*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 lunch with robin, I met Robin for lunch at El Toro to discuss our experiences with the marathon since we didn't have time after.  She struggled at mile 20 as well and had a great buddy she met at mile 16 to help her get to the finish line.  It was therapeutic for us both to share our own personal stories of the race.  It's so nice to talk to someone about it who "gets it".  The best part was my favorite Mole Enchiladas were the special of the day!

We had on almost twinner shirts and pants, but we didn't get a good picture!

dear on call, Dave was on call once again this week.  Since the changes at the clinic he is on call much more than he used to be.  That means I spend lots of time alone at night.  I am glad I enjoy being alone.  I know not everyone does, but I absolutely love it!  

dear harp, some days, I really really want to practice!  I can assure you that never happened when I was taking piano lessons growing up.  hah I am loving my recital piece The First Noel.  I love how it sounds, but I am also surprised how much my teacher finds to teach me in such a short song.  I hope I can get it mastered by recital time.

dear super tuesday, I ran over to the church to make my Halloween chair for our RS night.  I went early and I am glad I did because it took a while to make.  We had hot soup for dinner and it was soooooo good. I love soup when it starts to get a chill in the air.  I used a garbage bag for a paint cover up.  Good thing too, because that garbage bag had quite a bit of paint on it!

dear mr. cat's 5th birthday! Mr. Cat turned FIVE on October 4th.  We aren't sure of his exact date of birth since he was a rescue, but we estimated it and Dave's dad suggested 10-4 since would be easy to remember.  So that is when we celebrate it.  He isn't much of a party animal, and getting this photo was NOT an easy feat!  As you can see in the photos below! 

My attempts at getting ONE good shot!

Some past birthdays....look at cute Kilo!  I miss him so!

Some cute shots of Mr. Cat through the years...

Recent shots

 Love this chut chut chilly chat!

dear ami board mtg., we had our state board meeting at Maddox.  We just met in the regular dining room since only four of us could make it.  That is the smallest board meeting I have ever been to!  The freeway was shut down heading north and so several that were on their way were unable to get there, so we conference-called in some of the southerners.  Just me, Diane, Lori, and Jan were there. We conferenced in Deann (next year's President) and some of the other women that were driving down but got stuck.

I was assigned the thought and so I made up a little handout with some gummy frogs.
It was a cute story talking about the value of giving encouraging words.  I also shared my experience at the St. George Marathon when I went up to say hi to a person I thought looked like my friend who was also running it and how she yelled, "Ow!" when I touched her elbow (BARELY touched it!  It couldn't have hurt!) and then I apologized and she yelled, "I don't even know you!" and how that affected my moral.  I told them that one negative encounter affected me more negatively than when I ran past a crowd of 50 spectators cheering me on affected me positively.  It is true!  It takes a lot of positive to counteract one negative.  We talked about that and how it relates to so many things in life besides motherhood.  Now to remember it!

 We talked about the mini conference coming up in November.  It has changed from the old ways of doing it.  Diane's committee said they were too burned out to keep doing it the way it has been the past 25 years.  I am sad to see it go, but if we can get more moms out then it will be okay.  Here is the flyer for this years:

It was kind of nice to have such a small gathering.  We had more time to visit and talk about how we really felt about upcoming things.

dear new move ins, our ward has had SO many new families move in!  It seems like they announce someone (or three!) every week!  It's been hard to keep up with them all.  I try and take a goody to each of them, but I fear I have fell behind and missed a few.  I made some caramel corn for some this week.  Taylor loves caramel corn, it's one of his most requested treats and I almost felt guilty making it with him not being home!  If I had time, I would have ran some up to Logan for him and his roomies!

dear homemaker's witch day,

I was SO excited for Homemakers this week because we were having a speaker talk about, "Which Witch Are You?"  We were encouraged to dress up like a witch.  I LOVE to dress up and being in a room full of other witches sounded so fun!  However, I didn't want to go all out and have everyone else just wear a witches hat.  I asked a few friends what they were doing and they sounded like they were going all out and so I decided to as well, other than I didn't wear my wig.  Those things itch and I figured I would be good without it!  When I got there, I was so glad I didn't wear it. I already felt a bit over dressed!  hah  Lynda and Karen came later and they did go all out.  I wish I would have got a photo of everyone.  I only got this one of those of us in the contest for the best dressed witch.

 Some bewitching witches!

 I'm a little bit purplish!  I wish my shoes were showing better because they were seriously purple and bewitching!

The speaker did a great job talking about which witch we wanted to be.  A good witch, a nice witch, etc.  She talked about how she had cancer and how it forced her to make some serious changes in her life. It was very good.

 Karen announced they had some pears for a killer price because a pallet tipped over in one of their trucks that was on it's way to Costco.  Me and Lynda went to their shop and got some.  I wish I would have taken Lynda's picture because she still had on her witch costume when we picked them up.  She was so funny.  The pears are amazing!

dear stake yw vball, when I walked into the gym to set up for volleyball, I found THIS on the floor!  WHAAAAAAT? 

No big deal unless you know that CLOWNS have been in the news all week because some people were dressing up like them and threatening to assault people.  It's been so bad that Halloween stores have pulled all things clown related from their shelves!  So when I saw this, I was a bit spooked!  Not really, I was actually dying laughing because I think the media has blown it so far out of proportion!  Apparently, there has only been one incident and the rest all hype and kids being dumb.

 We had some fun with the wig!  I hid it in the back of the stage on the ladder so as not to freak out any of the girls!  lol 

These two are posing with the medals I made this week.  They ended up being head bands instead of medals because I cut the ribbon too short!  haha!   Oh well!  It was good for a laugh or two!

dear cinnamon rolls, I got up early on Friday (I felt like a real baker) to make cinnamon rolls for the Hollingsworths.  When we took dinner into them, I felt bad that I didn't take them more cinnamon rolls because they weren't all raised and baked in time and so I decided to take them more today.  They were so good!

When they were done, I headed over to deliver them and to take Baby Benson a gift.  I found the cutest outfit with the cutest shoes! Look at those cute jeans?  They make me smile!

I held him for about an hour while I visited with Kathryn (and Mont!).  It was so fun to get to hold a sweet precious spirit straight from heaven.  After watching her, I am glad I am no longer in that very busy and crazy stage of motherhood, though I do have to say I miss it at times too.


dear er visit for phone, my phone decided to stop working on Friday.  I couldn't get my passcode to work on the top line and so I couldn't get into it.  That was fun when I would receive a text but couldn't open it or respond.  I decided this was time for a trip to the ER.  Apple ER!  My repair guy (Zach) at Rapid Repair told me if I brought it down he could give me a temp screen until he could fix it.  Luckily, I was free and could drive it down to Ogden.  He was so nice and was able to fix it right there!  What a relief! I was worried I would have to drive to the Apple store in Farmington.  It's so nice to know people who can do things!  He only charged me $59 for a brand new screen too.  I seriously wonder how we ever lived without our cell phones! I am actually VERY grateful I didn't have one when my boys were all little. I think they are too big of a distraction.  For moms AND the little kids.  I see two year olds that can operate them!  haha  I didn't need any more distractions as a young mom!  On the other hand when I think of all the time I spent on the phone figuring things out that can now be done with a text or email, I guess it would have been nice!

 

dear mom and dad, since I was in Ogden for my phone's ER visit, I stopped in to visit with my parents.  They didn't have plans and so it was nice to just be able to talk.  We discussed the marathon and how it all went.  It was dark by the time I left, but Dave was on call so I wasn't feeling rushed.  However, Bryce had come home for the weekend and so I did want to get home to spend some time with him.

dear bryce home, it is always so nice to have him home.  He was here to build a bunch of signs for the sponsors.  We didn't see much of him, but it was fun to have him around.  He is such a great kid and seriously one of the hardest workers I know.  He mowed our lawn as well as Dave's dads and the apartments. When I got home he had emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen.  He just does so many things without being asked and it's so nice.  He is such an awesome kid.

dear family halloween party, in between preparing my Sunday School lesson and practicing the piano for RS tomorrow, I made cupcakes and got the costumes ready for the family party on Saturday.  Dave made Autumn soup (it should be called throw everything in it soup) and it was so good.  I felt bad Taylor and Bryce were unable to make it this year.  I dressed us up like a deer and a hunter.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Oh deer!  And all these years I thought he was Fawn-d of me!

 I took mini cupcakes. Mmmm....... I a pretty sure I gained two pounds just from sampling these. I have the biggest sweet tooth lately! ugh!  I am always much hungrier the week after a marathon and that doesn't help!

 There were a lot of food treats!  And just as many soups!  It was fun!

Some of us deer attendees! ↓ That is my darling niece Aubrey in the Jasmine costume.  She wears that to work.  She works for a company that does Princess parties. Isn't she adorable!  We had a good discussion about her love life.  It was a fun night.  Karen's girls are like the girls I never had.  I just love them.

The Fam!  At least those that could make it.

 There were some fun costumes this year.

Snap, Crackle, and Pop!  And a bowl and some Rice Krispies!  haha

dear sunday, it was a busy day at church for me since I had to teach and play the piano in RS, but I also had to attend a special meeting for teachers during RS and so trying to play the piano and prelude and closing song, was a bit of a juggle.  I felt good about my piano this week though.  And as always I love teaching my SS kids.  They are just such amazing kids.  Taylor was home when we got home.  Bryce was still here and so we had a great family dinner.  It was yummy too!  Dave grew some amazing honeydew this year.  It's always so good to have the boys home!   I got the missionary newsletter done and McKay's email and then just visited with the boys.  It was a nice day.

  
A few quotes from my Sunday School lesson...

dear behind on everything, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. I feel like I can't keep on top of things!  And now panic is starting to set in because Christmas is on it's way!  I am already not keeping up, not sure how I will add that to the mix and stay afloat!  Sigh......

 
dear manic manikin, I love the cats sitting in the window in this one! 

dear injury, someone posted this on Facebook and called it "The House of Pain".  haha  They are myofascial tools used to help with runner's injuries.  OUCH! 
The things we runners torture ourselves with!  Even the foam roller is painful and it looks the less threatening.  My injury has been pretty good this week unless I run.  It has been flaring up more each day though.  Hmmm......  But I fear a few of these are going to be coming into play here soon.

I found these running shots from a month or so ago when it was still really warm.  I am missing the warm temps in the mornings, but I think they are done and gone!

Someone really sweet left this heart shaped rock on my porch!  I love it!

dear flash back, this popped up on my Facebook memories and I had to share because the colors are spectacular. I haven't really seen any colorful fall scenery yet this year because I haven't driven to Logan or ran the canyon or trails.

 Wow, this takes me back!  About 14 years back to be exact!  This was at our RS meeting this week with a bunch of other photos free for the taking.  I had to grab this one because we had SO much fun as a presidency!  Man, that was a long time ago!

dear mckay, YAY!  He sent some photos!  Gorgeous photos!  Russia is beautiful!  PICTURE OVERLOAD! 

 Xpam

The purple kitchen photo was sent just for me!

Such a cutie! I miss this boy!!!

 They made these dice and came up with a game for investigators.

 Oh my baby is looking so grown up!

I added these last two collages for good laughs because he sent SO many photos of the scenery that basically could be from Utah.  It makes me laugh that he takes SO many shots of the exact same thing.   Dave's mission photos has a huge collection of moon shots.  I guess everyone likes something different.  lol