Mourning...

This morning I turned the news on and was devastated to see this: Provo Tabernacle on fire. When I was very young, we used to go to Stake Conference in this historic building. I had my Seminary graduation in this building. I attended Christmas celebrations there. So very sad that it is gone.

Holiday Treats

I have always talked the kids out of using piping bags to put icing on cookies and gingerbread men because I thought "what a painful mess to clean up!" But, I discovered, a simple rubber band at the top of the piping bag does the trick. The kids LOVED piping different designs on everything. Definitely doing this again sometime. Maybe for Valentine's Day.

My sweet sisters-in-law have made these cute curtains (or valance, really) for their homes. So I borrowed the pattern and found some cute fabric that was 50% off and made some for myself. I've not had any window treatments up since we painted, so it's fun to have something cute and new. I love this pattern! Thanks girls!

St. George

Does it bother anyone else that the pictures upload in the backwards order that you select them in? I can't get used to selecting them from the bottom up and I can't be bothered dragging them around to the right order. In any event, here are some pictures (in backwards order) that we took while visiting Mom and Dad M in St. George for UEA.

St. George temple...it was a beautiful Saturday morning, lots of brides and grooms out having pictures done.

Glad they didn't paint the temple green....has anyone else heard the story of the green paint? We heard it when we visited Brigham Young's winter home.

St. George Tabernacle

Mister relaxing on a pew.

Buddy reading some passages about the windows of heaven that President Lorenzo Snow gave from this very pulpit. Every latter-day prophet has given a talk to the Saints from this pulpit, save for one.

Pipes of the organ and the beautiful chandelier.

Picture of the all-seeing eye that is painted on the wall behind the pulpit and choir seats.

5 kids who are not excited to be going on yet another tour of a Church historical site.

Outside the Tabernacle

Another Birthday

Ben's birthday was on Friday. We had a nice dinner, then cake and ice cream. Ben's sister, Rena, dropped in on us for birthday wishes and some cake. She had a hilarious card. I should scan it and post it. It made me giggle for 5 minutes. Ben got some clothes that he had asked for, and a gift card for a "couples' massage" to a spa. (I worked myself into that gift. :))

1st Shave!

We've been teasing him for weeks that he needed to shave his moooustache. I kept offering to wax it for him, but he wouldn't take me up on the offer. So he got his dad's razor out and shaved. Of course I had to document it and tease that it was going right on his Facebook. He was amazed at how smooth his lip was afterward. It might take him another 13 years to grow back enough to shave again. ;)

Oh, and who thinks this kid has Bieber hair? I need to take a poll.

Birthday!

Another year older. I think I am going to stop having birthdays. *sigh* In any event, I had a great day. Ben was going to buy me a birthday cake, but the little boys wanted to help me make a cake, so we made the cake. A few years ago, the ladies Ben works with caught wind that I had made my own birthday cake, and they have never let him live this down. I really don't mind making my own cake. It certainly tastes better than a store-bought one. Anyway, the boys really did help...even tried cracking the eggs and everything. They loved it! So it was a treat for me to make it with them.




Ben also made dinner for me. He made a spaghetti with alfredo sauce (from a jar, but it was yummy), with ground turkey and garlic bread. Quite impressive. I had to give him the menu, though. After dinner, I watched Young Guns which I had recorded on TV. It was a blast from the past!! Made me feel old. Then I got my birthday present, pictured below. It is a GPS running watch by Garmin. I already love it. I have an account on their website that uploads my workouts and calculates things like elevation change, calories burned, pace, etc. It is awesome. And the best thing is it is so much smaller than Ben's Garmin.



Next up is Ben's birthday...tomorrow, in fact. I love having out birthdays a week apart. :)

Pampering!

Every now and then I love to get a pedicure. The latest one I got a couple weeks ago is one of my favorites. I picked a very dark purple color (looks black). The ladies will always ask you if you want a flower (and charge you a couple bucks extra for it)...I always say yes. They paint them on free-hand with white nail polish, and glue a little sparkly jewel in the center. It turned out striking on the black/purple. The lady sitting next to me said "I want flowers just exactly like that!" I love cute toes! (Or, at least, toenails...as I don't think I have very attractive toes.)

1st day on the bus

So, after the slow start to kindergarten, the boys finally started full time. Here is their first morning at the bus stop. Mister had had a loose tooth for days. He was excited to let me try to pull it, until after the first attempt and he realized minimal blood and pain were involved. So, he got on the bus with a very loose tooth, that kept getting "stuck" pointing in. I drove down to the school to take pics of them getting off the bus, and he runs up to me and says "I lost my tooth on the bus!" He had it clamped in his little hand, so I told him I would take it home and keep it safe for the tooth fairy. He was so excited about it that he ran into his classroom and had to tell his teacher right away.

New Hobby

These have been hot lately, but I've not been interested in making them, until my little sister showed me one she had done. Missy and I went out and bought some supplies and we had a ton of fun making different bands (or bracelets). Here is the one in pink that Missy did. She has a cute heart charm that dangles from the underside.


Here is the brown one I made.

And with the black band.

We had our house painted a couple of weeks ago. It was in desperate need of it, and I'm loving how it turned out. We had all the main living area in the upstairs done, including the laundry room, hallway, and bathrooms (hallway and master), and the master bedroom. Here is a pic of the bedroom. The tan on the upper part of the walls is a shade darker than the tan we used in the main living areas.






Up close of the two colors. The color on the bottom is a rusty red. (Sorry for the poor quality of the pics...not sure what is up with my camera.)

















I repainted the frames that the pictures of Joseph Smith and Christ are in. They are cheap Walmart frames, and I thought they would look classier if I painted them black.









Here is a picture looking from the living room (my kids call it the family room--it's the formal "front" room of the house) into the entry way.
I rearranged the furniture in this room. It is much cozier, and I love it. The end table on the left in this picture is really a beautiful piece of furniture, but you could hardly see it in the previous arrangement. We also bought a new mirror to hang in the entry way. I'm still contemplating window coverings. I'll post pics of those when I decide what I want.

Latest form of torture...

So, in May I finished my 1/2 marathon, in spite of being sicker than a dog three days before the race. Then in June I had a friend in my ward approach me about running another race. This one is a 188 mile relay race, run over the course of 2 days. The Ragnar Wasatch Back. Conversation goes like this:

Friend: "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to run the Ragnar next June!"
Me: "Well...maybe...."
Friend: "The race is a year from now, and it's already filling up."
Me: "Well...ok....count me in."

I tell Ben. He asks me what could I possibly be thinking. I am wondering the same thing. I try not to think about it too much. I'm told to register online, and look at the course maps. I get registered, and navigate away from the page, so as not to have panic attacks about the course.

Eventually, though, I knew I would have to choose which legs I would run. That time was this past Sunday when we had a team meeting. I met everyone and got a glimpse of the runners' maps. I started to lean toward doing the "easy" to "moderate" legs of the course. Then realized (with horror) no one was signing up for the "hard" and "very hard" slots. Ugh. Are you kidding me? Do they not know that I am not a runner?! Do they not realize I have two paces when I am moving: slow and walking?!

So, I told these ladies that if no one else will do these challenging legs, I will do one, just as long as they don't mind how long it will take me...because on a couple of the legs, there is a 1600 foot elevation gain in like 3.5 miles. They still haven't let me know which runner I will be, but I'm preparing for the worst and thinking I am going to be either runner 9 or 10.

In a way I am very excited for this, and I do enjoy training. But in another way, I am really scared about this. I hope I can do it. At least it's not a marathon! Here's to the latest challenge!

First Day of School

Sorry for the odd layout of this post...it has given me fits trying to get it right...and it still looks odd.

All the kids were very excited for the first day of school. Lemur woke up extra early, and couldn't wait to get going. He and Mister had decided that they did not want to ride the bus on the first day, which was fine with Mom and Dad. Even Bug decided he wanted a ride. There have been renovations and additions going on at the elementary school, so it was fun to see the "new" school. As you can see, Lemur and Mister have Mrs. King for Kindergarten. When we found out who their teacher was, they were very excited, and even more so when I told them that Mrs. King is married to a King! They found their desks, which they share with the afternoon class, and sat down. They were excited to wear their name-tags. And were tickled that their crayons and pencils have their names on them.

The first day of Kindergarten here is very slow. Moms stay that first day and they are only there for about an hour. Then the rest of the week the teachers do assessments on the students to see what they already know and what level they are at. So, they get all geared up for school to start, go the first day and then...you don't go back until the next week. So they will start their first real day this coming Monday. They can hardly wait. Lemur asked me today if he got to go to school today. He was disappointed when I told him not until Monday. Then he asked if tomorrow was Monday. It's been a long week. They will be very glad when Monday rolls around.






























All ready, waiting til it was time to leave.













Even Missy and Buddy were excited, though less likely to admit it. On the first day of school at the Jr High here, the 7th graders go to school on time, and the 8th and 9th graders go an hour late, giving the 7th graders some time to rotate through their schedule quickly before the school is full of the older kids too. So they got to wait and then weren't sure when the bus was coming, so their dad had to drive them to school the first day. They look so grown up to me, especially now that they have their braces off. Missy is taking an art class (from Mrs. Long, who Ben and I know from college), keyboarding, orchestra (violin), English, US History, health, PE, science, and probably a couple more classes I'm forgetting. Buddy is in keyboarding, orchestra (viola), English, US History, health, PE, science, and guitar...for which I had to buy him a guitar. (Got to put a plug in for KSL.com for cheap instruments!) I'm excited to hear him on the guitar. So far, they haven't played yet...I think most of the students don't have their guitars yet.



Bug was as excited as the rest of them. He has Mrs. Woody for 5th grade. Since the new K-2 school addition was made, they were able to get rid of the portables that Missy and Buddy had 5th grade in, and so he is in the same classroom that he had 2nd grade in.

He doesn't look very enthusiastic, but I think that was because he was trying not to look too excited (even though he was).

This year he has several friends in his class, which I am very glad for. In years past, he hasn't started the year with very many close friends (if any) in his class. Plus, he's so shy, it's hard for him to make friends. He really has a funny personality once he lets his guard down a bit.