Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Christmas Newsletter 2019 (Didn't Happen!)


The Christmas Newsletter for 2019 does not exist at this time!

The summary of our year will be in my 2020 blog book as it wasn't sent until April!
Yeah, one of "those" years!

Monday, December 30, 2019

*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

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I hit the gym early and there wasn't too many peeps there. Randy asked me how I was doing. I told him okay but feel like I should be doing better because I'm still not running much.  He asked me if I have ever tried the elliptical. I actually haven't but he thought it might be a good idea for me. I tried it and holy, it was hard!  I endured 10 min on level one and I was done. It was tough. I finished up on the treadmill and that made me like the treadmill more. Hah  I chatted with Cindy for a bit and then headed out. I ran to Walmart right after and had a hard time finding a parking place even that early. Luckily, checking out wasn't too bad. I came home and spent the day wrapping and organizing and checking my list twice.  I ran some errands looking for some last minute stuff mainly for the needy family. I hit Hallmark and felt so bad because when I got home I guess my parents had just left minutes before I got back and they had been at my house for two hours. I didn't know because I had lost my phone before I left and so didn't have one with me. I called them and they came back which was good because I had been trying to find a gift for Liam from them and found one at Hallmark but she needed my coupon. I ended up not getting that but Sarah found a Grinch in Perry and she got it for them. They told me Carson put on a concert for them too. I missed out. They said Jerry's dog Max needs surgery. Felt bad. 

Carson was awarded the Super Stang award and he was so proud. It was so dang cute!  They announced it over the intercom and he got a special prize. He deserved it!
He is totally responsible for the needy family we helped. He is the one that became aware of the problem and told his mom. 

 This is his Christmas letter to Santa:
 Olaf Slushee
Make your own Forkee
Chemistry  lab
Plum Panda
Spiderman playset
A little house
An art kit

Elfis took off today...
See ya next year!
I think Elfis left part of Santa's team here....
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Manic Mannequin is back!  
I just realized I have been spelling mannequin wrong all this time!  My labels are: Manic Manikan, Manican, Manikin.
YIKES!

And how did I not even realize that! I am kind of a Nazi speller and so it's kind of embarrassing I didn't know. I do remember doing a spell check but I just went with the first one that came up and it's not even THIS kind of mannequin.  LOL
I can't fix the tags either. But I guess I can delete them and just go with the correct way to spell it. Hah

dear tuesday
, Merry Christmas Eve! I got up early and turned the lights on and had Alexa play O Holy Night while I sat there in the stillness of the dark feeling the peace and calm (before the storm! Hah).  Today was a busy day. Cmas Eve always is. What day isn't anymore? First thing this morning Carson wanted me to open his present.  Sky said I had to wait. I told him I would tonight.  He couldn't wait. It was so cute. Taylor and McKay ventured to Walmart this morning. Crazy. I really did not want to go there. I did end up going to Kent's though. I ran into Tracy and Audrey and a couple other crazies there. I never want to shop on Cmas eve and I try hard not to but it wasn't too bad. Wallies would have been though. I worked on Cmas stuff and Dave was preparing a feast. Literally a feast. He has never gone all out like he did tonight. 
The doorbell kept ringing all day. Bro Packer dropped off an amazing gift. Jill did the Proclamation to the Family and The Living Christ in her own calligraphy by hand. It is incredible and he gave us a copy of each. Wow!  Such talent. I am stunned at the talent of those two. They are beautiful. And they are so generous to give us a copy. 

The boys and Sarah were busy wrapping stuff for the Secret Santa. It was so fun having everyone here and busily working together. They were all having fun too and making me laugh as I listened to their conversation. 

I am excited to deliver tonight!  Still not sure how I am doing Cmas this year because I am not sure what time Bryce and Haylie will arrive. I think traditions will have to change as the boys move away. I think I will wrap everything. Still not sure. I cleaned the house as much as I could and then my parents arrived. We visited and then ate the feast. Dave made prime rib, steak, lobster,crab legs, shrimp (cold and deep fried), ribs, onion rings, green bean casserole, baked potatoes, rolls, and salad. I prob forgot something. I could not believe it. It was so good. We enjoyed the meal and sat around talking for a bit. 
Most of the pix didn't work. We had a hard time getting just one with everyone smiling or looking or with eyes opened. I added the silly out takes.
We did the birthday party for Jesus. We had an apple pie for the cake this year. I didn't have time to make a cake and Kent's wanted like $15 for a single layer. Everyone wrote their gift to Jesus and we talked about the scripture, "If ye have done it unto the least of one of these my brethren ye have done it unto me." ...and how Carson is the reason the needy family will have a nice Christmas this year and by helping them we are helping Jesus. We put one of the papers in my purple gift box and the others in a bag for Grammy and Grampy to deliver to the baby Jesus in the manger. It turned out nice. No one really wanted pie because they were all stuffed from the dinner. Grammy and Grampy stayed for some photos and then they left to deliver.  I also added a few out takes from these. I am the only one that will enjoy them so scroll on through.
We then opened the Christmas Eve gifts (jammies). Carson was soooooo excited to give me his. I opened it and he had the biggest smile on his face. It was a ring!  A purple ring!  It is SO pretty!  He picked it out and insisted on paying for it with his own money. He was beaming when I opened it. Oh, how I love that kid!!!  He is the sweetest most precious soul. Truly. Sky said he got the idea when they did the scavenger hunt for Sarah's engagement ring and Sky said he explained to him that when you love someone you give them a ring. Ever since then he couldn't wait to give me a ring. So cute. Sky joked and asked him if he was going to get down on a knee when he gave it to me. He just embarrassingly grinned.  How I love that boy!  
Everyone opened their jammies. We took photos and it was so nice of them to still do that!

Then Santa showed up!  HO HO HO!  

 Santa I think you left part of your team here....
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We loaded up his truck and the Escalade and headed to deliver them to the needy family. Everyone came!  It was so fun. There were no lights on. We all hid and Santa knocked and finally the door opened. It was the mom. Santa asked if he could see the kids but she said they were in bed and she told them if they didn't go to sleep she was taking down the tree. Hmm.... So he didn't get to surprise them. Kinda sad but he left all the gifts and she was emotional and kept saying she didn't know who was doing this. He told her that is was people that cared about them and loved them.  I forgot to add that through Sarah's FB post someone donated a Christmas Jar with $150 in it as well.  People are so great!  If there is a need people just come out in droves to help. It was so sweet to witness it all. He carried in the Frozen Castle but she turned off the lights first. He then left and we ran out and asked him what she said that we couldn't hear. A neighbor lady waved at us and said she wished it was her. She was cute.  It felt so good but we felt bad the kids missed Santa. But I'm sure there is a reason it worked out how it did. Now, it feels like Christmas

I was up until 1 a.m. doing Christmas. I was so tired.
Yeah, this ↓ was how I was feeling too...

But so grateful it was this year and not last year. How did I survive last year? No idea. I have so much to be grateful for this year. So much. 


dear wednesday
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 
 Wow, it's already here!  It snowed lightly this morning and was so pretty. 
 I was up early and finished the last touches.
 Missing Tyson as always....
 Mr. Cat was ready for the action to begin.  Or not.

I kept waiting for everyone to come up and found out later they were waiting for us to tell them to come up.... or down. LOL  
 The anticipation...
....is finally over!

We got started and then Bryce and Haylie arrived. I felt bad we didn't wait just another 15 minutes for them.  It looked like Santa dropped his entire sleigh here. I wasn't going to go overboard this year, but somehow I did....again.  I think I will wrap EVERYTHING next year because it will mean more and take longer. Hah   It still took a while but it was fun. 
Sky posing as the guy on the Guess Who game.  The Darth Maul Carson made for Taylor. Skyler got NOTHING for Christmas from Sarah because that is what he said whenever we asked him what he wanted. LOL
Panda-ed out!
 My parents arrived before we were quite done. It was chaos when they arrived. They liked the big family picture I got them. 
Hopefully everyone liked what they got. If not, I give up. It was a lot of work. No one can quite appreciate it because no one here has ever tried to pull it off. They think it just happens effortlessly, kind of like when they were little I would say their socks and underwear just washed and dried themselves and magically appeared in their drawers. Hah  Kind of like that. They have no clue. It is not an easy feat to pull off that is for sure. Like I said, I need to simplify, but instead of buying for less peeps, I buy for more because our family is growing. The littles are easy but the adults are tough at times. Anywho, I made our traditional orange rolls and Dave made biscuits and gravy and golden buck. I think everyone was starving. And.....drumroll........I got a new phone!  An 11!  It's purple! And has a good camera! I am so excited!  I needed one bad, but was going to wait until they came down in price because they aren't cheap! 
Image result for iphone 11 purple"

Sky and Sarah gave us tickets to the broadway Frozen that will be here in April. That will be so fun!  
I gave Dave tickets to Celine Deon and he was pretty excited. They are nosebleeds but were still so expensive!  She will be so good. That is in March. The boys knew what they were getting for the most part, but I still had a few surprises. They mostly got what they needed this year. Not too many just fun things. But that's still fun. Bryce and my parents headed out and I showered and was SO SO SO tired. I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night and the night before. I laid down to take a nap but Dave burst in the room and then worked on my broken faucet for an hour or more and so I didn't get any sleep, but I still laid there because I could not not. I have never taken a nap on Christmas Day in my life. But today I needed to rest if I was going to get through the day. 
We didn't rush to get to Wilding's like in year's past because no one shows up anymore until later. It was kind of nice other than when we did arrive Barry teased us for being so late. hah  Just the Toone's and Brian and Becki were there. We had fun and then ate and opened gifts. 
 This little one has my heart.  I am her great aunt. Isn't she a doll?  Her name is Mya.
Linda and Lynn gave us a date night basket consisting of axe throwing and Cold Stone as well as a movie (Fighting Preacher) and treats. It will be fun. I think events and things to do are the best gifts for this stage in my life where I don't really need anymore gadgets, decors, or appliances. lol  We already gave Kevin and Tori our gift on Sunday. I made them placemats with a ton of their photos I stole off IG and some magnets of them and then Utahopoly. I hope they liked it.  We gave Dave's parents the concert and dinner and then dinner every Thursday night. I also gave them the calendar but never heard much about it once she opened it. I am not sure what she did with it. I should probably check on that.  Hmm....  Too much work to be thrown away. LOL  We needed to play a game and so I suggested the Bowl Game. We played it and it was a riot. Each person writes two truths about themselves that no one else knows and then it gets read and everyone tries to guess who it is and after everyone had guessed, the person raises their hand. It was interesting to say the least!  Barry made it hilarious.  
I put in that I have a tattoo. No one guessed me with the exception of Dave totally ruining it. But everyone was stunned when I raised my hand until I explained that you have to have them when you get radiation. I actually have three. Some of the things people put were hilarious. Barry asked to be excommunicated when he was 12 because he didn't understand some things and he told it so funny.  Bryce put in he played on a sports team with girls which I forgot (hockey). Carolyn goes to movies by herself. Dave won a gold medal in the Explorer Olympics (Scouts). Aubrey locked her keys inside her car while it was running and left it that way during a concert. Another niece created an extra IG account to stalk a boy. I also put that I had four part times jobs when I was going to college (sold Mary Kay, had my own dance studio, tutored math at the library, worked at a preschool- I also worked at a grocery store). It was fun learning things you never would have known. Fun game. I was so happy Bryce showed up. Hope they were too. It was a good Christmas all in all. So happy I pulled it off again. 

dear thursday, another Christmas in the books. And it will be here again in like three weeks. At least that is how it feels anymore.
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Today I got my room cleaned up and put all the wrapping paper away and all the mess that Santa's little elves left.  It took awhile. I feel like so much has gone by the wayside while Christmas took priority.  I played Old Maid with Carson for a while. I am going to miss him when they move out.  I went to Smith's and a couple other places and then I made Ham Divan for dinner. It was tasty. We then headed to Lynn's bday party at Linda's. It was fun. 
We didn't stay too long because we had a movie night planned. I bought tons of snacks for it. We all went downstairs and watched Klaus. It was cute. I like the couch. Now we have to get my new one for upstairs from Logan. I was beat. 

Here is that article in paper about the anonymous $100 in the mail. 

Anonymous’ source

 December 24, 2019  •  Nancy Browne  •  Staff Writer
    The spirit of selfless giving is alive in Box Elder County thanks, in part, to a secret Santa of sorts, who has been sending $100 bills and letters to residents asking them to use the money to benefit others.
    When one of the letters popped up last June on social media, responses to the Facebook post were filled with surprise and wonder at such a generous gesture. It also aroused the curiosity of staff at the Box Elder News Journal.
    That unsigned letter, like some 40 others circulated in and around Brigham City, contained a request that the recipient send a description of how they used the money to an address at the Brigham City UPS store.
    It was clever; a generous sender quietly going about sprinkling joy around town with the goal of changing and enriching the lives of both giver and receiver.
    This fanciful mission of mercy has been a heart warmer during most of 2019, for everyone who has been privy to this feel-good story.
    While the stories about projects spawned by these $100 bills spread, there was still the question about he benevolent benefactor and what kind of person he/she is.
    The only way of knowing who had received a letter was if the person happened to post it on social media so News Journal staff started there.
    In all, three letter recipients were discovered that way and written about in the paper. The first of the three letters was sent to Vanica Crane, who chose to donate the money to Box Elder High School Principal Jamie Kent, whose husband, Ryan, had passed away suddenly.
    Crane created a Venmo account to increase the original $100 and then donated the entire amount collected to Kent, who subsequently put it into scholarships for a baseball player at both BEHS and Bear River High School in honor of her husband, who had been a baseball coach.
    The second letter reported in the paper went to Annie and Cody Bywater who started a Venmo fund for Ali Herbert, a little Brigham City girl who is battling leukemia. Many people gave generously to help Ali. The third letter went to Katelin and Bryan Beauregard, who also paid-it-forward but at the time of the original story, hadn’t yet decided what to do.
    The three recipients were asked about the identity of the sender in hopes they had a hint as to who it was. But no luck; Anonymous appeared determined to stay hidden.
    In a more direct approach, a letter was sent to Anonymous at the UPS store box requesting an interview, with assurances that his/her identity would not be revealed. At least, there was a hope to tell readers more about the feelings and motivations of the giver.
    After a week a representative of Anonymous called, using a burner phone to avoid leaving any breadcrumbs. The caller admitted that he didn’t even know the identity of Anonymous and was in fact, two levels down the contact chain. He did say he understood Anonymous to be “a couple.”
    “In the beginning, I was questioning the need for all this cloak and dagger stuff,” said the representative, “but the more I have participated, the more I understand the big need for this kind of thing in our community.”
    The caller said the plan was to have a reporter send a list of questions to the UPS box and Anonymous would answer them via U.S. mail.
    A dozen questions were submitted, and after five days, a letter with ample information finally arrived.
    The identity of Anonymous remained strictly guarded as the writer always referred to himself/herself/themselves as “we” or “us” and would only say they lived in Box Elder County.
    The writer said they were “regular people” doing something “completely personal” and that “not even our own family has any idea that we are doing this.”
    They wrote, “It was difficult for us to even agree to answer these questions as we don’t want anyone to lose focus on the real reason behind the challenge and that is to help those that are in need of help. We will say that going to the mailbox is better than Christmas when there is a letter there!”
    Sometimes it’s hard to see the needs of people even if it is right in front of you, they wrote. “The big causes are great but sometimes we can miss the small struggles.”
    About 40 letters with $100 bills have been sent over the past eight months, primarily in Brigham City and surrounding areas, wrote Anonymous, who added that people are picked at random from different areas of town in hopes that different needs can be met.
    “We might see their name somewhere or they might be a friend of a friend. If someone knows of someone who would do great things with the seed money, shoot us their name and address,” at 97 S. Main Street, #421, Brigham City.
    In answer to a question about how long they plan on sending the money, they responded, “How long is a piece of string? There will always be needs seen and unseen. We hope to be able to continue prompting this change for good for as long as the community responds.”
    And so far, the community is responding well, according to Anonymous. Of the 40 letters, only two recipients have not responded to the post office box and even “some people who have not been a part of it have sent letters, which has been really touching.”
    They hope the money will be returned if the recipient doesn’t want to participate so it can be sent out again to someone else. “Only one returned the money and was a bit critical of the proposal, which is ok, as that is one of the options if they do not want to participate.”
    When asked what they consider a successful use of the money, Anonymous said, “Most of the letters have brought us to tears.” Some people have created big events generating even more money and others have just passed along the $100 “to someone who was battling something in their lives that no one else knew about.”
    So, while any amount of giving is considered successful, Anonymous said, “Almost without exception the money has been matched, or others have helped and contributed to allow more people or causes to benefit. Very few letters have only passed on the original $100 and even if that is all they do, that is great.”
    Since the giving project is ongoing, Anonymous encouraged recipients to not stress about what they should do with the money. “Yes, we feel like there is a reason why we sent you the letter but we promise you that if you just think about it and ponder where it might make a difference something great will come to you. Great doesn’t always equate to big.”
    Anonymous finished answering the questions with, “From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! You are our hands. Together we will continue to make the world we live in a better place.”

dear friday, today it was snowing lightly but so pretty. I opted to not go to the gym because I was wiped out. It was in the teens and so I didn't want to go outside walking either.  I needed to though. Too many treats and yummy food. I practiced the harp instead. Dave made breakfast and then I got ready and headed to Costco to return some of the boy's shirts they didn't want. The line was out to the parking lot. Ugh. Marietta (from my fave boutique) was in front of me and I tried to decided if it was worth waiting in that line or not. Just then a Costco guy was scanning everyone's stuff and giving them receipts so it would go faster once we got to a clerk. I was only in line for about 10 minutes - 15 tops.  Faster than some days when there are only a few peeps in front of me. I grabbed a few things and then headed to the mall to tell the Kristal (facial product) place that my dispenser didn't work. The lady tried to sell me more product. Ugh. Nope. And she wasted a ton of my product I paid dearly for. I was ticked. I headed to Rainbow Garden's for lunch with the Sistas.
Shauna is here from Maine for a bit and so we all met. We ended up with nine. We had about 13 that were coming originally. It was fun. 
We then shopped and I got a cute Grinch for half price. Did I need him? NO! But Liam will love him. The  things you do for the littles.  I ran to one more store and then came home and made a panda pillow with Carson for my mom's bday. His idea. I gave it to him for Cmas but didn't realize it had pink hearts. A no-no for Sky. We had fun and then we watched Stuart Little. 
I actually fell asleep for a bit. I am still trying to recover from Christmas' lack of sleep! I need to start on the poem (newsletter) sometime. Not sure when because tomorrow we have a party here.  
Check out the clouds skimming the top of the mountain. It was a gorgeous sight!

dear saturday, I was going to get out on a walk today but it was so dang cold that I bagged it. I wish the gym was open on Saturday.  Taylor had a basketball alumni tourney in Logan today. He was asked to play on the Logan team and then Box Elder got a team together but he already committed. 
I kidnapped Carson and we headed up to Logan High to watch. We got there for the very end of his first game. They lost by two measly points!  He was guarding the 6' 9" guy (Jalen Moore) that played for USU and then got drafted to the NBA to play in Milwaukee Bucks. His draft story is HERE.  He ended up pulling out due to anxiety issues. That story is HERE.  Taylor ended up almost winning his team. But due to his fierce competitive nature, he also got hurt.  Taylor is such an outstanding player. But he ended up not being able to stand after today's games.
 He got knocked down by someone and hit his back hard. He hurt a bone but even worse he did something to either his muscle or a disc in his back. Not sure which. He played the next game and Carson and I watched but after about 13-15 minutes he had to pull himself out. He went out in the hall and laid down. 
Taylor with Caron laying in hall in intense pain.
I had found him some Advil before the game started but it didn't touch it. He was miserable. He could not hardly move and he limped when walking. He stretched out for a while and then tried to practice moving but just couldn't. He was hurting. His team was behind after he sat out and that put more pressure on him. Especially because they only had five players besides him and so no one got any rest because no subs. He kept trying to get his back to ease up but it wouldn't. 
During half time one of the dad's was a PT and I asked him if there was anything he could do to get him back in the game. Next thing I know Taylor is laying on the hardwood and this guy is pulling and stretching as Taylor grimaced in pain. 
 I worried that might be doing more damage if it's a disc.  Taylor did say it helped some but he was still hurting miserably. I felt so bad. We stayed and watched the rest of the game and then stayed for the third game where they played for third place in the tourney. He couldn't get back in. He tried to warm up again and see if he could jump but he could barely walk. He was limping. Pretty sad. 
Carson doing tricks↑
The dad who was the PT had been playing in another game and had all his gear and so he went in to help. They ended up winning and took third place. My friend Diane Weese from AMI also had a son playing. It was sad Taylor couldn't play. It would have been fun to watch them play together. I chatted with her after. 


We then went to Rumbi for lunch. 

Taylor headed back to BC and Carson and I went to Joann's to trade in his panda blanket. We ended up getting fabric (panda) to make our own. He chose the back (he wanted black and white plaid).  It was cute. He then went with me to a couple more stores to return some things. The line at Kohl's was unreal. We were in line for a good 20 minutes or more. He was the best kid. We also went to Al's. 
We got home and I hurried and made dinner for tonight's party. I made chicken bundles and jello. 
My parents showed up a bit early and they visited with the boys while I finished dinner. Bryce, Haylie and the kids then arrived. We ate and it was yum!  We then gave them their Christmas presents. Holy cow!  I way over did it!  Plus with my parents gifts and Sky and Sarah's, and Taylor and McKay's they got SO MUCH STUFF!  It was a bit overwhelming to say the least. Hah  It was fun and they were so stinkin' cute. 



dear sunday, today is the last Sunday of the year. Next year we start at 10:30. It was a good meeting. It was the 5th Sunday and so the Bishopric taught but we had to go for crowd control. They put in a new primary presidency today too. It was my last week with my Sunbeams. But even last year's some and sit by me in singing time. Hah  Check out how cute Carson and Jacob are!  
It was snowing as we came out. Brrr...  Decemburrrrr....  Carson had his cute outfit on I gave him for Christmas. We got some photos. Sky and crew matched so cute too. 

I was pretty tired today.  The aftermath of Christmas and I was wiped out. I laid down for a bit. Felt so good. Taylor's back is really bad today. He had to leave sacrament and go sit (lay) on the couch in foyer.  Poor guy. The rest of the day is a blurr... 
 A good article:


dear random, some of the ornaments:



Santa I think you left part of your team here....
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