*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 run, it was a very pretty run today.  Colder than ice, but I survived.  I love how deep the snow is!

dear new year's day observed, Dave had to work even though most of the rest of the country was off.  Not sure why, but he did. He has been swamped.   

Carson came down wearing this shirt.  So true!  At least THIS lady!  Sure do love this little guy!

 Sarah's favorite food is lasagna.  We are soul mates on that!  Mine too!  I made a lasagna dinner and invited my mom and dad so they could come and visit before Sky and company leaves to go home.  We had a lot of fun.  We had to eat without Dave because he ended up being way late.  Sky made some wooden lips for Sarah's show's she is doing in California for LipSense.  They turned out cute!

After my parents left, we all headed over to Troy and Carols to play darts.  I tried making brownies in my mini gingerbread house pans.  They were not exactly a success.  I didn't think they were getting done and so I overcooked them.  I took them anyway and everyone still ate them.  Darts was a lot of fun.  Sarah won the first game!  I was impressed.

dear run, I went to the high school to do speedwork on the track, but they still haven't plowed it.  Last year, they kept one lane plowed all the time.  Oh well.  Instead, I ran around the high school and vicinity.  While I was running there was a man was outside in his driveway walking to his car and he yelled something at me.  I took out my headphones and asked him what he said.  He said, "I just want to tell you how much I admire you!  I see you out here all the time and your dedication is inspiring!"  That made my day.  Maybe his one word is UPLIFT too!  :)  He definitely did that!

I wanted to get a real great shot of a winter tree and so I laid down underneath the same one I got a great shot of this fall, but today I had to lay in the snow to get one.  There was a lady nearby kind of watching me and I am sure she thought I was one crazy runner who just stopped mid-run to make a snow angel.  I didn't actually make a snow angel, but I did get pretty wet!  It was worth it though.

dear tuesday, I actually practiced harp for the first time in weeks! It has been a little bit busy!  Sky took Sarah and Carson four wheeling in the snow.  I had a bit of time and so I tried to catch up my blog a bit.  I am behind....a  lot!  I wrote my ONE WORD post.  You can find that here.

I chose the word UPLIFT for this year.  More about that on my post.

Sarah did my eyebrows and makeup.  It was fun to have someone else do it.  The eyebrows were a bit too dark, but it was still fun.

 Selfies with Carson and my makeup.

I was supposed to go to a sleepover at Carla's tonight.  I was struggling to know if I should go or not.  I knew I would feel very guilty if I went while my company was still here.  I love my friends and I truly needed a fun night with them, but family comes first and I really hated to leave them.  I just didn't feel like it would be right and so I chose to stay home.  Family time is so precious - especially with Skyler - and I treasure every minute.  I remember a speaker once saying that when you say yes to something, you always have to say no to something else.  I wasn't willing to say no to family time because it is so rare.

dear harp lesson, we got pounded with snow on Wednesday. I almost didn't go to my harp lesson, but I thought I would at least try and if the roads were bad, then I would turn back.  I drove the Escalade just to be safe. They were terrible in town, but once I got on the freeway, it was much better and when I got into Ogden the roads were basically dry.  I hadn't practiced much but she focused on the new recital pieces and I did a lot of sight reading for those.  It's a group recital in the spring (yay, no solo!), and so I won't be too stressed.  After my lesson, I had to get things for my refreshment table tomorrow in Homemakers and so I went to Dilly Dally's in Roy (love that dollar store!) but while in there my harp teacher called and told me she put her music book with mine and I must have taken it.  Sure enough.  We met halfway at Tai Pans so I could return it to her and since I was there, I decided to go in and check it out to see if I could find something cute for the table decorations.   I definitely did!   

I bought a jar similar to the one above and the lighting and some snowflake ribbon. Best part was I got it all on sale.  It's going to be cute once I get it made! Sky and Sarah were heading to Midway to snorkel at the Crater and so I hurried back so I could tend Carson. I was worried about them on the roads because it started to really snow and didn't stop!  It just kept coming down!  They made it there and back okay.  Whew!  I had fun with Carson.  Taylor and him played so cute together.  He is so much fun to have around.  I have loved every minute of it!  We watched Cruella (101 Dalmatians) AGAIN (ha) and snuggled in my chair with my heated blanket. He loves to do that.  Me too! 

dear snow day!!!  We haven't had a snow day in our city in years and years!  AND years!  BUT....today we got one!  I was so excited and I don't even have kids in school!

 I'm not sure how excited the deer are because it's harder for them to find food, but they do hang out in our backyard a lot more when there's a lot of snow.  Sarah loved seeing them.

 Oh my goodness, there was so much snow that it had to be shoveled constantly all day long!

This was taken at our town's little airport. 

 Taken from inside my house.

Mr. Cat is NOT a fan of the cold OR snow.  He has been inside for almost two weeks now.  I think he has gone out twice!  When I open the door, he recoils back and pulls a face and runs fast away from the blast of arctic air!

My Homemaker's meeting was also cancelled.  Glad I hadn't already made the refreshments! Dave ran to Ogden to get tires put on the Lexus but it took longer than planned and so I had to drive down and take him the Escalade and then wait for the car to get done so he could get back to work.  Sky also drove his car down and had tires put on his as well. I was in Costco for quite a while witting for them to finish.  On my home, I had to go help at the Soup Kitchen, but I was only there for 30 minutes because people were not showing up due to the storm.  

dear arctic air!  We have been in the sub zero temps all week!  This morning we were at -9 and then it went to -15!  One of my friends posted it was -21 on her weather app!  Brrrrr!!!  It sure makes me have sympathy for McKay! 

 I chose to NOT run the past couple of days, but I have been doing Pilates instead.  Carson has joined me.  It's so cute!  haha

 Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.................

The cold temps haven't stopped these guys from playing outside in it every day though!  They have been sledding, building snowmen, ice fishing, and even snorkeling!  CRAY CRAY!

Ice fishing at Mantua Reservoir!  Sorry, but that is just crazy!  Especially when you're used to Cali temps! 

 They did build one cute snowman though!  They said he is Olaf's cousin.

dear snowed in, Sky and Sarah were going to head home on Wednesday, but they got snowed in and so they were going to go on Friday, but once again it snowed and they didn't want to travel in the stuff.  I don't blame them. I'm happy the weather keeps keeping them here longer!  Their plan is to leave on Sunday...but that might not happen either because we are predicted to get more!  

dear friday, I had a hair appointment and I am really loving how she did the highlights this time. I honestly can't remember what else we did today, other than Carson wanted a bath and so I was watching him and I went to pull the plug and my phone dropped in the tub and went for a short swim.  I grabbed it out immediately and got it in rice where it sat for a few days!  UGH!  SERIOUS!  I can't believe I did that!  I just spent $200 on it in the past two months and now this!  GROAN!  Sky is right, I DO need it wired around my neck! Just sooooo frustrating!  So I am now phone-less for a while!

dear bryce home! Bryce showed up on Friday night!  It was so good to see him!

dear indoor melting snowman, Carson and I decided to build a snowman INSIDE!  I have a fun recipe made with baking soda, salt, and dish soap for the snowman and then you pour vinegar over it.  Carson had fun doing it, but I think I had more fun!  hah

 BEFORE and AFTER!

 SNOW much fun!

Here is the recipe:

Magic Foaming Snowman you'll need the following: 

2 cups Baking Soda 

2 Tbl salt 

1 tsp Dawn dishwashing soap 

8 Tbl water 

Vinegar 

Waterproof accessories 

 In a bowl or other container, measure out two cups of baking soda and add 2 Tablespoons of salt. Mix thoroughly (little hands are very good at this). Add 1 tsp soap and mix it into the dough well. The dough should look crumbly. Next add 8 Tablespoons of water. If your dough will form a ball, you're all set. If it's still too dry and crumbly add water 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a dough that molds into a ball. It will not feel like playdough - it's more smooshy and crumbly than that, but it should form into and hold a ball. 

Make and decorate your snowman. Put him in a pan with edges (9x13 cake pan works great). When you're ready to transform him into a mound of icy cold foam, add your vinegar! It works best (i.e. creates the most foam) if you add a lot of vinegar at once. A squeezy bottle works best (Walmart sells them).... but if you don't have one of those, pouring a cup filled with vinegar on him will also create a foamy explosion! 

SNOW MUCH FUN!!!!! 

*For his eyes, nose, etc....anything waterproof will work fabulously. I used that clay that hardens to make his eyes, buttons, and nose, but you could use the colored foam to do it as well (and faster). I also cut pieces to make a little top hat out of black foam and hot glued them together. I grabbed two skinny little twigs from outside for his arms. 

 HAVE FUN!!!!

dear dave's birthday, coincidentally Dave and Sarah share a birthday!  It was too cold to run and I ended up working on My Social Books during the morning and so I didn't even do Pilates.  Oh well.  Dave was off.  We had to go to a temple wedding for the son of some friends of ours and it was COLD!  Sky had plans to make Sarah a really yummy chocolate cake but there never ended up being enough time.  We decided to go to dinner in Logan because Taylor was there for a Pre-med conference and had an hour break.  We met him at Kabuki.  It is a Japanese restaurant kind of like Tempanyaki's.  Sarah always goes out to dinner at Tempanyaki's on her birthday and so we thought it was a pretty close match.  On the way we saw a horrible accident in Sardine canyon that had just happened.  We drove past one car that had a tarp over it and we later learned it was a fatality and the person was still in the car.  It was a 46 year old woman that died.  We almost turned back because Sardine is not the safest place in the winter.

 A few of us at Kabuki's

 All of us!

 They sang Happy Birthday to Dave and Sarah!

 It was a lot of fun!  But Logan was SO cold!  The roads were starting to get bad on the way home.

 As soon as we got home, Dave and I ran to Brandon Lindsey's reception and Carson wanted to go with us.  The roads were really getting bad, but the reception was packed.  Utahan's are not afraid of driving in the snow that's for sure!  We then grabbed a cake at Kent's for Sarah. 

 We sang Happy Birthday and ate some yummy cake!!

Sarah loves Little Mermaid.

Random shots

dear mr. cat, once again he proves his love for men that are not "cat people".  Sky doesn't mind him, but he has never been a fan of cats.  I think he actually likes Mr. Cat because seriously WHO couldn't love that thing?

I found this picture of him as a baby!  Isn't he so cute??

dear sunday, Sky had planned on going home on Sunday but for the third time, they got "snowed in" as far as the roads go.  They were not really good for traveling.  I can't say I am sad about it!  The longer they stay the better for me!  We got hit hard on Sunday!  The accumulation keeps growing!

Mr. Turkey, the one high tailing it down my driveway came up to our front door and just stood there!

I had so much fun with Carson.  It is sad knowing it's his last day!  Maybe it will snow hard again and they will have to stay another day!

We tried out our nut roaster.  They turned out pretty good, but it would have been better if I had used more flavoring.

Carson had fun making pillow tents with pretty much every pillow in the house.  After we cleaned them up we discovered we lost one.  Come to find out they ended up packing it and taking it back to California!  hah

 It was a fun time having them stay with us.  Here are a few random photos I found.

dear random, I got a few of My Social Books done this week.  I want to be all caught up because they have a 40% off coupon going right now.  Fastest way to scrapbook, journal, AND do a life history all in one!  And it only takes 10 minutes if you don't tweak it much.  It took me an hour because I was adding and deleting photos and posts.

A few things from Facebook.  These apparently are my best photos from the past three years: (YIKES! I'm in trouble if that is the case!)

 My December profile picture.

 YEP! I DO have a sweet tooth!
As this confirms: ↓

I want to learn how to write like this.  It's the new calligraphy.

Flashback of our all time fave Christmas card: