*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, I had my PT today.  Rob measured my knee extension and it was back to -3.  Hmmm....  We are not sure why, because it doesn't usually go back once it's arrived.  Maybe I was warmed up when he measured it last week because Cindy had put the heat on me for a bit.  So, I guess I am not back yet.  Sigh... He really worked on my ankle today.  It needs it. He did all the measurements on my ankle and it has improved but still has a long way to go.  I made cupcakes so I could use up the frosting I had leftover from Brinlee's cake.  It was Pat B's bday and so I made her some and some for a new fam in our ward.  I made dinner to put in the oven for later and it's a new recipe but is a keeper. It was so good.   Here is the recipe:

Creamy Baked Asiago Chicken 

4 chicken breasts 
1 cup light mayonnaise or greek yogurt (I used ½ of each and it was delish!) 
½ cup Asiago cheese and reserve more for top 
1½ tsp seasoning salt 
½ tsp pepper 
1 tsp garlic powder 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Lay the chicken inside the pan. 
2. Mix together all ingredients. Spread the mixture evenly over each piece so that the chicken won't dry out while baking. 
3. Sprinkle the top with fresh Asiago on the top of the chicken. 
4. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Carson and I delivered the cupcakes.  He is so cute.  It is still in the 90's!  Hot! He has been a big helper this week too!

I love pretty packages in the mail!

dear tuesday, today it was back to my harp lessons.  I have had a five week break and I literally took a five week break. I had high hopes of practicing like a boss during the break, but it has been too crazy busy and I have been gone a ton so it was a really good time for the break.  My lesson went pretty well.  I do have a lot to work on. It's getting really hard now.  My songs are tough.  She told me this would happen and this is when most people want to quit, but she said to stick it out.  I have no plans on quitting.  That is not in my nature.  I shopped at Station Park in Farmington and had a lot of time to kill before my dinner tonight. I got some really cute dress up princess dresses and tried to find a trunk to keep them in for dress up. I know I will have more future little grand-girls to use them.  I'm sure Brinlee will love them too.  I hit the mall and ran into an 'old' classmate.  Literally. Hah JK.  We chatted (our class Pres) and then I saw Dawn and her daughter and they joined us while we chatted about the reunion for a bit.  I then headed to one other store and then met Lisa and Bonzo at Chili's. I wanted to get them together because they both are divorced and I could tell they needed to chat. Well, found out they got together on their own for lunch a week or so ago. Oh well.  It was still fun. 

dear wednesday, I didn't get out on a walk this a.m.  I started on Dave's dad's bday cake and made a few runs to Wallies.  

Didn't get much accomplished other than the cake.  He loves fish shirts and so I made him a fish shirt cake.  We had his party at the park.  It was a pretty good turnout. He brought pizza.  He was going to bring his own cake and ice cream too but I told him he shouldn't have to bring his own cake and that I was going to make him one.  I think I should have probably just made a Hawaiian Wedding cake because he loves that and it would have saved me hours.  

My FB post for his Bday:

There's no TROUT about it! 🎣 You deserve a Happy Birthday! Love ya!!!

Carson had his bike and so I stayed and walked while he rode his bike after the party.  I got in a few miles.  I called my mom and we chatted while I strolled.  It felt good to walk at night. I should do that more often. 

dear thursday, today I got out fairly early on a walk.  I was feeling great and then about a mile into it everything changed.  I started feeling tense and stressed and my head was killing me.  It had all the signs of a migraine. It came out of the blue, with very little warning.  I usually have signs before or at least suspect something.  I guess I did a bit, but wasn't expecting it to be that big.  But, I just prayed and took deep breaths and then something that has never happened before when I am feeling that way occurred, I was fine. 

I expected a full blown, knock me over, stay in bed, suffering kind of day, but it evaporated almost as fast as it came.  It's a little bit like life.  You are just sailing along thinking everything is fine and then in the blink of an eye everything changes!  Out of the blue.  Unexpected. Unwelcome. But there it is.  Change.  BIG change.  HARD change. UNWANTED change.  But change it is.  And there is nothing you can do to change the change.  You have to accept it and move on.  You have to make the change become your new normal until the next change pushes it out and you have to start all over again.  That is how life is.  But no matter how hard change is at times, life is still great and so amazing.  

Interestingly, this memory ↓ popped up on Facebook that is talking about grief, but I think it's also about life.  So much of change involves grief in some form.

I actually wrote part of it myself - I think. I know I made the meme and I believe I wrote part of the quote as well.  I am so grateful I didn't have to suffer all day because we had plans to go to the county fair and show Carson the animals.  My mom was going to go with us but we waited for her and no mom.  She got lost coming here again. I worry about her.  We took her car but I drove.  The fair is in Tremonton about 25 minutes away.  I lived here for 18 years before I ever attended it for the first time. We have gone to the rodeo a few times, but never the fair until I was tending my niece Sarah and nephew Jonathan and thought they would love it.  These popped up on my FB memories of the fair years ago!  I think seven years ago.

WOW!  These kiddos have grown!  Sarah is now a senior!  She is a Student Body VP in her school of 3500 kids!

We arrived and my mom has a hard time walking so I had to hold onto her especially when in the cows, pigs, sheep and other places with unstable ground.  I struggled a bit myself with  my ankle.  I wore wrong shoes.  But, it was pretty fun seeing the animals. We checked out the produce, the home arts, and the vendors.  We then watched a hypnotist show while we ate lunch.  It was a lot of fun. 

We had to rush home so Carson could get to his flag football game.  This is Carson's face when he asked McKay to come to his football game and he couldn't. :D

I was trying to get dinner made for Dave's parents. I tried a new recipe and it lived up to it's name. It was heavenly!  We were in such a rush that I felt bad I didn't send some home with my mom.  :( 

Heavenly Slow Cooker Chicken

2 Tbl butter

1 (.7 ounce) pkg dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

1 can Golden Mushroom soup

1 (8 oz) container chive and onion cream cheese

1/2 cup chicken broth

4 chicken breasts

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir in the salad dressing mix, soup, cream cheese, and broth until sauce mixture is hot, smooth and well combined.  Place the chicken into the bottom of a slow cooker and pour the sauce on top. Cover and cook on low until chicken is tender, about 4 hours. Serve over rice, egg noodles or angel hair pasta.

Dave got home in time to deliver their dinner. I then headed to Carson's game.  It was cute.  He was smiling the entire time. He reminded me so much of Bryce. Bryce used to smile at every second of his little league games. 

Dave and I headed to Garland to Nick M. reception.  The cake was very pretty but very simple.  Made me wonder if I should go back into the business of selling wedding cakes.  I could have made that one in a couple hours.  Dave's dad's took me longer.  Hah.

We drove by Bryce's new place. I hope it will work out for them.  I was contemplating about going to Provo in the morning to BYU ED WEEK. I always try to go at least one day but this week has been impossible.  Tomorrow is it.  I was looking at the class schedule and wondering if it would really be worth the two hour drive down and two hour drive back since most of the later classes weren't ones I even wanted.  And then.... someone discovered that some BYU Mint Brownies had been delivered and were sitting on my porch!  WHAT?!!!  THAT is one of the reasons I was thinking of going anyway because I LOVE those things SO SO SO much!  I knew that was HF way of letting me know I didn't need to go.  My sweet friend Naomi Johnson brought those to me because she had posted a photo of one on FB while she was down there and I commented how much I love them. She didn't just bring me one, she brought me the whole carton!  I felt SO loved. I had tears. It was the perfect ending to a rough day.  I truly feel so much gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father who always shows me how much He loves me when I need it most. Feeling a bit overwhelmed how He always is there and I can't deny His love and generosity.

We also had another gift on our porch. I love finding surprises on the porch! 

dear friday, I was happy I didn't have to get up at the crack of insanity to get to Ed Week today. I didn't even have any FOMO.  I went on a walk to Kotter Canyon and then Robin text me to see if I had gone yet. I came back and picked her up and we went to the park and walked there. I got in almost five miles!  I was beat after though!  

Bryce had a couple of free tickets to the Rodeo tonight from his work and so we decided to go tonight instead of tomorrow.  I stopped by his place and it is really cute.  I think they will like it.  The kids are still with their dad.  Dave, McKay, Carson and I headed to Tremonton to the rodeo. I love rodeos.  We weren't very good at taking the boys when they were little.  I feel bad about that. It was packed.  Our seats weren't too great even though we upgraded to reserved.  We got some burgers and they were so yummy.  It was a great rodeo.  The mutton bustin' is my fave.  The motorcycle guys were amazing as well at the end. And I always love the bull riding.  We got home after 11:00. Zzzzzz......

dear saturday, today Sky and Sarah were working and so I let Carson have cake for breakfast.  Shh.....  LOL  It's my fave for breakfast too!  I have said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE cake!  

I walked him to the twin's birthday party. He rode his bike.  He was excited!  After I dropped him off, I headed on a walk.  I only got in about three miles, but after yesterday, that was enough. The party was outside when I walked by and Carson had just been stung by a hornet on his finger.  One of the twins also had gotten stung on his arm.  Carson was about to cry when he saw me.  He was being tough though.  I walked the rest of the way home. I picked him up at noon and then he rode his bike back home while I drove along side.  

Sarah had a princess job today and I had to get some pix.  She makes the best Moana. I worked on my AMI article for a bit and I think I am almost there.  I need to submit it this weekend. Monday at the latest.  I went and got some back to school stuff for my dinner tomorrow. I stopped at Julie's (and Carson's school) because she wanted me to see her classroom. It's cute. She is at Mt. View this year.  I then hit Wallies trying to find some stuff for the tablecloth since I can no longer find black butcher paper in town. I came home and helped Dave with freezing some corn and hamburger gravel.  We then went to Idle Isle for dinner. I have been craving their turkey special. I ate the rolls and salad and so I barely touched the dinner.  It will be good tomorrow!  Or Monday! Unless someone beats me to it.  

We then got some rocks at the apartment for my Primary class lesson and Sky and crew showed up with the trailer. We unloaded the entire thing. I worry about Sky's back.  He is the hardest worker and would just lift stuff he should not be lifting.  Ugh.  Men. I almost biffed it going down the ramp a few times.  That would have not been good for my ankle or knee. Dave finally told me I could not go inside anymore and he brought me boxes etc. to take in.  It was darker by the time we finished. They still have so much work to do on that place.  Not sure they will ever get in. 

dear sunday, I didn't sleep worth beans last night.  I was up at 5 a.m. too.  Sigh. I did some writing and finished my lesson.  I taught the story of the wise man and foolish man and took sand and rocks and had an object lesson. I had some houses I printed off and stuck them on popsicle sticks.  I put one in the sand and one in the rocks and poured water on them both. The one in the sand washed away.  It was fun. I only had the two girls (Liesl and Rosalee).  I should have taken a photo.  It was cool.  We came home and I spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for my Back to School dinner. I lost my phone for a couple hours and that stressed me out.  Sarah found it in the hall closet. Yeah...  I seriously looked everywhere. The thing is, I lost it last week, and that is where I found it then too.  Not sure about me.  I worry. I did the tablecloth. It would be so nice if I just had a permanent one so I didn't have to redo it each year. I haven't done this for a few years though. I did buy some fabric so I can.  Not sure when I will though.  I need a white fabric marker and couldn't find one.  

I made the food and it turned out good. I couldn't find a hamburger gravy recipe and so I will add the one I used today. I'm not sure it is the best one though, but it worked.  It was fun!  Here are some of the pictures. LOTS of PIX!  Sorry, not sorry!  I invited Bryce and Haylie but they didn't have the kids and couldn't make it. :(

 His very FIRST Back to School dinner!  He is excited! Just wait until he sees those canned peas!

 Yep!  That did it!  hehe

 The principal even dropped in!  He gets extra cake for this!!!  ↓  Or maybe he should have to stay in for recess!  

Ohhhhhhhhh, I just L O V E traditions!!!

HAMBURGER GRAVY

1 lb of hamburger

1 onion chopped

1/4 cup cornstarch (more depending on how thick you desire gravy)

1 cup of milk

1 cup of water

2 tsp beef  bouillon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Seasonings -  I used Montreal Steak Seasoning

Add bouillon to 1 cup of hot water and let sit.  Set aside.
Brown hamburger and onion, drain fat thoroughly.  Mix the cornstarch into a little bit of cold water until mixed.  Stir into the milk.  To ground beef, add milk, water, and salt and pepper.  Season to taste.  Cook until thick and heated through.

This is great over mashed potatoes or rice.   It is also a great base for casseroles.  Using the same basic recipe, switch the hamburger for chicken and use chicken bouillon cubes and you have a whole new flavor.  For a quick and easy casserole, add rice, cooked noodles, or frozen hash browns, along with a bag of frozen veggies.  Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  YUM!!!

Taylor face-timed me and so I went out on the porch and Scratcher's came up to me and was just rubbing against me and purring up a storm. I love that cat but he shed all over me.  But so cute.  

 You can see Mr. Cat peering through the side glass windows.  It was hilarious. He just stared at Scratchers forever.

Taylor is doing well.  I miss that boy.  
Dave gave Carson and McKay back to school blessings. Carson was very excited.  He is the sweetest little thing on the planet!

My photos of McKay going back to school this year. LOL

dear quotes, 

dear random, 

My word of the year popped up on my word of the day email this week! 

YES!  This ↓ happened!  

Kind of makes me sad!  But I am coming for ya again Boston!!!

ROFL!

Peach Days memories (click to enlarge)

 Back to school dinner memories

 Fair and rodeo memories

 Back to school memories