*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 bryce moving out, it's that time of the year again when Bryce heads to Idaho Falls to work on his light park.  He is now 30% owner and most of the responsibility is going to be all him.  Hmm....   He left Monday with our Escalade so he could haul his big stuff.  He brought it back the next day and took his own truck.  Not sure when we will see him next.

 Here is an ad for this year's park...

It's always really good and worth the time and money to go.

dear birthday lunch for bonzo, I met my friends in Farr West at Bella's for Robin's birthday.  I was happy so many were able to come.  We are lucky we still have Robin with us.  She had a massive heart attack in the spring and really should not have survived. I am SO grateful she did!  I love her so much!  We have been good friends since the 4th grade and she is a hoot to be around.  She asked me to invite Renae, one of our classmates that I didn't really know very well. I was surprised she came!  We got there before the others and so we chatted and discovered we have some mutual friends because her husband owned a car dealership in my city.  Once we all arrived, we had fun dressing Robin up. There is no shortage of fun when we all get together that is for sure!  The food was really good too!

We found a great photo opp... somehow we always do!

I sure do love these ladies.  I feel extremely blessed to have them in my life.

Since it was Dress Like a Pirate Day at Krispy Kreme donuts, I suggested we all hit a party store and get some pirate gear and head to KK and get our free dozen donuts.  Everyone was on board (except Renae - she had other commitments)! We stopped at Fun Daze and got some bandanas and Kathy drew mustaches on us and off we went. I was surprised the line was clear out the door!  We were hoping it would move fast, but it took us an hour to get our donuts!  It was hot too!  Was it worth it?  Well, the free donuts were NOT worth the long wait in the heat, but the experience and being with my friends was worth it for sure! We can have just as much fun waiting in a line as we can at a party..... 

When we came out, the line was about four times as long as when we got there!  Those poor peeps were going to be in line for at least three or four hours!  Waiting that line for a free dozen donuts would NOT be worth that kind of time! Crazy what some people will do for a free dozen donuts!   hehe

dear harp, I was so excited my Christmas book came in the mail the day before my lesson!  My lesson went really well and I feel like it's really coming together.  I am still such a beginner, but I feel like I can play some songs that don't sound too bad!  lol  When my teacher plays, it never ceases to amaze me how difficult this instrument is and how much I have to learn.  But at the same time, it also excites me.  I have only been taking lessons for eight months and even in that short amount of time I am feeling pretty good about my progress.  Not as good as some, but not as bad as some either.  I love my new song The First Noel. 

 

dear mona, after my harp lesson, I had some time and so I headed over to visit Mona.  She looked great and remembered my visit last week.  I stayed longer today and it was really nice to just visit with her.  I sure love that woman. She is the most loving lady and almost childlike person who is so grateful for the gospel and the people it has brought into her life.  I truly admire her and wish I was more like her.

dear ortho, I have to admit I am getting sick of these aligners!  I hope I don't have them much longer. I've been in them for almost a year and a half.  Patience my dear, patience!

dear haircut for taylor, FINALLY he gave in!  His roomies are still going strong, but I am glad he caved!  He came home on Wednesday so I could cut it.  

He posted this on Snapchat a couple weeks ago.  The mane has been tamed!

While he was home, I made him a Sour Cream Noodle Bake to take home. I made us one as well.  It's really quite yummy. 

Here's the recipe:

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

• 1-1/4 pound ground beef
• 1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1-1/4 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1/2 cup Sliced Green Onions
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir.  To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted. Serve with crusty French bread.

 

dear visiting teaching, I have a new partner (Laura) and we were able to get out finally!  We went to visit Kim on Wednesday night.  The other two will have to be done at separate times as well because my new partner works full time.  It will be tricky to be able to get them all done each month.  The sky's got dark as we were driving home and it started to rain. I LOVE RAIN!

Handout I gave them for this month.

dear runs this week, tapering has begun but I decided I still needed to do some speedwork, so I headed to the high school.  There were a few students out there off and on and then a big class came out and so I was ready to pack it up but they only did one lap (walk) around the track and went back in.  Hmm....  Not much exercise, but whatever.  It happened again about 30 minutes later too.  I would have made them RUN around the track and not just once!  

Can you see the purple SKY in the first photo?  My Sky has been sick this week and so I took this photo to send to him.  He will not be impressed, but oh well.  lol

 I tried to do at least as well if not better than a few weeks ago when I did speedwork and set a new PR of 3:29.  But the fastest I got was 3:42.  I didn't get a photo of it.  3:48 was another time and I think 3:44.  I was a bit discouraged because I felt like I wasn't able to run as fast because that pain in my you know what has been bothering me all week!  Praying I don't have an injury that will affect the marathon.  I have not felt like I've recovered fully from the Big C half still.  That was a little brutal to my body.

 Since I was at the high school, I did my cool down in the parking lot to see if I could find any coins.  Well.....I found a few!  Nine to be exact!  57 cents! And there were cars parked everywhere. If it had been empty I am sure I would have found twice that many.  Kids! 

These are the new shoes I got last week.

dear study group, I have really enjoyed our Jesus the Christ study group. I love the insights I gain from the others in attendance.  I should take a photo one of these times so I remember who comes.  Right now, the only ones left are me, Marilyn, Anna Marie, Julie E., Cheryl, and sometimes Jennilyn.  We have some good discussions and always leave feeling uplifted and so grateful for the Savior and His atonement.  My gratitude just deepens every day for all He did for me and for every soul on this earth and in heaven.  Today we talked about the crucifixion and I am stunned at how He handled it all without any complaining.  Instead He forgave everyone who was doing it to Him.  That blows my mind!  I think of how testy I can get when I am in immense pain (thinking back to being in labor) and yet he was in the utmost pain that anyone has ever experienced and He still was loving and in control.  I am so grateful for His grace and for being willing to do what He did for me. I truly stand all amazed!

dear hailstorm!  As I was leaving Heather's house from visiting teaching on Thursday afternoon, the sky went almost black!  It looked like it was 9 pm at night!  The wind started to blow and it started to rain and by the time I got home, it was a downpour!!!  My phone alerted me to lightning within three miles of my location and then the thunder crashed loud!  It was just coming down in buckets!  It also hailed!  Crazy storm!  I LOVE STORMS!

Ogden had it much worse!  In fact there was a TORNADO in Riverdale and in Washington Terrace!  That is where I grew up!  It ripped through and tore apart some homes!  Crazy!  Glad no one was hurt!

dear stake volleyball, the storm let up a bit, but it continued to rain the rest of the day Thursday and all day Friday.  We haven't had rain for so long and it was a needed relief!  I was out in it so I could get supplies to make the sportsmanship medals for YW V-ball Thursday night.  It was a lot of fun!  The girls are all so amazing and such good sports!  It's hard to choose just one from each team for the candy bar medal.

dear new injury just in time for marathon, UGH!  Once again my body decided to become injured JUST before my big race!  This has happened with about half of the marathons I have run.  Top of Utah I had a hip/crotch injury that showed up a couple weeks before.  I ran Ogden with the flu one year (not an injury I guess, but not fun).  I had Plantar Facisitis with another Ogden one a couple weeks before. And IT band with another.  I think my body is trying to tell me that I am training one or two weeks TOO long!  I better start listening!  This time I have a bad pain in my glute that shoots pain down my leg from my hip.  It's called Piriformas Syndrome.  I have noticed it for about two months, but it was nothing I couldn't run through.  However, this week it has been really flaring up and while lying in bed I couldn't even lift my leg over to get out of bed without excruciating pain.  I am hoping the massage I had last week didn't flare it up.  I think it is because I haven't been keeping up with my leg exercises that I did every day in the beginning of the training.  I needed to keep doing them to keep my glute muscles strong!  I will know better for my Boston training!  I haven't been planking as much either.  NOT SMART!  Dave is going to try and get me into a physical therapist to see if they can help before we head to St. George.  UGH!   The weird thing about this is I was laying in bed reading Woman's Running and an article appeared talking about an injury called Piriformas Syndrome.  I read a bit and was surprised because it described mine to the tee!  I couldn't wait to tell Dave in the morning (he was already asleep and I almost woke him up!) that I knew exactly what was wrong with me!  It was almost a relief to know!  Now to figure out what to do about it!  Running a full marathon is painful enough without an added pain in the butt!  lol

dear anniversary dinner for dave's parents, we met all of Dave's siblings and their spouses (except two) for dinner at the Gray Cliff Lodge in Ogden canyon to celebrate his parent's 60th Anniversary.  We already had one party for them but we wanted to do something just for the adults.  Dave and I went there on one of our first dates as well as last year for our anniversary.  His parents have always loved it and so it was a great spot.  We had a lot of fun with each other and there was a lot of laughter.  I love Dave's family so much.  They are one of the greatest blessings of my life.  It was still pouring rain!

 I added this ↓ strange photo because you can see everyone so much better.  It happened when Linda's camera's flash went off.  My flash was off apparently on the one above.

This is what my phone said as we were leaving!  Brrr....

dear long run, I am not sure eight miles is considered a long run after running 20's, but I met Robin early on Friday (it was still dark!) and we did an eight miler.  We are in taper mode now and so eight seems like nothing! Or it should.   It didn't for me today!  My injury was really killing me.  I knew I probably should NOT even be running because the best way to get rid of it is to stop running.  Um......not gonna happen until after St. George!  At least it's the kind of injury that running won't necessarily lay me up after (I hope) but I am going to have to take some time off after the race.  I had to take it really slow and it was painful.  I fear I won't be able to run another BQ now.  I will praying hard this week and next week and take some anti-inflammatory drugs and basically not run. I will probably do some biking instead. 

 We searched the high school parking lot and look what I found! ↓ Crazy but fun!

A little OCD appearing here....

dear taylor home, Taylor and his buddy Travis came home on Saturday and went four wheeling on the mountain behind us.  They found snow and made snow angels.  I'm NOT ready for snow!  I went and got him some stuff he needed for a basket he was making with treats for a girl he is dating.  ;)

dear general women's meeting, Robin picked me up and we headed to the church for dinner before the broadcast of the women's conference meeting.  They fed us french dips and heavenly pumpkin bars from Grist Mill!  I could eat a million of those bars!   

They had all the humanitarian projects the stake has been doing all year on display.  We had three missionary quilts up there.  The photos I took last Sunday were on display.  No slide show, just on display on the tables.

We then went into the chapel for the meeting.  The media guys accidentally had it set to sign language.  We "got" to watch it broadcast in sign language for quite a while and it was very distracting!  I tried to look at my notes and keep my head down so I could concentrate, but it was hard not to watch!  However, it was rather entertaining.  One talk, it was downright hilarious!  Not to be disrespectful at all, but the lady doing the signing was SO expressive and when the speaker was telling a story about a canoe and a windstorm, giggles began to erupt in the chapel!  It. Was. So. Funny.   Dave was up on the stand and I wish I had a photo of him. He had his hand over his face trying to hide the fact that he was losing it!  His counselors were also losing it. I have NO idea what the speaker said because I was trying so hard not to pee my pants!  The media guys were trying to fix it, but we had quite the fun before they did.  If you want a laugh, even if you don't, go to this link and watch just a portion of the talk. You can open the link HERE. You may have to wait a few seconds for the video to appear and load, but trust me, it is worth the wait!  The best part begins about 3:38 into it.  Skip to that part first and then if you desire you can watch the rest of it, but that is when everyone started to lose it!   In case the link doesn't work, here is the URL:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2016/10?lang=eng&clang=ase&cid=3&vid=5139816691001

Here are a few screenshots of it:

dear day of rest, this week Sunday actually did feel like a restful day!  I felt like I was in heaven because I didn't have to do one thing with any of my callings. Unlike last week when I had something with all four!  Sacrament meeting was incredible (great talks on forgiveness) and I got to attend Sunday School and Relief Society without an assignment.  I was a bit late for RS because I was talking to my friend about something she felt she wanted to talk to me about. I came home and we had a simple lunch of BLT's with T's fresh from the garden. It was just Dave and I. I took a nap and watched part of the Berlin Marathon.  The home teachers came and then I wrote to McKay and caught up on my blog and it was a very nice relaxing Sunday!  I was going to make a pumpkin roll for Dave's parents and some treats for the new families in the ward, but ran out of time (aka too lazy today!).  Hopefully tomorrow that will happen.

dear manic manikin, things are starting to get spooky!

dear deer, oh dear, look how cute they are!  This guy was right at my window.

dear mr. cat, I took a lot of shots of him this week because he was in quite a bit due to the rain.  How can you not love this creature?

dear flashbacks, okay this isn't much of a flashback (only a few weeks ago) but it's worthy of posting.  This is what these two looked like after our dusty four wheel ride at the cabin!  Scott took them and told Bryce he now knows what he will look like when he's old.  haha

 These popped up on my Facebook memories.  I am posting a few because most of these were when I was on hiatus from blogging and I never posted them.

 With Jen at White Rock in Willard. 

First marathon. THis was six years ago!  

 Oh man, I remember how scared I was that morning!
And there are my pet frogs on the counter!  I can't believe we had pet frogs! They were named Dumb and Dumber.

This is me in 3rd grade!  My teacher was Mrs. Rice. I loved her. Check out my knee high socks!  Actually knee HIGHER socks!  I'm on the front row - far left.  I was new to the school and I wore them like that and soon everyone started to.  Way funny!  This was at Club Heights.  It just closed down this year.  So sad.

 
 The following are from when the Brigham City temple opened.  I am adding them because I didn't blog about them at the time.  These also popped up on Facebook. This happened four years ago.

I should really do a full post on this but this will have to suffice.  And I need to do one of the cultural celebration as well. 

 Dave and I got to be guides at the open house.  I even got to be a tour guide on the bus.  That was a lot of fun!

With boys and Mona, Dave and I with Matt and Sally (we have been friends since college), with some sisters from my ward, tour bus, with Mona.

These guys were the very first couple sealed in the temple and we got to be a part of it because they invited us. They are patients of Dave's.  Sadly, the woman in the wheelchair passed away from cancer shortly after.

Taylor's purple house he sent me a picture of from Brazil!

dear quotes, this was from a quiz on FB, but it's a good quote.