of there due to lack of tables.  I'm glad it was a day I had to go anyway, or I would have told the peeps trying to take our table to take a hike!  lol   It was fun even though it has to be the new record for the shortest lunch in our history!  About 55 minutes! 

dear visit to mona, Julie met me at the hospital and Marilyn was just leaving when I arrived.  Mona was in good spirits and was being her usual self and had us both laughing.  The OT came in while we were there and had her do some occupational therapy.  It was good to see her and she was grateful to see us.  I took her some grapes and mandarin oranges per her request and Julie supplied the Dove chocolate to help out.  She will be in rehab for at least another 10 days or more.  But she is much better off than she could be and for that we are all grateful.

dear date night, Troy and Carol took us out to dinner at El Toro to thank Dave for all his work on helping him with his kitchen benches.  Mike and Carrie also came, but they were late and so they are not in the photo.  I took the photo to send to my brother because he loves that place and I wanted to let him know he was missing out.  I was actually hoping he was going to tell me he was on his way, but no such luck!  The food is always excellent and I seem to order the same thing each time.  Enchilada's  Mole.  I love the sauce because it is made with chocolate. Mmm.... 

After dinner we headed to Troy and Carol's house for dessert and games.  We played Rummicube.  I had never played it and it was fun.

Dave assisted in feeding Troy's fish (and the cat!) and then we ate Banana's Foster over ice cream and grilled pineapple (that had cocoa in the sauce)!  Oh, it was so good!  Troy knows how to cook!

I used to make Banana's Foster all the time, but haven't for a long time. I am going to have to start again because it is addicting! Yeah, just what I need....another addiction that's sweet!
Here's my recipe if you want to try it:

BANANA'S FOSTER FLAMBE
1 cube of real butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
 3-4 sliced bananas

Cook in skillet over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add sliced bananas.  Add a sugar cube that has been soaked in lemon juice and light it with a match.  Let it burn and then serve over ice cream. Mmm....  You can also add rum to it if you don't mind the alcohol (I have it on good authority it burns off) but it does give it a little bit of that flavor.  *I now prefer to not add the bananas to the sauce until right before serving.

dear long run, I went 13 miles with Robin on Saturday in wind gusts of at least 60 mph!  The wind was blowing us over!  Holy Hurricane!  But we pushed through and made it!  We felt buff afterwards because we held down that wind.  We only had to make one bathroom stop in 13 miles.  We were proud of ourselves!  haha  And we found another mother load of coins on the highway in Perry in the exact same spot as last time. No idea how we missed so many last time. Just goes to show you that there is a fortune out there waiting for you to find it just laying on the side of the road! 

Getting blown away by the wind!  Our mother load of coins.  Gorgeous spring flowers that don't mind the wind!

It also happened to be Robin's birthday!  This ↓ is my favorite picture of the two of us together.  I grabbed her gift and then we went to her house so I could see the new dress she got for the cruise. 

dear random, this photo was on Facebook of my Mommy's dance group.  They are so cute!  She has a lot of performances coming up this month that I hope to get to go to (at least a few!).  She is on the second row two from the left.

Our Relief Society teacher had this ↑ out on display for her lesson with the other missionaries from our ward.  Her lesson was on taking the gospel to all the world.  I love the scripture McKay chose.  It goes so well with where he is serving.  I am so proud of this boy!  He is an amazing missionary!

One of my mints was a heart!  I found some cute Piggy things for a friend who loves all things Pigs and is having a birthday next week.  I LOVE this house I drive by after my harp lessons.  WOW!  So gorgeous.  Taylor and his buds went golfing on the one day it didn't rain. 

dear quotes,

My all time favorite quote!

 It is enough....

 SO TRUE!  Cake makes me happy!

Repeat 10 times!

This should be it's own blog post!