*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, this made me laugh ↓

Mainly because it was so true today, February 3rd! Utah doesn't have snow days too often but several schools did today. Here in our town, it was a delayed start by two hours. It wasn't anything like they predicted (at least here) but it didn't stop coming down all day. 

The deer don't seem to bothered by it. Good thing! 

We postponed my parent's party until Sunday.  I was going to hit the gym but decided to just walk. Bad idea. I only got in one mile because the wind was blowing the snow so hard in my face and my face was frozen! The middle photo is the ground. Haha  Yeah, it was white and my fave was red!  Brrrr.....  I tried to capture the snowflakes coming down around me.

Brrr....  I came home and took a hot shower!  Felt so good. I practice the harp for a good two hours today. My songs are pretty tough. We wanted to use up some of the turkey I got at Kent's the other day for $1.99 a pound! So Dave made us Turkey Divan, but with Brussel sprouts instead of broccoli. I was so grateful he wanted to cook because I was going to fix us leftovers. We have so many!  It was warm and tasty! I was so cold so I headed upstairs and wrapped up in my heated throw and watched another Holocaust movie on Amazon Prime. I have been obsessed with those lately. I am just in such shock that something that horrible could have really happened. HOW!? And how can people be so evil?  Baffling to me!

dear tuesday, I didn't sleep worth diddly last night. I got up early and practiced the harp. I have the hardest song in the book right now and I worked on that thing for over an hour. I headed to my lesson. It was freezing cold today!  My lesson went well but we spent a lot of time chatting. She is a fun lady for sure. I ran a couple errands after and then headed home.  Sky and crew stopped by and asked if I wanted to go with them to Dr. Dolittle.  Of course!  Dave had meetings anyway. We went to the Megaplex in O town. It was a cute movie. Sky had us each take turns choosing a song to listen to as we drove home. I chose Barry Manilow's Weekend in New England even though Sky is not a fan of him. LOL  Then Keith Urban's Fighter, the Bee Gees I Feel Like Dancing, and Bruno Mars Uptown Funk. Carson choose some cute ones, Mother Knows Best from Tangled, and of course Aubrey's song Sweet. It was fun.

dear wednesday, today it snowed literally ALL day long. Not much in accumulation because it was a very light snow. I hit the gym and then went to the ortho right after.  I am still faithfully doing the exercises Rob had me doing. It's been over four months now. I guess I should be doing different ones by now. I'm so sad he moved. 

It was fun chatting with Clark. Somehow we got talking about being cremated and he played a song for me called "Funeral" by Lucas Graham and how it should be a party and celebration of life. Clark is hilarious. I came home and practiced the harp and then cleaned my closet. It needed it. I have over two bags full of clothes for the DI and I still have too many!  I like clothes too much!  I need to stop buying them. Yeah. I know. Or get a bigger closet!  Now there is an idea!  LOL  Dave and I went to the Maddox drive in for lunch and got mini burgers. Mmm... those things (and the fries) are so dang good! I cleaned the stuff under my bathroom sink that has been out while waiting for the new part of my faucet. I got tired of it  being out and so went through it all and got rid of a ton and put it back even though it's still not fixed.  I then went and got Sarah and Carson and headed to Tremonton to Cindy Parry's house. She is beading Sarah's dress. It was so good to talk with her and see her again. I have always truly admired her and she is hands down one of my most favorite people. I told her about my health issues this past year and she told me about her husbands. We talked about her son that passed away as well as Tyson. This photo that hangs on her wall she found a few months after her son passed away. He had bought it to give to her for Mother's Day. The story is pretty amazing.

She said we should have been in the same school since childhood and we would have been the best of friends. I agree. We only live 20-25 minutes away from each other now but that distance is enough to keep us from seeing each other much. When I got home she sent me the kindest text. 

Dear sweet Jodi, it was so 

wonderful to see you today.

You grow more beautiful 

every time I see you. My

heart is so sad that you've

been through so much. But

it's also heartwarming to 

hear your story of faith and

trust and spirituality. You are

one elect lady! So glad that I

know you. My one wish is

that we would get together

more often. I embrace what 

you teach me when we're 

together. Stay safe and

healthy and strong! Much

love,

Cindy

You can see why I adore her!  She is that kind of person with everyone she knows. She is a rare breed and I am so blessed to call her a friend. She always inspires me and makes me want to be a better person. She also adores Carson, but then who doesn't! And I mean that. Everyone LOVES that kid!  He was starving and so we stopped at Taco Time on the way out of town. I dropped Sarah off for her dance class and watched Carson while Sky was working. We watched a bit of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and then Sky got here and they took off.

A lot of people have been diagnosed with stage four or advanced cancer in the media lately and it is always one of those things that hits you with a punch especially when it's a recurrence of breast cancer. Shannon Daugherty has stage four breast cancer and it's only been five years since her original diagnosis and she thought she was in remission. It's one of those things that will always be right there. Alex Trebec has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Rush Limbaugh has stage 4 lung cancer. WHERE IS THE CURE!???  It's time!!!  HURRY!

dear thursday, it snowed all night long again and so the roads were slick and icy, so I bagged my walk. I got busy cleaning and organizing things again and then it was time to get to Homemakers. Today was our Galentine's Day party. It was fun. We had a waffle bar, speed friendshipping and a very cute floral wreath craft.  Tami, Kathryn and McKell were in charge. We had a great turnout as well. It is a fun group. I got some fun photos.  

Wearing our wreaths!  haha

Sweet Kathryn brought me a special treat. We were talking about not being able to find these this year and she found some and bought me some!  How sweet is that?!  She knows me well!  She is very thoughtful! 

These are the perfect blend of light and dark chocolate. I am not a dark chocolate fan, but these are so amazing!

I came home and worked on stuff for basketball (awards) and then dinner for Dave's parents. It turned out amazing. They don't look so great here, but they were!  

Stuffed turkey roll ups over mashed potatoes with gravy, pasta salad, Sweet Hawaiian crescent rolls and lemon and German chocolate mug cakes.  

I delivered it and stayed for a bit and visited with Dave's parents. I rushed home in time to get ready for stake YW basketball. We only have this one and one more. It took some hot chocolate in a flask because it is always so freezing in the gym. Tracy was there tonight. We got a photo. It was fun. I am really tired of winter right now. I want to be somewhere tropical!  

dear friday, I hit the gym fairly early. I was there for a good 90 minutes. I got in 3.5 miles on the dreadmill and another almost .75 on the elliptical. 

 You can see the difference in my ability to bend my left vs right ankle on the slant board when I am bending my knee. It is quite the huge difference. I am very frustrated by this because it is stuck and there is no give. I wonder if this is a permanent thing?

My ankle let me know I over did it. Sigh...  I came home and practiced the harp. I have two songs I am trying to choose between for the recital. She wants us to play a song from a movie. I can't decide between the theme from Somewhere in Time or the song A Thousand Years from one of the Twilight movies. I like both but I am leaning towards the first one. I ran a few errands and then stopped by Sky's and visited with them. Sarah wanted me to try on one of her Elsa dresses. It was cute. But then she added the wig and HOLY BLEH!  I can not wear wigs. Yuk. I looked like my brother. Hehe. So grateful I didn't have to have chemo. Whew.

Dave and I went to a recetption at the Academy for the Law's son. It was nice. Other than poor Michele was very sick. That would be so sad. We stayed and chatted with the Jardine's for a bit and then with Derek, her son. He has been so kind to me through all this leg trauma. They are all such nice kids. Such a great family.

We then went to Old Grist to eat. We love their grilled sandwiches. I got soup tonight though because I was so cold! We were going to rent a Redbox but that didn't work out.

dear saturday, the weather was beautiful this morning. I went on a walk and found some coins...

It was around 48 degrees. It was a bit windy on my walk but it felt warm! Loved it!

 The manic mannequin was out again today...

I saw a bride and groom crossing the street by the temple. Always fun to see that!

Just a taste of spring!  However, after my walk, the wind turned bitter cold! 
Julie and I went around the neighborhood to collect for a gift for Sharon Ketner's family and to have them sign a card. She passed away this week. So sad. Most were not home but we spent a lot of time chatting with the Bishop (Johnny) and with Sister Mason. We helped Mr. MacQuain carry in his groceries and chatted with them for a bit. We also talked to Barbara Findley for a long time. We stopped by there three times waiting for her to get home. Haha Everyone was so nice. We have great neighbors. We should get out and visit with them more. We also took a tour of Sister Herbert's house that was gutted and completely remodeled. It was quite a change. The price tag is $300 K though. Wow. I came home and was freezing! I had hot chocolate and that didn't even help. I kept my coat on. I made my Dad's bday cake for tomorrow. He loves coconut cream pie and so I found this recipe from Cakes By Courtney (I love her and follow her on IG). The recipe was not what I would call fast and easy, but it was yummy. It turned out great with the exception of me burning the toasted coconut TWICE! Haha Dave found it very humorous and kept taking my picture.

It turned out pretty nice!

Here is the recipe:

dear sunday, I woke up very early and decided to make my mom a dark orange chocolate cake (because her favorite treat is dark orange chocolates). I was just going to have them share the coconut one but decided not everyone is a fan of coconut so I was going to make cupcakes but decided to do this instead. I found a recipe and I had everything I needed (almost) and so went to work making it. It turned out pretty dang nice. 

I had to improvise on the frosting because I didn't have pasteurized egg whites.  I got most of it done before church. Church was great. But we had teacher development and Pat and I did not want to leave our Sunbeams. But we had to. The class was good. I came home and finished the frosting on the cake. We had tacos for lunch. Then we headed to my parents for the party. The cakes made it in one piece.

Bryce was already there. He was alone because Liam wasn't feeling too great. Tiff and her kids came and Trevor and Cyndi's kids as well. It was fun. I think they liked their cakes. 

Kalani is such a hoot. Her and Winston will be staying with me for five days in March. Dave and her had fun today. 

We came home and McKay was still here. He didn't go to the party because he had so much studying to do. That kid does study. Sky and crew stayed for a bit and then headed home. It was pretty quiet. 

dear random, these were taken in college by Mark???  He wanted models to practice his photography skills on.

Yep, I was young once...

Fun times in college with the LDSSA.

High school ↓

 My 18th Birthday

Dixie College

Weber State

London trip!